Menard sets TA record and grabs pole for season opener at Sebring

Menard in the No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford Mustang will lead the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli field to green for the first time in 2025 at Sebring International Raceway after setting a new qualifying track record of 1m57.629s.

“We have a new partner with Pittsburgh Paints and Stains; they came on in January, so I’m really excited to get on the front row, get a pole, and a new track record for those guys,” said Menard. “It’s a really cool, different design; I like the paint splashes and all that. The car itself is the same as last year, different livery, but a super-fast car again. Over the off-season, the car was totally rebuilt, so it had some bugs to work through in the test sessions and then again in practice, but we kind of put it all together there for qualifying. The track was slippery, must have been from the TA2 race, so the track didn’t have the grip that I was expecting, but still good enough for the pole and a track record.”

Paul Tracy (No. 10 Race Cars For You Innovation IRC GT) was quickest in XGT, while Joshua Carlson (No. 36 Enseva/Diercks Ltd./TC Fab Ford Mustang) topped SGT. Chris Coffey (No. 97 Traffic Grafix/Chill Out Motorsports Maserati MC GT4) was fastest in the GT class, and Jon DeGaynor (No. 04 Speed Dream’n Racing Ford Mustang) was the sole competitor in GT1 Challenge.

The TA/GT race will be contested Sunday at 10:50 a.m. ET. It will be streamed live on Trans Am’s YouTube channel, @TheTransAmSeries, with coverage beginning at 10:15 a.m. ET, and broadcast live on SPEED SPORT 1, with coverage beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET. An encore presentation will air on SPEED SPORT 1 at 10:00 p.m. ET. For more information on where you can watch SPEED SPORT 1, click here.