Helio Meza Victorious at Sebring Season Opener

March 1, 2026

18-Year-Old Chevrolet Developent Driver Two-for-Two in TA2 Competition and Delivers TeamSLR’s Eighth Straight Victory; Incidents Hamper Promising Finishes for Connor Mosack, Alon Day and Lanie Buice

M1 Racecars Driver Jared Odrick Opens Pro-Am Title Defense with Class Win

Overview: 
Date: March 1, 2026
Event: Sebring Season Opener (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, 170-turn road course
Format: 27 laps or 75 minutes
Weather: Partly cloudy, upper-70s
TA2 Winner: Helio Meza of TeamSLR

TeamSLR:
Helio Meza – Started 1st, Finished 1st (Running, completed 26/26 laps)
Connor Mosack – Started 23rd, Finished 18th (Running, completed 26/26 laps)
Alon Day – Started 5th, Finished 22nd (Accident, completed 24/26 laps)
Lanie Buice – Started 6th, Finished 27th (Running, completed 18/26 laps)

M1 Racecars:
Jared Odrick – Started 15th, Finished 7th (Running, completed 26/26 laps)

Noteworthy:
-Meza, the 18-year-old from Houston, remained unbeaten in only his second career CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series start and delivered TeamSLR’s eighth consecutive win dating back to the team’s victory last June at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington by eventual 2025 champion Tristan McKee. Like he did in the 2025 season finale last November at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, Meza started on the pole and drove his way to the top step of the podium. He led every lap along the way Sunday and was never threatened.

-Mosack, the 27-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, who drove fulltime for TeamSLR in 2021 and 2022, finishing top-four in the championship both years, made a valiant charge from 25th on the grid Sunday and was fighting for a podium finish when he was hit from behind on the final restart with two laps to go. Mosack was not able to participate in Saturday’s official TA2 practice session, which ended up determining the starting grid for the race after rain washed out qualifying, as he was competing in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Grand Prix circuit.

-Day, the 34-year-old from Ashdod, Israel, made his TA2 Series debut this weekend. The four-time NASCAR Euro Series champion qualified fifth and maintained his position in the top-five until the latter part of the race, climbing has high as second place in the closing laps. But mayhem on the next-to-last restart left him with damage that did not allow him to complete the final two laps.

-Buice, the 19-year-old from Jackson, Georgia, was making her third career TA2 Series start. From her sixth starting position, the Chevrolet development driver maintained her relative position until making contact with the tire barrier in turn 17 while navigating traffic. The team made repairs that enabled Buice to return to the track to finish the race.

-Odrick, the 2025 TA2 Series Pro-Am Challenge-class champion, picked up where he left off in Sunday’s season opener. His seventh-place finish overall was best among the 12 Pro-Am competitors in the field. It was the eighth top-two class finish and 10th class podium in the last 13 events for the driver of the No. 00 Black Underwear/M1 Racecars Camaro for Troy Benner Autosport.

Helio Meza, Driver, No. 28 Alessandros Racing/Chevrolet/SLR-M1 Racecars Camaro: 
“That was a fun drive. I just took the approach of enjoying this weekend. Last month I didn’t know if I was going to run the full season this year. And so, to now be a fulltime driver in this series is a dream come true for me. Another win for us. Can’t thank TeamSLR, Alessandros Racing, Chevrolet, M1 Racecars – just my whole team – enough. I mean, they worked so hard for this opportunity and I just can’t thank everyone enough. Josh Wise, Scott Speed, everyone at Chevrolet, we prepped so hard in the offseason for this race, and I felt like I’d already driven this race 1,000 times. And so I got on the track and I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t do this without the people behind me, my family, my mom, my dad, always being there for me. This one means a lot, and it’s definitely a confidence booster for the season.”

