Brabham continues win streak in first race of Sonoma Trans Am doubleheader

Saturday’s Trans Am Series by Pirelli event at Sonoma Raceway, the first leg of a doubleheader on the West Coast, ended up being the survival of the fittest, which ultimately benefited Matthew Brabham.

What started out as an exciting three-driver battle between Brabham, his Chris Dyson Racing teammate Rafa Matos, and Trans Am veteran Paul Menard, ended up benefiting the Boca Raton, Fla., native, after problems for his two adversaries awarded him a commanding win.

Menard, a long-time competitor in the ranks of NASCAR’s National Series, has been Brabham’s main competition all season, and looked to be in a similar position on Saturday until the window net on his No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang came down on the fifth lap of the race, requiring him to make an unscheduled pit stop.

The Eau Claire, Wis., native dropped to over a minute behind the race leaders, but remained on the lead lap, and slowly and steadily worked his way back into a podium position – but was unable to close on the leaders.

For most of the event, the leaders were Brabham and Matos, teammates at Chris Dyson Racing. That was, however, until Matos, filling in as driver of the No. 20 Gym Soda / RACER Ford Mustang for team owner Chris Dyson, suffered a mechanical issue that took Matos out of contention.

That left things wide-open for Brabham to stroll to victory… winning by over a full minute with Paul Menard in second. Tomy Drissi took advantage of troubles for Matos to collect the podium in the No. 8 Trench Shoring Chevrolet Camaro.

The victory for Brabham is his 11th in the Trans Am TA class, and his fourth in a row for Chris Dyson Racing.

“The guys at Gymweed and Chris Dyson Racing have done a great job,” Brabham added. “It’s great having Rafa [Matos] running with us this weekend. He was feisty in the beginning and it’s a lot of fun. Big shoutout to Chris Dyson, he’s the main reason we’re all here racing this weekend and I’m honored to be able to race for his race team. A lot of history. This track, is kind of a local track for Gymweed, so thank you so much for the support, what a race, it was awesome.”

TA Class Race Results:

1. #16 Matthew Brabham – Gymweed Ford Mustang

2. #3 Paul Menard – Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang

3. #8 Tomy Drissi – Trench Shoring Chevrolet Camaro

4. #57 David Pintaric – Birds Eye View Project / Kryde Racing Ford Mustang

5. #59 Simon Gregg – Trench Shoring Chevrolet Camaro

6. #20 Rafa Matos – RACER / Gym Soda Ford Mustang

TA Cup

In the opening weeks of the 2026 Trans Am Series by Pirelli campaign, Cole Moore and Jim Guthrie have been fighting amongst themselves for victories in the TA Cup class. Saturday’s event at Sonoma Raceway (the first leg of a doubleheader at the California road course) was no exception.

The battle between Moore and Guthrie remained steadfast throughout the first three-quarters of Saturday’s 40-lap contest from Sonoma, until Moore made a bold pass on the inside of Turn 11 inside the final 10 laps to capture the race ead, and eventually, the victory.

But there’s a whole other wrinkle to this story. Originally scheduled to pilot the No. 99 JM Environmental / Moore Motorsports Ford Mustang, Moore and the team found problems following practice and qualifying on Saturday, which forced their hand to play a game of musical chairs.

Cole Moore jumped into the No. 27 JM Environmental / JM Racing Ford Mustang (originally scheduled to be driven by his father, John Moore), while John jumped into the No. 92 Central Welding Toyota Camry (originally scheduled to be driven by Chris Evans, who didn’t compete in Saturday’s event).

“I don’t even know what to say, I just gotta thank my dad for letting me drive his car,” said Moore. “We were having some crazy fuel problems, so him and Chris Evans for doing the whole switch. The race was insane. Jim [Guthrie] is the hardest guy to pass in the world. I don’t know what it is, but it’s his IndyCar history. He knows how to drive that thing, just was persistent and made it to the front.”

Guthrie, a former winner in the Indy Racing League, was able to bring the No. 62 Guthrie’s Garage Ford Mustang home in the runner-up position, while John Moore finished in third. Ken Thwaits suffered a mechanical issue mid-race and dropped to fourth, with Phil Fogg, Jr. in fifth.

TA Cup Class Race Results

1. #27 Cole Moore – JM Environmental / Moore Motorsport Ford Mustang

2. #62 Jim Guthrie – Guthrie’s Garage Ford Mustang

3. #92 John Moore – Central Welding Toyota Camry

4. #9 Ken Thwaits – Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro

5. #67 Phil Fogg, Jr. – Chris Evans Race Cars Ford Mustang

6. #08 Aaron Young – ProFinish Motorsports Ford Mustang

TA Cup

David Kunicki was the highest finishing of the TA Cup drivers registered for the West Coast Championship, beating out Tim Lynn – who drove the No. 99 Ford Mustang that Cole Moore was originally scheduled to drive on Saturday.

TA Cup West Coast Championship Race Results

1. #86 David Kunicki – Kallberg Racing Dodge Challenger

2. #99 Tim Lynn – JM Environmental / Moore Motorsports Ford Mustang

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SGT

Chris Coffey (No. 97 Traffic Grafix / NAI Racing / GTE Engineering Ferrari 458 Challenge) continued a hot streak to begin the season in the SGT cass of the Trans Am Series by Pirelli, winning Saturday’s first leg of the doubleheader weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

The victory is just the second for Coffey in the SGT Class, but it’s the Texas native’s 21st win in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli in 27 career starts. Patrick Utt was Coffey’s main competition, but was no match for the black, red, and green Ferrari.

It wasn’t all easy for Coffey, though, who was dealing with some back pain during the race.

“That was a pretty awesome race,” said Coffey. “I mean, the start of the race I just tried to see how far I could push the car up front, but I didn’t want to ruin the TA Cup guys race and my back started tightening up really bad, it was brutal in the middle of the race. I just tried to let those guys go by me, and after my back stopped seizing up on me, I pushed a little bit in the middle of the race and did my fastest lap of the weekend in the race on old tires, so I’m pretty happy with that.”

The second TA/TA Cup/SGT Class event at Sonoma Raceway will take place tomorrow (Sunday, April 26) at 10:45am local time (1:45 PM ET) on RacingAmerica.TV, the Racing America 24/7 Channel, and the Trans Am Series YouTube Channel.

The Racing America 24/7 Streaming Channel is available on The Roku Channel, Prime Video, My Free DirecTV, LG Channels, and PLEX. REVTV will serve as the official broadcast partner of Trans Am in Canada.