TeamSLR Ready for Challenges of VIR

 Dillon Machavern, Thad Moffitt Turn Focus to Penultimate Trans Am Round of 2023; M1 Racecars Alliance with Fields Racing Brings Chris Liesfeld Back to Home Track

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Oct. 4, 2023) – It’s been five years since Scott Lagasse Jr., drove to his first career TA2 victory during the 2018 Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton. It was made all the sweeter as the NASCAR and ARCA Menards Series veteran still considered himself a relative road-course newbie driving for the team he co-owns with his father, Scott Lagasse Sr.

Coming off a dominating run from the pole during the previous round at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International that ended in heartbreaking fashion, the younger Lagasse qualified on the pole once again at VIR, then rallied back from an off-course excursion early in the race and held off championship-winning Trans Am drivers and seasoned road racers Tony Ave and Rafa Matos on his way to the checkered flag.

This year’s fulltime TeamSLR drivers Dillon Machavern and Thad Moffitt would like nothing better than to give the Lagasse father-and-son tandem cause to celebrate once again at VIR when the Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series heads to the 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit that sits just above the Virginia-North Carolina state line for Sunday’s 30-lap, 75-minute VIR SpeedTour race.

The 28-year old Machavern, driver of the No. 17 Heritage Automotive/Unifirst/M1 Racecars Ford Mustang for TeamSLR who hails from Charlotte, Vermont, is a veteran road racer by his own right and admits to logging more laps at VIR than any other track. The lion’s share of those came while he was earning his degree in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship from 2013 to 2017 just down the highway at High Point (N.C.) University. This weekend marks Machavern’s first visit to VIR in a TA2 car since 2019, when he drove to a runner-up finish en route to second place in the season-ending championship. Last season at VIR, Machavern qualified on the pole and co-drove with fellow veteran Bill Auberlen to a sixth-place finish in an IMSA Challenge Series race. Machavern won the 2017 IMSA Challenge Series race at the track, and has also been victorious there in multiple classes there of SCCA competition.

Moffitt, the 23-year-old grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty, has found consistency as he approaches the end of his rookie season on the TA2 tour and looks to continue in that direction this weekend. He’s coming off his second of back-to-back top-five finishes two weekends ago at World Wide Technology Raceway across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis. He sits second in the TA2 rookie standings after posting four top-10s in his last five races, which include a runner-up finish on the downtown streets of Detroit in June, back-to-back eighth-place finishes at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in late July and the first weekend of August on the downtown streets of Nashville, and his fifth-place run at Watkins Glen last month.

TeamSLR’s M1 Racecars alliance with Fields Racing also brings a familiar face back to VIR this weekend as Chris Liesfeld, the 48-year-old veteran from Richmond, Virginia, will be behind the wheel of his No. 96 Fields Racing/M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro for the second time this season and first since the Nashville street race. Liesfeld owns and operates Fields Racing, which has competed in an array of racing disciplines over the years, including Stock Car Championship Series, Spec Miata, SCCA Pro, and Trans Am. He’s raced raced and succeeded at VIR in numerous racing disciplines, and in 2017 scored a GT3-class victory there during an SCCA regional event. Liesfeld finished 12^th in last year’s TA2 event at VIR.

Joining TeamSLR and Fields Racing in the contingent of M1 Racecars among 32 TA2 entries this weekend will be the three-car effort of Peterson Racing, featuring drivers Matos, Austin Green and Boris Said Jr., as well as Jade Buford in the single-car entry from Big Machine Racing.

M1 Racecars has been represented on the podium at all 11 TA2 rounds so far this season, highlighted by a pair of victories by Matos. Machavern and Moffitt have each been on the podium this season, as was TeamSLR driver Connor Mosack at the season-opening event at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, where he qualified on the pole and led the first 19 laps of the race before finishing third.

A pair of Friday test sessions kick off this weekend’s on-track action at noon and 3:25 p.m. EDT. TA2 practice is set for 11:10 a.m. Saturday, followed by qualifying at 5:25 p.m. Race time Sunday is 1:35 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, Oct. 12.

Dillon Machavern, Driver, No. 17 Heritage Automotive/Unifirst/SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:

Chris Green | ChrisGreenPhoto.com

You’re headed to the familiar confines of VIR this weekend. Any special thoughts about that facility?

“VIR is one of my favorites. I probably have more laps there than anywhere else because I went to school about an hour from there at High Point University, so there were times I would go to class in the morning, go do a practice session, then go back and take my afternoon classes. The reason I ended up going to High Point was because I wanted to pursue racing and it was very centrally located. Living in Vermont, there really wasn’t anything close by. So VIR was the easiest track to get to while I was in school, and I did a ton of racing while I was there.”

How would you describe racing at VIR, and how challenging is it to lay down a good lap there?

