Carson Kvapil Earns First-Career TA2 Pole
Will Rodgers, Tim Barber Fastest of Western Championship Competitors
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2023) – Practice and qualifying are complete for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli season finale at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
TA points leader Paul Menard was the fastest car on the racetrack, laying down a blazing-fast time of 2:03.800 in his No. 3 Menards/Masterforce Tools Ford Mustang. Menard goes into tomorrow’s season finale with a 93-point lead over second-place Chris Dyson (No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang) and is hoping to capture his first-career Trans Am title.
“I’m just super proud of everybody at 3GT,” said Menard. “You know, we don’t have the championship locked up by any means, but we’re really dang close. We came into this last race, not to coast and just collect a couple points, but we wanted to win the pole, and we want to win the race. We did the first part, and we’re going to race like hell tomorrow.”
Carson Kvapil claimed his first-career pole in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, making a lap time of 2:10.459 in his No. 17 Team SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro.
“I’m pretty excited,” said Kvapil. “This is obviously my first time here at COTA, so not getting to test or anything like that, just kind of winging it and coming here for the weekend, is a little tough. We had an engine let go last practice and we only made one lap with sticker tires, so it’s pretty cool to be on the pole here at COTA. Hopefully this car stays fast, which I’m sure it will with Scott [Lagasse Jr.] and the whole Chevy group taking care of it. I just can’t thank everybody enough for putting in the hard work, especially today swapping motors.”
XGT’s Will Rodgers (No. 12 Chris Evans Inc. Chevrolet Camaro) was the fastest of the Western Championship competitors in TA/XGT/SGT/GT time trials, qualifying sixth overall with a best time of 2:06.751.
“I feel really solid about my race tomorrow here at COTA,” said Rodgers. “The guys at Chris Evans Race Cars always have brought me an amazing piece at this race track, and this time is no different. They actually built me a brand-new racecar for this race. It’s a Chevrolet and this thing is on rails. Jeff Jefferson, Jerry Pitts, all the guys here have done a great job. I’m really excited for tomorrow. We race against the TA cars and we’re in a car that has way less performance capability, but we race amongst them, and I beat a lot of those guys. That’s what we’re here for. We’re here to show that this car has amazing potential. That’s what I’ve done over the last year and a half, and I can’t be prouder and more thankful to be doing it with these guys. I’m excited to race all these XGT guys tomorrow, but especially the TA cars.”
CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Western Championship title contender Tim Barber is starting his weekend off on the right foot, setting a lap time of 2:12.058 in his No. 33 DIG Motorsports Ford Mustang. Barber currently sits 43 points behind current leader Michael LaPaglia (No. 31. Papini’s Garage/F.A.S.T. Auto/Howe Ford Mustang), who qualified fifth in class.
“We were really kind of chasing the setup,” said Barber. “I haven’t been here in one of these cars before. I just left my Spring Mountain setup in the car, which wasn’t exactly what we needed, and I have changed so much stuff every session. The warm-up was awful, and then it rained, and so I changed everything again times ten, and I was like, ‘this is either going to work or be terrible.’ Thank God, it was decent. It wasn’t perfect and I’ve still got some work to do, but it was good enough.”
Newcomer Scott Dollahite in the No. 46 Dollahite Racing Audi R8 was the fastest National Championship XGT competitor. Lee Saunders in the No. 84 Landsearch LLC Dodge was fastest of the SGT drivers, and 2024 GT champion Chris Coffey in the No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 was best in his class.
The season finale CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race will be contested on Sunday, November 3 at 10:35 a.m. CT, followed by the TA/XGT/SGT/GT race at 12:45 p.m. CT.
The races will be streamed live here and broadcast live on MAVTV. The highlight shows of the races will air on MAVTV on Thursday, November 7, with the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race airing at 8:00 p.m. ET and TA/XGT/SGT/GT airing at 9:00 p.m. ET.
TA Qualifying Top Five:
1. Paul Menard, No. 3 Menards/Masterforce Tools Ford Mustang (2:03.800)
2. Gar Robinson, No. 74 74 Ranch Resort Chevrolet Camaro (2:04.493)
3. Chris Dyson, No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang (2:05.012)
4. Thomas Annunziata No. 2 STEEL-IT/Weaver Racing Dodge Challenger (2:05.268)
5. Tomy Drissi, No. 8 Drissi Motorsports/Lucas/Mission Chevrolet Camaro (2:06.966)
XGT Qualifying: National
1. Scott Dollahite, No. 46 Dollahite Racing Audi R8 (2:06.593)
2. Will Rodgers, No. 12 Chris Evans Inc. Chevrolet Camaro (2:06.751)
3. Ken Sutherland, No. 85 Kallberg Construction/Wyatt Fire Protection Dodge Challenger (2:09.465)
4. John Moore, No. 27 JM Environmental Ford Mustang (2:14.627)
5. Chris Evans, No. 92 Central Welding Supply Ford Mustang (2:32.506)
XGT Qualifying: Western Championship
1. Will Rodgers, No. 12 Chris Evans Inc. Chevrolet Camaro (2:06.751)
2. Michael McAleenan, No. 31 Smith Alling PS/Lowe Group Racing Lamborghini GT3 Huracan EVO (2:08.974)
3. Ken Sutherland, No. 85 Kallberg Construction/Wyatt Fire Protection Dodge Challenger (2:09.465)
4. John Moore, No. 27 JM Environmental Ford Mustang (2:14.627)
5. Chris Evans, No. 92 Central Welding Supply Ford Mustang (2:32.506)
SGT Qualifying: National
1. Lee Saunders, No. 84 Landsearch LLC Dodge Viper (2:18.358)
2. Kaylee Bryson, No. 02 Logical Systems Inc./Sam Pierce Chevrolet Corvette (2:18.482)
3. Michael LaPaglia. No. 81 Papini’s Garage/F.A.S.T. Auto/Howe Ford Mustang (2:20.182)
4. Joshua Carlson, No. 36 Enseva/TC Fab/Diercks Ltd. Ford Mustang (2:25.485)
GT Qualifying: National
1. Chris Coffey, No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (2:15.844)
2. David Hampton, No. 14 AR Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (2:20.106)
3. Colin Cohen, No. 38 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (2:28.265)
CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Qualifying Top Five: National
1. Carson Kvapil, No. 17 Team SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro (2:10.459)
2. Thomas Merrill, No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang (2:10.583)
3. Nathan Herne, No. 15 F.A.S.T. Auto Racing Chevrolet Camaro (2:10.623)
4. Thomas Annunziata, No. 90 Bayshore Mortgage/Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang (2:10.631)
5. Brent Crews, No. 70 Franklin Road/Mobil 1/Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang (2:10.677)
CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Qualifying Top Five: Western Championship
1. Tim Barber, No. 33 DIG Motorsports Ford Mustang (2:12.058)
2. Kyle Kelley, No. 80 PK+k Properties/UPRacing.com Ford Mustang (2:13.787)
3. JC Meynet, No. 28 B-Bar Ranch/Killer Shrimp Chevrolet Camaro (2:13.924)
4. Tim Carroll, No. 46 CRDMFG.com Chevrolet Camaro (2:14.306)
5. Michael LaPaglia, No. 31 Papini’s Garage/F.A.S.T. Auto/Howe Ford Mustang (2:14.366)
Trans Am Series
