ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A trio of drivers looking to take their race craft to the next level head to iconic Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway to kick off the 2024 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series season in M1 Racecars equipment with TeamSLR this weekend.
Sixth-year TA2 competitor Barry Boes leads the way in this weekend’s three-car effort for TeamSLR, and he’ll be joined by recently turned 16-year-old prodigy Gavan Boschele, who is a rapidly rising development driver. Completing the lineup will be Thomas Ellis, 28 years old, who’s returning to the series for the first time since 2018.
Boes has been competing in the TA2 Series since 2019. Best among his 39 career TA2 outings was his third-place finish on the Detroit street circuit last June.
The winner of the 2019 and 2023 SCCA Hoosier Super Tour and 2021 World Racing League national championship will be making his fifth career TA2 appearance at Sebring this weekend driving the No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro. He posted a best previous Sebring finish of 11th in 2020, when he closed the season eighth in the TA2 championship.
Saturday’s 27-lap, 75-minute race around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit will mark the road-racing debut for Boschele, driver of the No. 28 SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro.
Since first wheeling an Outlaw kart months before his fourth birthday, Boschele has competed and won more than 300 races and dozens of track and series championships in everything from quarter midgets, to sprint karts, micro sprints, dirt midget, 360 and 410 sprint cars, as well as pavement pro and super late models.
“I’m excited. I want to go more toward the road racing just to get some experience because the Cup cars and the Xfinity cars have a number of road-course races, and even ARCA. I like the Lagasses and the team, so I’m excited to get started,” Boschele said.
Ellis will be behind the wheel of the No. 8 Averitt Express/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro this weekend for the first of a handful of races on the 12-event TA2 calendar for 2024.
Ellis was last seen on the TA2 circuit running a slate of five events in 2018, three in his home state at Sebring, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
The other two took place during the Streets of Belle Isle weekend doubleheader in Detroit. Ellis has also competed in various SCCA club racing classes, including Spec Miata and American Sedan.
Partnering with TeamSLR for the 2024 season will be the Nashville, Tennessee-based apparel company Franklin Road. And joining the TeamSLR trio in the contingent of M1 Racecars among 40 TA2 entries this weekend will be the two-car effort of Peterson Racing, featuring drivers Austin Green and team owner Doug Peterson.
M1 Racecars was represented on the podium at 12 of the 13 TA2 rounds in 2023, highlighted by a pair of victories by two-time series champion Rafa Matos of Peterson Racing.
Team SLR’s Dillon Machavern and Thad Moffitt both scored podium finishes, as did TeamSLR driver Connor Mosack at the season-opening event at Sebring, when he qualified on the pole and led the first 19 laps of the race before finishing third.
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