Paul Menard Earns TA Pole for Showtime Motorsports with Record-Breaking Lap Time

March 19, 2022

Qualifying is in the books for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli TA event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. Paul Menard laid down a track record-breaking lap time of 1:17.010 in his No. 5 Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro at the unique oval-road course hybrid. The pole was the first for Showtime Motorsports in the TA class. 

Behind him was 2021 champion Chris Dyson in the No. 20 Altwell Ford Mustang with a lap time of 1:17.582, and Tomy Drissi in the No. 8 Lucas Oil Ford Mustang with a time of 1:18.617. Rounding out the top five were Menard’s team owner Ken Thwaits in the No. 7 Franklin Road Apparel Camaro (1:19.895) and David Pintaric in the No. 57 Kryderacing Ford Mustang (1:20.823). 

“It’s good to be back at Charlotte Motor Speedway,” said Menard after securing the Motul Pole Award. “Ken [Thwaits] has a good program, and he’s building this team, so to get him a pole for Showtime Motorsports in the TA class is a great day. I believe it’s their first TA pole, so that’s really cool to do with Ken and these guys. We have a good car for the race tomorrow. I was off a little bit in qualifying verses yesterday, and I actually thought I was going to run a little faster today, but the track was pretty hot and greasy after the TA2 race. It’s comfortable to consistently run mid-1:17 laps at race pace, so hopefully that’s what it takes to win.”

Natalie Decker was the fastest qualifier in the GT class, running a lap time of 1:27.499 in her No. 29 PlantFuel Audi R8. Danny Lowry topped the SGT class in his No. 42 Bridgehaul Porsche GT3 Cup with a lap time of 1:29.473.

Full qualifying results can be found here. 

The TA race will be contested on Sunday, March 20 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Free live coverage begins at 12:15 p.m. ET at www.youtube.com/TheTransAmSeries.