Barry Boes Debuts With Victorious Race Within the TA2 Race;
Rookie Gavan Boschele Drives to 16th; Early Accident Foils Bid for Thomas Ellis
Overview:
Date: Feb. 24, 2024
Event: Sebring SpeedTour (Round 1 of 12)
Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli
Division: Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series
Location: Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway
Layout: 3.74-mile, 17-turn road course
Format: 27 laps or75 minutes
Weather: Sunny, upper-60s
Winner: Connor Zilisch of Silver Hare Racing
TeamSLR:
● Barry Boes – Started 22nd, Finished 13th (Running, completed 27/27 laps
● Gavan Boschele – Started 12th, Finished 16th (Running, completed 27/27 laps)
● Thomas Ellis – Started 24th, Finished 34th (Accident, completed 10/27 laps)
Noteworthy:
● Sixth-year TA2 driver Barry Boes’ 13th-place finish bested the 14 cars in the 38-car TA2 field that are competing for the season-long Pro-Am championship.
● Austin Green of Peterson Racing, the 2023 TA2 Rookie of the Year, came home fifth Saturday to become the top-finishing M1Racecars entry.
Gavan Boschele, Driver No. 28 SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“We started 12th and I kind of messed up on the first lap, got caught up starting too far back. That’s the main thing, you’ve got start up front. I got shuffled back and locked up the brakes and kind of drove through, and I ended up getting a penalty for that. So that put me all the way in the back and we ended up fighting our way back to 16th. Not the greatest, but I’m still learning everything and we’ll come back stronger. I have a lot of takeaways from this just to build on, racecraft and everything else. Can’t thank all the M1Racecars guys enough and we’ll come back strong at Road Atlanta.”
Barry Boes, Driver No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:
“This feels absolutely incredible. It’s amazing that I’m here today. Accio means ‘to summon,’ and I summoned a victory today and it feels fantastic. Keith (Prociuk, third-place-finishing Pro-Am driver) and I often qualify near each other, and he races really well and I figured I’d follow him up to the front as much as I could. And when he got hung up at the initial start, it gave me an opportunity and it feels fantastic.”
Thomas Ellis, Driver No. 8 Averitt Express/SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:
“It was my first weekend back in a few years. We struggled all weekend to try to get some pace in the car. I went into the race looking for momentum, just to find a little bit of pace, then lay back. There was no winning race on the first corner, it was just a matter of waiting for the first caution. We got that first caution pretty soon after I picked off a couple of cars. Then, unfortunately, in turn 10 on the restart, I just got punted off the track. It broke something in the back of the car and I couldn’t continue. In the bigger picture, I feel really good now after getting all the nooks and crannies out this weekend following the long layoff. The next weekend I get into the car, I feel like I’ll have a lot more momentum moving forward. I’ll feel a lot better about what I’ll be able to do in qualifying, which will be important to not have to deal with all the crazies at the back of the field.”
Next Up:
Round two of the 2024 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series is the Road Atlanta SpeedTour March 21-23 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The weekend kicks off with a pair of TA2 test sessions Thursday afternoon, March 21. Official TA2 practice begins at 11:25 a.m. EDT Friday, March 22, followed by qualifying at 2:30 p.m. Start time for Saturday’s 40-lap, 75-minute race around the 2.54-mile, 11-turn Road Atlanta circuit is 12:45 p.m. Series partner MAVTV will provide live television coverage augmented via live video stream on the Trans Am channel on YouTube.
About TeamSLR:
TeamSLR (Scott Lagasse Racing) competes fulltime in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s newly renamed Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series in a multifaceted effort that includes dedicated entries in the TA2 division, customer programs, driver coaching and car construction. Its history dates back to 1985 and covers a wide spectrum of motorsports, including NASCAR, IMSA, SCCA, ARCA and ASA. TeamSLR is a family-owned organization run by Scott Lagasse Sr., and Scott Lagasse Jr., The father-and-son duo have combined to win more than 120 races and seven championships across a variety of series and styles of racecars, from paved ovals to road courses to dirt tracks. For more information, please visit us online at www.TeamSLR.com, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and on LinkedIn.
