Story By: LAZ DENES / TEAMSLR – ST. AUGUSTINE, FL – It’s been a story of steady progress for TeamSLR newcomers Barry Boes and Gavan Boschele through the opening two rounds of the 2024 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series season.
They next head to the 2.75-mile, 16-turn circuit at NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, Louisiana, ready to take another giant step forward in Sunday’s round three, and they’re welcoming a young TA2 newcomer to the team in 16-year-old Floridian Julian DaCosta.
Boes, the sixth-year TA2 competitor from Ooltewah, Tennessee, opened the season with back-to-back Pro-Am Championship-class victories at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway in February and at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta last month behind the wheel of his No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang. He’ll look to make it three in a row this weekend in his second career TA2 appearance at NOLA, where his first outing last season – the TA2 Series’ first since 2016 – ended on lap 10 due to a fuel delivery issue in a BC Cars entry. Boes finished 13th overall at Sebring, best of the 14 cars in the 38-car field vying for the season-long Pro-Am title, maneuvering his way forward from his 22nd qualifying position during the 27-lap race around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn circuit. He qualified 10th and finished eighth overall three weekends ago at Road Atlanta.
The weekend prior to the TA2 Series season opener at Sebring, Boes scored back-to-back GT2-class victories at NOLA during an SCCA Hoosier Super Tour Saturday-Sunday doubleheader.
Boschele, the 16-year-old from Mooresville, North Carolina, will be making just his third career TA2 start this weekend in the No. 28 SLR-M1 Racecars entry after finishes of 16th at Sebring and ninth at Road Atlanta. The development driver joined TeamSLR this season looking to improve his road-racing craft after winning more than 300 races and dozens of track and series championships in everything from Quarter Midgets to Sprint karts, Micro Sprints, dirt Midgets, 360 and 410 Sprint cars, and pavement Late Models.
DaCosta, who hails from Myakka City, Florida, joins the three-car TeamSLR entry this weekend after getting his first taste of driving an M1 Racecars TA2 machine in an SVRA vintage class three weekends ago at Road Atlanta. He made steady gains through that weekend and earned his SCCA Pro Racing license in the process. This weekend, he’ll be part of the 19-car TA2 field behind the wheel of the No. 17 SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro for his first taste of the challenging NOLA circuit. The young Floridian was a Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout finalist while running a limited schedule in that series last year, and has competed in the series’ first four rounds this season at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Sebring.
Riding along with this weekend’s TeamSLR drivers and their M1 Racecars this weekend, as it will all season long, is Nashville, Tennessee-based Franklin Road Apparel Company, which has been a longtime team supporter.
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. At this year’s Sebring season opener, Austin Green of the two-car Peterson Racing contingent was the top-finishing M1 Racecars entry with his fifth-place result.
A pair of Friday test sessions kick off this weekend’s on-track action at 10:30 and 3:30 p.m. CDT. TA2 practice is set for 9:50 a.m. Saturday, followed by qualifying at 3:35 p.m. Race time for Sunday’s 37-lap, 75-minute NOLA SpeedTour is 1:10 p.m. with series partner MAVTV providing live television coverage, augmented by live streaming video on the Trans Am and SpeedTour channels on YouTube. MAVTV will air a 60-minute race show at 8 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 18.
Barry Boes, Driver, No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:
Talk about your first two race outings with TeamSLR, both of which resulted in victories in the Pro-Am Championship class.
“It’s been fantastic. I’m qualifying better than I have and I feel like I have come so far as a driver. That tells me that all of the time and effort we’ve put in has helped, and having a car that’s right every time it rolls off the trailer and allows me to get right to work has helped. Not to mention, this race program is amazingly magical, somehow. The racecar grips, it’s forgiving, it’s just amazing and I’m looking forward to taking the next steps this weekend at NOLA.”
You’ve already won a pair of SCCA Super Hoosier Tour races at NOLA this year. Do you expect that experience to carry over into this weekend for you?
“Well, rumor has it they’ve done some repaving since that weekend in February, so my thoughts are it would be a shame because there are a lot of secrets at NOLA that have to do with how the pavement is. The pavement has created some character over time, so all of those secrets might be gone, now, and everybody going there gets to start all over again. We’ll see what the situation is when we get down there. I say it’s kind of a shame in a way, but I also tend to learn a new track and come in at a better rate than other guys, on average. We go somewhere like Detroit, where no one’s ever been before last year’s race, and I do better than I usually do. So in some ways, this might turn out to be a brand new racetrack and that could be an opportunity for me.”
Gavan Boschele, Driver, No. 27 SLR-M1 Racecars Entry:
You’re headed to your third-ever TA2 race after showing steady progress in the first two events at Sebring and Road Atlanta. What are your thoughts about this weekend’s race at NOLA?
“I feel really good. I’m heading down there early so I can get in a track walk and get a good look at it and learn it. It could be somewhat of a level playing field since the series raced there just last year for the first time in a long time. Most of these guys have so much more experience than me and I’m seeing all of these tracks for the very first time. I’ve been watching a ton of video trying to learn what the racing is like there. I’m looking forward to getting there early and learning from the Lagasses about the best ways to get around that place. Otherwise, I’ve been taking it easy since the last race, getting recharged and ready to get back into the racecar this weekend. It looks like a cool track. It looks pretty simple compared to Road Atlanta. Road Atlanta is pretty technical and has a lot of blind corners. This track doesn’t have any of that so it’ll be nice to see a few turns up the track. That will be a good thing, definitely.”
Are you happy with how things are going so far?
“I think I’m getting the hang of racing these TA2 cars and against these drivers. Getting to learn tracks that I’ve never been to is a big part of it, especially against guys who have the advantage of racing these tracks for a long time. I think I learned a lot at the last race and the race before, so hopefully we can get it done this weekend. I’ve always liked the TA2 cars. I was excited about them from the first time I got in one.”
Julian DaCosta, Driver, No. 17 SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
You got your first taste of driving an M1 Racecars TA2 Camaro last month at Road Atlanta, albeit competing in an SVRA vintage class. What are your thoughts as you head to NOLA for your first true TA2 race?
“I have not been to NOLA, so I’ve been doing a lot of training and everything on the sim. I’m pretty excited, I think it will go well, I hope it will go well. Overall, I’m just hoping to keep everything clean, and listen and learn. I tested things out at Road Atlanta a few weeks ago, running the TA2 car in the vintage class so I could get my license. I had one main instruction, which was to not push the car and not wreck. So I went around and felt everything out. It’s a fun car, obviously different from anything I’ve driven. It seems to be similar to a Late Model, but turning left and right. The car’s got a lot of power and you have to learn to use that and not just floor it and hope for the best. The MX-5 Cup cars are all about momentum and rolling speed through the turn, so I feel like if you’re able to do that in these TA2 cars, I think you’ll be really good.”
What stands out to you about that track from the sim work and video you’ve studied, and what will be your approach to navigating through this weekend?
“I think my favorite turn is going to be either turn one, or the combination of all the esses. I think they look fun and are a great part of the track, it adds a lot to getting around the track. A lot of tracks in America have high-speed esses like that, but usually it’s just one or two. I like how at this track it’s a whole series of lefts and rights and it flows. I’m definitely looking forward to learning from Scott Sr., and Scott Jr. They do an awesome job on the car, prepping, driver development, all around they do just an awesome job so I’m really excited to work with them.”