Rafa Matos fought to his fifth TA2® victory of the season Sunday in Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli action Virginia International Raceway, unofficially clinching the 2021 title.
Coming into the event, the headlines were for 15-year-old Connor Zilisch, who captured the pole in his first TA2® start. Zilisch, the youngest driver in Trans Am Series history to start the race on pole and lead a lap, held the point for the opening four laps after the green flag, closely followed by Matos. The Brazilian veteran pounced on the fifth lap, taking the lead and fighting off several challengers to take his 15th career victory, backing up his 2018 title.
“I cannot describe my feelings in words right now,” said Matos, driver of the No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang. “It’s been a year of ups and downs. This weekend in particular was quite good, but we had races where we were lacking a little bit of speed or had bad luck. There was so much anticipation before this race. I was a bit concerned after qualifying second, because second place here going into Turn 1 has not been good for me. But we got clean at the start and my pace was good enough to pull away. But first I had to deal with Connor (Zilisch). I finally overtook him, and after the restart my pace was good enough so I could pull away.”