Connor Mosack, Driver, No. 48 Guthrie's Garage/Roaring Pines Motorclub/M1 Racecars Entry: 
“It was a fun race till two to go. We started 25th and slowly worked our way forward. I was a little worried with how many caution laps we ran that we weren’t going to have enough time to get up there. But guys were dicing it up pretty hard at the front and that kind of allowed me to make up a few spots every restart. I didn’t feel like we really had the raw speed in our car. We struggled for grip a lot of the day, but we were just good enough to make some moves and then hold them off on the restarts. But then it got kind of a hectic on the last restart. I think somebody missed a shift and I got up to third place and then just got run into from behind. He made a late move, and I’d already started to turn in the corner and just never saw him at that point. Got hit in the right rear turning in the corner, and obviously that set us back. But overall still a fun day. I’m glad we got one car in victory lane with Helio. It’s always fun to be back with the Lagasse guys, and good to have Roaring Pines Motorclub on the car for the first time. I’m looking forward to being back later this year.”

Alon Day, Driver, No. 17 JSSI/SLR-M1 Racecars/Chevrolet Camaro: 
“What can I say? The car was so good. The JSSI car was amazingly good. We started P5, and I was fighting for a podium late in the race. I was fighting for second place and had an unfortunate situation in turn one. It seems like I got squeezed so hard, and then it’s either I hit the wall or I hit him. Then, from there, it just snowballed. The damage was too severe. It’s really unfortunate. I didn’t want to open the season like that, but we have to work on things and come back stronger at Road Atlanta.”

Lanie Buice, Driver, No. 27 Sunoco/Guthrie's Garage/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro: 
“First of all, I’m super grateful for this whole TeamSLR team and all the support that I have behind me. My No. 27 Sunoco Race Fuels, M1 Racecars, Guthrie’s Garage Chevrolet was really fast. I’m just super grateful for the whole Chevrolet team for giving me the opportunity to come out here, and all the people that have made it possible for me to race here with TeamSLR. I’m feeling OK about the day, the weekend. I felt really good about practice and all the progress that we made. I’m feeling really supported by the whole group, so we’re going to keep pushing and figure out what we can do better, especially what I can do better, and come back in two weeks at Road Atlanta and see what we can do there. (On the incident on lap nine) I got super free on entry and tried to lock it down and got in a little bit hard, and I’m sure the air (in traffic) didn’t really help my case, either. A weird corner for me – I’m not really used to turning onto a really sweeping righthander on a flat surface. I’m going to go through all the data and really focus on figuring out how to be better next time. It’s a big learning curve for me and I’m going to just try and make as much progress as I can as quickly as I can. I want to be good at this stuff, so we’re going to keep pushing and figuring out what I’ve got to do to keep getting better at this.”

Next Up: 
Round two of the 2026 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series season is two weeks hence at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, March 12-14. The weekend begins Thursday (March 12) with a pair of TA2 test sessions set for 11:40 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. EDT. Official practice and qualifying are set for Friday (March 13) at 10:45 a.m. and 5:05 p.m. The 40-lap, 75-minute race around the 2.54-mile, 11-turn Road Atlanta circuit is set for 12:10 p.m. with live coverage provided by RacingAmerica.tv and the GoTransAm page on YouTube.

About TeamSLR:         
TeamSLR (Scott Lagasse Racing) competes fulltime in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli 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 130 races and 10 championships across a variety of series and styles of racecars, from paved ovals to road courses to dirt tracks. TeamSLR would like to thank its supporters CUBE 3 Architecture, Franklin Road Apparel, Kallberg Racing, and Guthrie’s Garage. For more information, please visit us online at www.TeamSLR.com, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and on LinkedIn.

About M1 Racecars:
M1 is an Official Chassis Supplier to the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli. M1 Racecars are professionally engineered for the Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series, SCCA Competition, and Track Day events. We offer chassis only, rolling chassis and complete race-ready builds in Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger body styles. We utilize only the highest quality materials and our race-winning technology to produce the most stable and predictable racecar on the track today. The proprietary chassis design by M1 has been CAD-perfected by our engineering staff to ensure that each completed chassis is identical and performs as expected. Our chassis materials are CNC Mandrel bent and cut to our exacting standards, which results in the most precise and cost-effective build. M1 has selected Scott Lagasse Racing to be the exclusive distributor for M1 Racecars worldwide. The race team also provides M1 with vital technical assistance and on-track feedback to support our performance development efforts. This combination is a powerful asset to M1 and to every M1 customer.