Runner-Up Finish Leads the Way for Team SLR at COTA

Cameron Lawrence Pulls Off Near Victory on His Home Track, Thad Moffitt Rallies for 10^th, Mechanical Issue Thwarts Dillon Machavern’s Bid

Overview

Date: Nov. 5, 2023

Event: Mission Foods Austin SpeedTour (Round 13 of 13)

Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli

Division: Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series

Location: Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas

Layout: 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course

Format: 30 laps or 75 minutes

Weather: Sunny, high-60s

Winner: Thomas Annunziata of Nitro Motorsports

TeamSLR:

> Cameron Lawrence – Started 7^th, Finished 2^nd (Running, completed 27/27 laps)

> Thad Moffitt – Started 23^th, Finished 10^th (Running, completed 27/27 laps)

> Dillon Machavern – Started 13^th, Finished 46^th (Steering, completed 7/27 laps)

Noteworthy:

Today’s second-place finish by Lawrence and third-place finish by Austin Green of Peterson Motorsports gives M1 Racecars drivers 16 podiums this season. M1 Racecars was represented on the podium at 12 of 13 races. Previous podium finishes by M1 Racecars competitors in 2023:

Sebring, Feb. 26: Rafa Matos (Peterson Racing) first, Green second, Connor Mosack (Team SLR) third after qualifying on the pole and leading 20 of the 27 race laps.

NOLA, March 11: Matos third.

Road Atlanta, March 26: Matos third after starting on the pole.

Lime Rock, May 28: Mike Skeen (Peterson Racing) second.

Detroit 1, June 3: Matos second.

Detroit 2, June 4: Moffitt second.

Mid-Ohio, June 25: Matos first after qualifying on the pole and leading all 45 race laps, Machavern third.

Road America, July 9: Jade Buford (Big Machine Racing) third.

Nashville, Aug. 5: Matos third.

Watkins Glen, Sept. 10: Machavern third.

Gateway, Sept. 24: Green third.

Cameron Lawrence, Driver No. 8 Averitt Express/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:

“I keep getting dragged back into this, it seems like (laughs). It’s usually fun racing. The cars are some of the best cars out there, for sure. Definitely thanks to Mr. Ellis and the Averitt Express guys for making the call for me to be out here. It helps being local, I love racing here at home. Hopefully everything is alright with the Bupps. We miss Jordan, wish he was here. But thanks to the Lagasses and all the guys, they gave me a great car all weekend. It was a good race. Qualifying put us back farther than we wanted to be and then we kind of got stuck there for a long time. We didn’t get lucky with restarts, and then we did, we had a really good restart, and by the time we got to turn 12, we made another move and picked off two or three that lap. Then we went into 15 looking like we were going to pick off one more but then I saw the leaders looking like they were going to take each other out, so I almost closed my eyes and turned left for the apex, and as soon as I got there stood on the gas and can’t believe we didn’t touch anybody or do anything and we drove away with the lead. I feel bad for these guys because I gave it away at the end there, just locked up, chattered the rear tires going into the braking zone. But we ended up walking away with a second-place finish. All in all, great weekend. These guys deserve more, but I think we’re all happy to end the season P2. Excited for the year to be done, now we get to go have a baby and relax for a few months and get back into it. ”

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

“An eventful day at Circuit of the Americas. It started out at turn one on lap one, I got some damage on the front end and knocked the toe out and just kind of hung on for the majority of the race. It ended up working out in our favor because it was a survival race and I feel like we would’ve been right there in the middle of where everything was happening had we not got some damage early. In hindsight, it might have been the best thing for us. A little bit of damage in the beginning hurt our chances of running solid all day, and somehow we ended up coming away with a top-10. Overall, a decent finish to our year. I think 23^rd to 10^th is not a bad way to end the year. Had a great time with the Lagasses and all these guys this year. I learned a lot. I’ll be back again next year to run some races and I’m looking forward to it.”

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

“It was an unfortunate end to the season. The guys did a great job all year, but we were just fighting little pesky things, and I guess today’s race was a culmination of all those small issues. It’s too bad because I think we had a pretty decent car moving forward, but mechanical failures are part of racing. It’s unfortunate for the guys because it’s certainly not for a lack of effort. They put in a lot of work all year to make this thing work. It’s part of the deal, and there are good seasons and not-so-good seasons in racing. Just feel bad we weren’t able to finish it out on a high.”

Next Up

The 2024 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series season kicks off with the traditional Sebring SpeedTour at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway the weekend of Feb. 22-25. The complete weekend schedule will be announced at a later date.

-TeamSLR-