Information By: LAZ DENES / SILVER HARE RACING – PITTSBURGH, PA
Overview:
Date: June 9, 2024
Event: Pitt Race SpeedTour (Round 6 of 12)
Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli
Division: Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series
Location: Pittsburgh International Race Complex
Layout: 2.75-mile, 19-turn road course
Format: 36 laps or 75 minutes
Weather: Sunny, mid-60s
Winner: Rafa Matos of Nitro Motorsports
TeamSLR:
● Carson Kvapil – Started 10th, Finished 3rd (Running, completed 36/36 laps)
● Barry Boes – Started 7th, Finished 9th (Running, completed 36/36 laps)
Noteworthy:
● In his first race since running back-to-back events last summer at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington and Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Kvapil delivered TeamSLR and M1 Racecars a second consecutive podium finish. Even Slater finished second in the previous round May 25 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut.
● Boes’ 10th-place overall finish today was best among competitors in the Pro-Am Challenge class. It was his third Pro-Am victory of the season, the first two coming back-to-back at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to start the season.
● Boes’ qualifying effort of seventh this weekend equaled his career- and season-best, first set in May 2019 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, then again at this year’s previous round two weekends ago at Lime Rock.
Carson Kvapil, Driver No. 28 Team Chevrolet/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“It was a really fun experience here today at Pittsburgh. We really seemed to have a pretty good car. Didn’t qualify great, I guess you would say, but I knew in the race we were just going to have a better long-run car than most of them, and fortunately we were able to keep the car on track and drive the TeamSLR Chevrolet to a good finish. We were able to catch him (the third-place car) throughout the long run there at the end and kind of ran him down. He locked up going into (turn) three and I just got a good run on him going into turn six and climbed the hill better, then got to the outside and made the pass. It was an overall great day for us, just stayed on track and learned as much as we could. Can’t thank Scott Lagasse Jr. and all the TeamSLR guys enough for giving me a great car, and Chevrolet, Scott Speed and Josh Wise for giving me this opportunity to come out here and run. It was a lot of fun.”
Barry Boes, Driver No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:
“We had a good solid qualifying effort, qualified in front of a bunch of people I’m not normally in front of, guys like (defending-champion) Thomas Merrill, big names right behind me, so I was excited and a little concerned about the start. At the start, my lane was the one that didn’t go, so I ended up having to give up a few spots. But the car was fantastic and I was just steadily making up spots for the rest of the race. If it had gone on longer, I would have made up more. The car was really good at the start, and then it fell off a little bit, and then it started to come back again and it was so much better overall. I just want to thank M1 Racecars and the entire TeamSLR team, and Carson Kvapil for coming out and driving as a teammate with me and helping me out this weekend. We all work and put it together.”
Next Up:
Round seven of the 2024 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series takes Silver Hare Racing to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington for the Mid-Ohio SpeedTour, June 20-22. The three-day weekend kicks off with a pair of TA2 test sessions the afternoon of Thursday, June 20. TA2 practice is set for 12:05 p.m. Friday, June 21, followed by qualifying at 4:50 p.m. The 45-lap, 75-minute TA2 race around the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course is set for 12:40 p.m. Saturday, June 22, with series partner MAVTV providing live television coverage augmented via live video stream on the Trans Am channel on YouTube.