Rafa Matos Earns Second Motul Pole Award of the Year
June 24, 2023
Zilisch Qualifies 2nd After Being Fastest in Practice,
Newcomer Carson Kvapil Practiced 2nd and Qualified 3rd
LEXINGTON, Ohio (June 24, 2023) – Practice and qualifying are complete for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Rafa Matos in the No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang will lead the field to green for tomorrow’s 3-Dimensional Services Group Classic, race three of the 3-Dimensional Services Group Triple Track Tournament. Matos laid down a lap time of 1:24.399 to earn his second Motul Pole Award of 2023.
“We didn’t have a lot of track time this weekend because of the rain yesterday, so this morning was really our first session of the weekend,” said Matos. “This was a much-needed pole position for myself and the team after losing two cars in the Detroit Grand Prix from crashing pretty bad in the second race. The team gave everything building a new car for [team owner] Doug [Peterson]. We have to remember this team has managed to put a driver on the podium every single race this season except the second race in Detroit, and [teammate] Austin [Green] had a great shot of finishing on the podium there before he got caught in a wreck. Hats off to the 3-Dimensional Services Group team for giving me a car that I can be very competitive with in qualifying. Hopefully we’ll make the right adjustments overnight and win this race tomorrow.”
Qualifying Top Five:
1. Rafa Matos, No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang (1:24.399)
2. Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:24.420)
3. Carson Kvapil, No. 8 SLR-M1 Race Cars Chevrolet Camaro (1:24.460)
4. Dillon Machavern, No. 17 SLR-M1 Race Cars Ford Mustang (1:24.475)
5. Thomas Merrill, No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang (1:24.657)
Full qualifying results can be found here.
Practice Top Five:
1. Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:24.719)
2. Carson Kvapil, No. 8 SLR-M1 Race Cars Chevrolet Camaro (1:24.735)
3. Jade Buford, No. 48 Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers Ford Mustang (1:25.150)
4. Thomas Merrill, No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang (1:25.174)
5. Will Rodgers, No. 90 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang (1:25.467)
Full practice results can be found here.
The race will be contested on Sunday, June 25 at 12:40 p.m. ET and can be streamed live here.
The TV broadcast of the Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series race will air on MAVTV on Thursday, June 29 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