“It certainly has a lot of character. A lot of compromise, I would say, would be the theme at that track. If you think about getting through turns one and two, you want to make sure you’re not overzealous getting through there because it’ll really mess up your entry into three. And then as you get into the tighter stuff, it gets really technical and tight and slow there, leading up to the esses. There are so many opportunities that you can get ahead of yourself, which sacrifices your exits that are really important to your lap time. The esses are a rhythm section, then compromising through Oak Tree (turns 11 and 12) where you want to carry the center of those corners so you can get a nice, long run onto the back straightaway. Then you want to get things just right going through Roller Coaster (turns 14 and 14a), coming down the hill there that leads you to the final turn and onto the frontstraight.”

You’re down to the final two races of the season. Your goals?

“It’ll be important to finish these last two races. We do pretty well when we finish, but it seems like it’s been a struggle to do that at times. Other than that, we’ve been relatively successful when we’ve been finishing the races. Looking for some consistent finishes to end the season, hopefully get a couple of trophies before it’s all said and done. It’s never easy because this series is so competitive, but I’d like to think we can get a couple more trophies.”

Thad Moffitt, Driver, No. 43 Safety-Kleen/Victory Impact/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:

You’ve got some momentum with VIR next on tap this weekend. What are your expectations?

“I think we’ve got some momentum coming off back-to-back top-fives. It was something we talked about midway through the year. I know we came into this year wanting to win races, but about midyear we started aiming at finishing in the top-five on a consistent basis. Now that we’ve got a back-to-back top-five finishes, I think we just need to continue riding that momentum and see what happens. We’ve got the speed to run well, and of course a couple of things went our way to get us to that point.”

It’ll be your first time racing at VIR, which has been the case for you at most of the tracks on this year’s schedule. What do you know about VIR?

“I actually had a chance to experience a ride-along event there earlier this year, and a couple of months ago I was there for a track day with Scott Jr. With that being said, VIR is a place where I know where all the corners are. It’s got a little bit of everything. You’ve got to be good everywhere. It’s got the long straightaways, it’s got the technical corners, the uphill esses, which is probably my favorite part of the racetrack. My second-favorite part of the racetrack is the tricky part where you’re trying to slow down but you’re going down the hill (turns 14 and 14a), so it’s about trying to make it all work. It’s really a rhythm racetrack. We’ll want to keep our head down, keep grinding like we have been the last couple of races and continue building on that momentum. I don’t think getting a win these last two races is outside the realm of possibility. I think we might need some luck or to find something big in order for us to get a win, but you never know because this is a first-class team. We’ll just keep doing the best we can. As long as we can keep our nose clean and show good speed like we’ve had, I think we can have another solid weekend. I see no reason why we shouldn’t be in the top-five and chasing another podium.”

You’re down to the final two races of your rookie TA2 season. How would you assess your progress this year?

“I’ve been really happy with the progression. Scott Sr., and Scott Jr., both seem to be happy. It shows by the results. We had a couple of bad races to start the summer after running 12^th to 15^th in the first few races, then we had a streak where we were in the top-eight a couple of races in a row. And now we finished fifth two races in a row. Gradually, I’ve gotten better at road racing. I’m not where I want to be, but it’s a skill that I feel like I’ve gotten much better at through the course of our 11 races so far this year. All in all, just learning how to brake properly and downshift properly, all that stuff I’ve cleaned up a lot. The more I do it, just like anything else, the more seat time and the more reps I get, it seems to be a lot cleaner and a lot better than where I started at the beginning of the year. I definitely have more to go, but I’m happy with the progress we’ve made.”

Chris Liesfeld, Driver, No. 96 Fields Racing/M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:

You’re back for your second race of the season at what is essentially your home racetrack. Your thoughts?

“I actually planned on doing more races this year than I did last year, but work has just gotten in the way. I’ve been to a few races just to help work on the cars but only got to drive one other time. So I’m happy to actually be back behind the wheel this weekend at what is definitely my home track. It’s still a very challenging track that I haven’t totally figured out. VIR has certain key corners that you have to get right. Oak Tree (turns 11 and 12) is one, and Roller Coaster (turns 14 and 14a) is another, where you’re at very high speed where you’re braking heavily into what’s essentially a hairpin.”

You’ve been very hands-on in getting your No. 96 Fields Racing/M1 Racecars Camaro for this weekend. Does that allow you to focus more on the driving side of things once you get there?

“It’s good that the car is ready, so I don’t have to worry about that and I can focus on the driving and getting the car dialed in on the track. I’m feeling as ready as I can be to have a good weekend. I’ve been doing a lot of sim work, trying new things there, reviewing video of Connor Mosack’s fast laps at the track. There’s definitely speed there to be found, so it’s on me at this point to get in there and make it happen.”

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 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.

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