WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — 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 posting the fastest lap of the race in Saturday’s first 30-lapper of the weekend at Watkins Glen International.
The Chris Dyson Racing 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, 7.597 seconds behind the eventual winner.
It’s the first 1-2 finish for Chris Dyson Racing since last June at Road America – with Dyson and Brabham reversing positions from the final result of Sunday’s event at Watkins Glen.
“Couldn’t get any better, awesome result for the team,” said Matthew Brabham post-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 hat off to all the other guys on the team. What a dream run.”
Paul Menard, after suffering a flat left-front tire, 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 23.172 seconds 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 top-five.
