Brabham sweeps Trans Am Watkins Glen doubleheader

This season, the Trans Am Series by Pirelli has hosted a pair of doubleheaders – one at Sonoma, and one this weekend at Watkins Glen – and after a dominant victory on Sunday, Matthew Brabham, driving the No. 16 Gym Soda Ford Mustang for Chris Dyson Racing, has swept them both.

A native of Boca Raton, Florida, Brabham picked up his 16th career victory in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli’s TA Class, moving him into a tie for 13th on the all-time wins list in the division, matching Tony Ave and Amy Ruman. Eight of those victories have come in 2026.

Brabham has started from the pole position in every single TA Class event in 2026, and that continued with Sunday’s event after he posted the fastest lap of the race in Saturday’s first 30-lapper of the weekend at Watkins Glen International.

The Chris Dyson Racing driver got an early lead in Sunday’s 30-lap contest, and was kept honest by his closest adversary, Paul Menard, until lap 11, when the No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang had a flat left-front tire and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop, dropping him more than a minute behind the race leader.

For the final two-thirds of the event, Brabham appeared to take it easy with his Gym Soda-sponsored machine, just managing the gap he had built over his Chris Dyson Racing teammate (and team owner), Chris Dyson, who managed to bring it home in second, 7.597s behind the eventual winner.

It’s the first 1-2 finish for Chris Dyson Racing since last June at Road America.

“Couldn’t get any better, awesome result for the team,” said Matthew Brabham after the race. “It’s great to have Chris [Dyson] back racing with us and have a 1-2 for the Chris Dyson Racing boys and girls. It’s been an awesome year, but we owe it to the crew and all the hard work. It looks easy on track for us, but there’s a lot of hard work, and a big hats off to all the other guys on the team. What a dream run.”

After suffering a flat left-front tire, Paul Menard used the last 20 laps of the event to try and recuperate as much track position and time on the racetrack as possible, closing the gap down to 23.172s at the checkered flag from a gap that registered over one minute after he exited the pit lane.

David Pintaric, Tomy Drissi, and Jon DeGaynor finished fourth, fifth, and sixth. Amy Ruman finished seventh in class and 12th overall after suffering some kind of mechanical issue during the race, which forced an unscheduled pit stop while the No. 23 McNichols Chevrolet Corvette was running in the top five.

Trans Am Series by Pirelli – TA Class Results:

1. #16 Matthew Brabham

2. #20 Chris Dyson

3. #3 Paul Menard

4. #57 David Pintaric

5. #8 Tomy Drissi

6. #4 Jon DeGaynor

7. #23 Amy Ruman

SGT Class

Matthew Brabham wasn’t the only driver to sweep the weekend at Watkins Glen International.

Zach Arnold, driving the No. 72 Arnold Machine Porsche GT3 Cup, took the victory in the second leg of the Trans Am Series’ Watkins Glen doubleheader, but this time, things were much, much less chaotic. Arnold kept his No. 72 on the racetrack for all 30 laps on Sunday, and that was enough to get him the victory in the SGT Class after his closest competitor, Chris Coffey, had to make multiple unscheduled pit stops for flat tires.

“Definitely more straightforward today,” said Arnold. “We had a good day yesterday. The team made a great call on pit lane to get us out on dry tires before everyone else, and today, just drove the wheels off of it, kept it clean, but yeah, it was definitely a good weekend for us. Thanks to the team and everyone else.”

Coffey finished in second place, two laps behind Arnold. Milton Grant was third in class, and the fourth entrant this weekend in class, Jesse Schmidt, didn’t start Sunday’s event after crashing pretty substantially in Saturday’s event.

Trans Am Series by Pirelli – SGT Class Results:

1. #72 Zach Arnold

2. #97 Chris Coffey

3. #15 Milton Grant

4. #91 Jesse Schmidt (DNS)

GT Class

Derric Carter returned to the top step of the podium in Sunday’s Trans Am Series by Pirelli event GT Class at Watkins Glen International after he managed to get his No. 24 PortableHoist.com Ford Mustang GT 500 back on the racetrack late in the race and make some laps.

While that might seem inconsequential, his competitor this weekend in the GT Class, Michael Saia, also had some major problems that sent the No. 13 KMC / Motul / Rapid Wraps / Rapid Performance Porsche 997.1 GT3 Cup to pit road while the team tried to fix the car.

Carter finished the race a whopping 20 laps down but still managed to beat Saia by three laps.

It may not have been pretty, but the Trans Am Series by Pirelli point standings will still show Sunday’s event as a victory for the GT Class championship leader, and that’s all that matters.

Trans Am Series by Pirelli – GT Class Results:

1. #24 Derric Carter

2. #13 Michael Saia

CUBE3 TA2 Series

Tristan McKee’s return to the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series at Watkins Glen International was plagued with various mechanical issues, but finally, during Sunday’s second leg of the Trans Am doubleheader, his No. 48 Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro for Team SLR stayed together.

The series’ defending champion (who turns 16 at the beginning of August) was able to put his potential on full display during Sunday’s 30-lapper, leading wire-to-wire despite some contact with teammate Helio Meza on the opening lap and pressure from Alon Day and Ethan Tovo throughout the event.

