Ben Maier (No. 80 BOE Marine/Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang) and Paul Menard (No. 3 Menards/Master Force Tools Ford Mustang) earned pole positions for Sunday’s Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli races at Pittsburgh International Race Complex
Maier earned the secondCUBE 3 Architecture TA2 pole of his career by laying down a lap time of 1m42.078s. Maier’s first pole came at World Wide Technology Raceway last month, where he led every lap on his way to his first-career victory.
“This racetrack is really fun,” said Maier. “We actually came here a few months ago in my Miata to figure out the track, because no one’s really been here. We’ve worked so hard on the car the whole weekend. Brad, Hunter, and all the crew at Nitro worked hard to get this car really good for qualifying and the race, and it turns out that the car was great. I also did some sim work before coming here. They don’t have it on iRacing, so you have to use other games to get the track, but I think that definitely helped, and I’m happy to come out first.”
The race will be contested tomorrow at 9:35am ET. It will be broadcast LIVE on MAVTV. It can also be streamed live here. The highlights show of the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race will air on MAVTV on Thursday, June 13 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Qualifying:
1. Ben Maier, No. 80 BOE Marine/Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang (1:42.078)
2. Jake Drew, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:42.525)
3. Rafa Matos, No. 60 Concord American Flagpole/Nitro Motorsports Mustang (1:42.586)
4. Connor Mosack, No. 57 Silver Hare Racing/PRG Chevrolet Camaro (1:43.077)
5. Adrian Wlostowski, No. 3 CMI/Spot-On Services Ford Mustang (1:43.381)
Full qualifying results can be found here.
Paul Menard fastest in TA at Pitt Race, earns second pole of 2024
Lee Saunders First in SGT, Chris Coffey Tops GT
Paul Menard qualified his No. 3 Menards/Master Force Tools Ford Mustang on the pole for the second time in 2024 with a best time of 1m36.262s. Menard’s last pole came at NOLA Motorsports Park in April. Menard currently leads the TA point standings and is the winningest driver in the class this season with two victories (Sebring International Raceway, Lime Rock Park).
“It’s been a good weekend; great weather, awesome facility,” said Menard. “I didn’t even know this place existed a year ago, and then I saw it on the schedule and started researching it and watching videos. Actually being here now, it’s a beautiful facility. They do a really nice job with track maintenance. It’s a little bit on the twisty side for these big-horsepower cars, but we do have a couple of really good passing zones that I think we can utilize.
“The 3GT Racing Ford Mustang has been fast since we unloaded and we’re just learning the track, learning what the tires are going to do as the fuel load burns off, as the tires wear. We’ve been seeing some tire wear here, which is more so than some other tracks we’ve been to, so what does that translate to at the end of 100 miles? What we’re thinking about now is how to make it live for 100 miles, because we have the speed, we’ve just got to have the longevity.”
The TA/XGT/SGT/GT race will be contested tomorrow at 1:40pm ET. The race will be broadcast LIVE on MAVTV and streamed live here. The highlights show of the race will air on MAVTV on Thursday, June 13 at 9:00pm ET.
TA Qualifying Top Five:
1. Paul Menard, No. 3 Menards/Master Force Tools Ford Mustang (1:36.262)
2. Chris Dyson, No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang (1:36.952)
3. Adam Andretti, No. 17 Top Liner/Go Share Chevrolet Camaro (1:37.676)
4. Tomy Drissi, No. 8 Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro (138.855)
5. Richard Grant, No. 30 Grant Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:49.096)
SGT Qualifying:
1. Lee Saunders, No. 84 LandSearch LLC Dodge Viper (1:46.746)
2. Joshua Carlson, No. 36 Enseva/TC Fab/Diercks Ltd. Ford Mustang (146.870)
3. Richard Forsythe, No. 58 GSpeed/Sambuca Restaurant Chevrolet Corvette (1:47.814)
4. Milton Grant, No. 55 Sentry Self Storage/Springhill Suites Porsche 991.1 (1:48.966)
5. Kaylee Bryson, No. 02 Logical Systems Inc./Sam Pierce Chevrolet Corvette (1:50.326)
GT Qualifying:
1. Chris Coffey, No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (1:47.705)
2. Colin Cohen, No. 38 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (No Time)
Full qualifying results can be found here.