Menard Sets Sebring Trans Am Qualifying Record

SEBRING, Fla. — Practice and qualifying have concluded for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli at the Sebring SpeedTour at Sebring Int’l Raceway. Paul Menard in the No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford Mustang will lead the field to green for the first time in 2025 after setting a new qualifying track record of 1:57.629.

Sunday’s event airs LIVE on SPEED SPORT 1 at 10:30 a.m. ET.

“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.