Trans-Am: Brabham and Andretti take a 1-2 at Sebring

It was a triumphant start for Chris Dyson Racing’s 2023 Trans Am by Pirelli campaign with Matthew Brabham taking the race win in team’s #20 GYM WEED Ford Mustang, followed closely across the finish line by Adam Andretti in the #21 allgram Ford Mustang. But it was a disappointing start to Chris Dyson’s quest for a third straight Trans Am championship. Dyson and his #16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang were hounding pole-sitter and early race leader Justin Marks as the 100-mile sprint race approached the halfway mark when his car retired on course with a mechanical issue.

“I’m always happy to win” Brabham said. “But it was disappointing that Chris wasn’t there to fight it out at the end with Adam and me. Sweeping the podium would have been amazing!”

Sebring – Adam Andretti

“Congratulations and thanks to Matty and Adam for the great job they did this weekend,” Dyson said, noting that Brabham has now started six races for the team, winning four and finishing second in the other two. “This may not have been the weekend I was looking for as a driver, but it was a fine one for the team. Matty was right there on pace all week, and he was charging into the lead when I had a problem. And Adam, who is a longtime friend of our family, did a great job standing in for Humaid (Masaood) when he couldn’t make it this weekend.”

The first half of the race unfolded as Dyson had expected, with the top cars balancing between fighting tooth and nail for position and conserving their tires. “I’ve raced a lot at Sebring and I won here the past two seasons by making sure I had a good car for the end of the race. I was driving well within the car’s capabilities, taking good care of the tires,” Dyson said later. “I could see that Justin was struggling a bit with his car, locking up the brakes sometimes and struggling in a few corners. I was looking for where to make my move and then we rapidly lost power in Cunningham (Turn 10) shortly after a restart. I tried to limp it back to pit lane but the engine was overheating badly and I had no choice but to shut it down.   It was so disappointing. Our team has had such great reliability the past two seasons.”

Sebring – Dyson leads Brabham

Dyson noted that the race’s uncharacteristically heavy mechanical toll, a product at least in part of the notoriously rough racing surface at Sebring, meant that many of his championship competitors fared little better than Dyson did, while his teammates’ first- and second-place finishes reduced the points scored by those other championship contenders.

New Riley Car Shows Its Mettle

The other good news for the team was the reliability and speed of Brabham’s #20, a new Riley chassis the team began developing late last season. “It’s very encouraging that the Riley car stood up to the beating this place gave it,” Dyson said. “I outqualified Matty, but Matty set the fastest race lap. We learned a lot here for setup after having some struggles in offseason testing with the new car. The “cookbook” of chassis setup is progressing nicely. And we know all the cars in our stable are fast enough to win – that’s exciting.”

Sebring – Brabham’s Mustang in Victory Circle

Race Results

Pos No. Class PIC Driver/Hometown Sponsor/Car Best Tm Laps Diff Cship

Pos

No.

CL.

PiC

Driver/Hometown

Sponsor/Car

Laps

Behind

1

20

TA

1

Matt Brabham/Indianapolis Ind.

Gym Weed/Ford Mustang

27

0.000s

2

21

TA

2

Adam Andretti/Brownburg Ind.

Allgram/Ford Mustang

27

5.976

3

40

TA

3

Keith Grant/Germantown Tenn.

Showtime Motorsports/Chevrolet Camaro

27

13.889

4

7

TA

4

Ken Thwaits/Brentwood Tenn.

Franklin Road Apparel/Chevrolet Camaro

27

32.227

5

4

TAH

1

Wally Dallenbach/Basalt Colo.

Ultimate Headers/Ford Mustang

27

33.013

6

8

TA

5

Tomy Drissi/Los Angeles Calif.

Lucas Oil/Ford Mustang

27

33.409

7

42

XGT

1

Danny Lowry/Beech Island S.C.

Bridgehaul/BennettFamilyOfComp/Mercedes AMG GT3

27

1:07.765

8

88

XGT

2

Nathan Byrd/Greenwood Ind.

Sonesta/Tilson/Hopegivers/Porsche 911 GT3

27

1:14.353

9

44

SGT

1

Lee Saunders/Lakeland Fla.

Landsearch LLC/Dodge Viper

27

2:06.285

10

91

GT

1

Tyler Hoffman/Jefferson Ga.

Bennett/Bridgehaul/Pitboxes.com/Audi R8

27

2:13.979

11

97

GT

2

Chris Coffey/Murphy Tx.

NorwoodAutoItalia/TrafficGrafix/Maserati MC GTA

26

1 Lap

12

31

XGT

3

Randy Hale/Old Saybrook Conn.

Hale Motorsports/Marsh Racing/Chevrolet Corvette

26

1 Lap

13

14

GT

3

Billy Griffin/West Palm Beach Fla.

GriffinAutoCare/Sheehan’sTowing/Ford Mustang

25

2 Laps

14

24

TA

6

Matthew Butson/Snohomish Wash.

Ave Motorsports/Ford Mustang

19

8 Laps

15

79

TA

7

Boris Said/Escondido Calif.

ECC/Anchor Bolt & Screw/Dodge Challenger

18

9 Laps

16

99

TA

8

Justin Marks/Brentwood Tenn.

Trackhouse/Chevrolet Camaro

17

10 Laps

17

2

TA

9

Paul Menard/Eau Claire Wisc.

WeaverRacing/Technique/Dodge/Dodge Challenger

14

13 Laps

18

16

TA

10

Chris Dyson/Poughkeepsie N.Y.

Gym Weed/Ford Mustang

13

14 Laps

19

57

TA

11

David Pintaric/Canfield Ohio

Kryderacing/Ford Mustang

12

15 Laps

20

30

TA

12

Richard Grant/Germantown Tenn.

Grant Racing/Chevrolet Corvette

8

19 Laps

21

23

TA

13

Amy Ruman/Stow Ohio

McNichols Co/Chevrolet Corvette

7

20 Laps

22

26

SGT

2

Kaylee Bryson/Broken Arrow Okla.

APDriverDevelopment/LSIRacing/Chevrolet Corvette

5

22 Laps

23

02

SGT

3

Aaron Pierce/Fishers Ind.

LogicalSystemsInc/SamPierceChev/Chevrolet Corvette

2

25 Laps