ALTON, Va. — If the competition thought Matthew Brabham running two 100-mile races on a scorching-hot September afternoon in Virginia was going to give them a chance to battle with the No. 16 GYMWEED Ford Mustang in Sunday’s Trans Am Series by Pirelli evet at VIR – they were sadly mistaken.
The Indianapolis, Indiana-native, fresh off finishing runner-up to Helio Meza in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series event at the same racetrack, hopped into his Chris Dyson Racing machine and led wire-to-wire, picking up his ninth Trans Am win of 2026.
“Nothing that a GYMSODA can’t fix,” Brabham said after climbing out of the No. 16 GYMWEED Ford Mustang. “I’m going to have one of those and maybe an ice-cold beer, as well, I’ve definitely earned it after today.”
Sunday’s triumph, the 17th for Brabham in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli, moves him into the top 10 on the series’ all-time wins list, tied with Willy T. Ribbs and Dorsey Schroeder.
With Martin Ragginger and Paul Menard fighting against themselves for second at the end of the 31-lap contest, Brabham was able to sneak away to lead of 2.176 seconds when the checkered flag dropped on Sunday.
“All the boys and girls that work on our race team, they gave me a fantastic car in that race, I mean this is the best car balance-wise and development-wise I think we’ve had, and these guys were breathing down our necks,” Brabham added. “Paul [Menard] and Martin [Ragginger] did a really good job out there.”
Brabham, by running both the TA Class and CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series event at VIR was looking to become just the second driver to sweep both events in a single weekend. However, he’ll have to make another CUBE 3 TA2 Series start to make that happen.
“That was a tough day for me, didn’t quite get both wins, but second and a first isn’t too bad, so I’m pretty happy.”
Martin Ragginger brought his No. 7 Top Liner Chevrolet Camaro home in the runner-up position on Sunday after prevailing in a tight battle with Paul Menard in the race’s closing laps. Menard finishing third will significantly dampen the chances of a title for the multi-time Trans Am champion heading into the final race at Circuit of The Americas.
Chris Dyson finished the race on an island all by himself, in fourth, with David Pintaric rounding out the top five.
