BOWMANVILLE, Ontario — The Trans Am Series by Pirelli will celebrate Labor Day Weekend with a trip to the north, invading Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, located north of Toronto.
Unlike traditional Trans Am weekends, the TA and CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series will be racing together, as part of a Saturday afternoon special, which will mark the 33rd Trans Am event at Mosport.
The 2.459-mile road course will play host to several divisions this weekend, including the NASCAR Canada Series.
Double Duty
CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Pro-Am Division championship contender Jared Odrick has spent his off weekends from the Trans Am Series by Pirelli having some north-of-the-border fun, competing in the road and street course events in the NASCAR Canada Series.
The Lancaster, Pennsylvania-native will round out his four-race stint in the Canadian stock car series looking to improve upon a career-best 14th-place finish on the Streets of Markham with Sunday’s WeatherTech 200 – which he’ll compete in the day after running the Trans Am event on Saturday afternoon.
LEVELING UP
Cole Moore is taking a major step forward this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, jumping into the TA Class for the first time.
The Granite Bay, California-native will partner with Drissi Motorsports to drive the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro. Moore, along with his father, John, are longtime competitors in the Trans Am Western Championship, but this year, Cole decided to come over and run the national series, where he won the inaugural TA Cup Championship.
It’ll be an interesting weekend for the 29-year-old, who has never turned a lap in this high-horsepower type of vehicle, or around Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLES
There are multiple exciting title battles happening in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli now, and this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, in a very unique fashion, they’ll all be playing out on the race track at the same exact time.
In the TA Class, Matthew Brabham is pulling away from Paul Menard, extending his lead to 50 points, but with three races left, the Chris Dyson Racing driver’s fortunes could change very quickly.
In the CUBE 3 TA2 Series, Team SLR teammates Alon Day and Helio Meza are dueling it out for this season’s championship. Meza has seemed to have a one-up on his teammate from a pure pace standpoint, but a couple of instances of bad luck have launched the Ashdod, Israel-native ahead in the standings with three races left.
Plus, the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series also has a Pro-Am Championship battle, with Nitro Motorsports driver Cale Phillips taking the slow, steady, and consistent approach to take the points lead over Jared Odrick, who has had a topsy-turvy year thus far. Heading into Mosport, Phillips leads Odrick by 23 points.
There’s a championship battle brewing in the SGT Class, too. Chris Coffey is leading the standings by 146 points over Patrick Utt, but won’t be in attendance this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, giving Utt (No. 49 RaceQuip / Driven Racing Oil Ford Mustang) a real shot at gaining a chunk of points heading into the final two events of the year at VIRginia International Raceway and Circuit of The Americas.
NEW NUMBER, SAME MENARD
Paul Menard won’t be carrying the No. 3 on his Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, instead slapping the No. 31 on his entry, since both the Trans Am Series by Pirelli and CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series are running at the same time, and Adrian Wlostowski is well-known for his usage of that number on the TA2 circuit.
Don’t take that as a chance to lose sight of Menard, who has won the last two TA Class events at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and could really use a win as he tries to pursue another championship in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli.
SILVER HARE BRINGS CONFIDENCE
The only thing that Silver Hare Racing is going to be declaring coming across the United States-Canada border is confidence.
While the organization is still looking for its first CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series victory of the season, both of the team’s full-time drivers are coming off an incredible off weekend, where they both captured victories in different disciplines. Noah Harmon collected his second win of the year in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Series on Sunday, in a photo finish.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Tanner Reif went to victory lane multiple times in a Legends Car, at multiple different racetracks. Even the team’s part-time driver, Max Reaves (who will return next time out at VIR) won an ARCA Menards Series event at The Springfield Dirt Mile. Could Harmon or Reif break the drought for Silver Hare Racing, and put someone back in victory lane who isn’t Team SLR?
FAMILY NAME
Matthew Brabham will be looking to put his family name back in victory lane at CTMP for the first time in 59 years. Brabham’s grandfather, three-time world champion Jack Brabham, won the first Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix on a rainy afternoon in August, 1967.
Earlier In his career, Matthew Brabham dominated another racing class, the 2013 Mazda Pro Series, winning 13 of the 16 races. But he failed to win either of the races at CTMP.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve raced at CTMP and I’ve had lots of race wins since then,” Brabham said. “But I have to admit that it still annoys me a bit that I haven’t won there. And my dad (four-time IMSA GT champion Geoff Brabham) had a great career but never got a win at Mosport. A win there this weekend for CD Racing would be huge.”