“It feels good,” McKee said post-race. “This one really goes to my crew guys, they worked their butts off this weekend; we changed the motor, rear end, steering rack a couple of times, all kinds of steering components, radiator. I mean, Thursday was the only clean day we’ve had, we’ve been breaking stuff the whole time and having issues. Thanks to all of my guys, everyone who put a hand on this car. I mean it was super fast this whole time, just could never get any laps, so I knew we had the pace to do it.”

Team SLR continues its impressive win streak in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, winning every event this season between Helio Meza, Alon Day, and now Tristan McKee. The organization’s win streak extends all the way through Memorial Day Weekend last May at Lime Rock Park, a total of 16 races.

On the opening lap of Sunday’s event, there were two separate on-track incidents that dramatically impacted drivers that came into the weekend sitting top five in CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series point standings.

The first was an incident entering Turn 1 on lap 1, where Gian Buffomante got into the right-rear quarter-panel of Noah Harmon and spun the Silver Hare Racing driver around. While Harmon was virtually undamaged, further incidents later in the race forced him to the pits, where he finished five laps down, 23rd overall.

The biggest incident came just a few corners later as the field drove down into Turn 1, where Team SLR teammates Tristan McKee and Helio Meza made side-to-side contact. That damaged the No. 28 Alessandro’s Racing Chevrolet Camaro and made it where the championship leader couldn’t make the corner, taking himself and Vinnie Meskelis out of the race on lap 1.

Meza was able to climb from his car and was uninjured.

“Going into Turn 1, just had a little bit of side-by-side contact with Tristan [McKee] and then going up into the essess, I think there was something broke in the steering and I couldn’t turn left going up the hill, and unfortunately had contact with Vinnie [Meskeslis] on my outside, just because I couldn’t make the corner,” Meza said. “Just kind of ended the day early, which is unfortunate because the speed that we had yesterday, and we had made a couple changes overnight to make things better. These things happen, can’t really control it, obviously bummed that I missed out on the race, but these things happen.”

The Spring, Texas-native was credited with an overall finish of 31st, which translates to an in-class result of 19th.

Alon Day finished Sunday’s event in the runner-up position, and will lead Watkins Glen, New York as the new championship leader in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series by a significant margin, with only three races remaining on the campaign. Ethan Tovo, on his 16th birthday, no less, claims his first podium in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, finishing third.

Thomas Merrill and Lanie Buice rounded out the top five. Jace Denmark, who didn’t put this deal together until Wednesday, finished in sixth-place, with Gavin Gleitsman finishing seventh, finally scoring that elusive maiden top-10 result. Adrian Wlostowski, Tanner Reif, and Gian Buffomante rounded out the top-10.

In his fifth start in the CUBE 3 TA2 Series, Joe Federl earned a career-best 12th.

CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Race Results:

1. #48 Tristan McKee

2. #17 Alon Day

3. #10 Ethan Tovo

4. #26 Thomas Merrill

5. #27 Lanie Buice

6. #68 Jace Denmark

7. #51 Gavin Gleitsman

8. #3 Adrian Wlostowski

9. #75 Tanner Reif

10. #95 Gian Buffomante

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PRO/AM Division

Tom Sheehan (No. 97 Vixen Cyle Co. / LTK / COPE Ford Mustang) is back on the top step of the podium in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series PRO/AM Division, after an impressive performance in the second leg of the series’ Watkins Glen doubleheader on Sunday.

Sheehan, a native of Auburn, New Hampshire, finished 13th overall in the event on Sunday, but was able to stay ahead of fellow PRO/AM Division driver – and first-time winner from Saturday at Watkins Glen – Cale Phillips to secure his third career win in the TA2 PRO/Am Division.

“The race was a little chippy on the first lap there going up through the essess, and a tough day for a couple of guys up there. It’s like a gutter ball in a bowling lane when you’re up in there, so felt for those guys,” Sheehan said. “We made it through clean and we were running pretty good, just trying to pace the guys in front of us and letting some fast guys through that got caught up in that deal, and then just trying to hang on to them.”

Jared Odrick, for the second day in a row, was in an incredible position to claim the victory in the PRO/AM Division and extend his championship points lead, but suffered a major issue on the racetrack, which sent him to pit road and forced him to retire from the event.

“There was an oil line that had broken. I’m not sure if it was loose, it looked pretty tight, but it was up near the right-front tire, so what ended up happening was I had no grip or traction there for about two laps, and I started pushing through the esses, and I was like I don’t know what this right front was doing, but it was not good the last two laps. I started smoking and had to pull it in.”

Cale Phillips, after collecting his first-ever PRO/AM win on Saturday, finished in second. James Libecco, a regular in the TA Sprint Division this season, came to play in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series event at Watkins Glen and finished third, with Doug Winston and Aiden Dorvee in the top five.

CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series PRO/AM Race Results:

1. #97 Tom Sheehan

2. #99 Cale Phillips

3. #89 James Libecco

4. #98 Doug Winston

5. #24 Aiden Dorvee

6. #66 Christina Lam

7. #53 Bryan Scheible

8. #72 Preston Peables

9. #64 Matt Gray

10. #00 Jared Odrick

The CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series returns to action at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Sunday, September 6 – in combination with the Trans Am Series by Pirelli. Coverage will be on RacingAmerica.TV and @TheTransAmSeries on YouTube.