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Cooler Issues Lead to Power Steering Trouble for Lanie Buice and Connor Mosack; M1 Racecars Driver Jared Odrick Sweeps Pro-Am Challenge Class Victories
Overview
Date: April 26, 2026
Event: Sonoma Doubleheader (Round 4 of 12)
Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli
Division: CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series
Location: Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway
Layout: 2.52-mile, 11-turn road course
Format: 40 laps or 75 minutes
Weather: Partly sunny, lower-60s
Winner: Helio Meza of TeamSLR
TeamSLR:
● Helio Meza – Started 1st, Finished 1st (Running, completed 40/40 laps)
● Alon Day – Started 2nd, Finished 2nd (Running, completed 40/40 laps)
● Lanie Buice – Started 4th, Finished 25th (Running, completed 36/40 laps)
● Connor Mosack – Started 3rd, Finished 31st (Cooler, completed 12/40 laps)
M1 Racecars:
● Jared Odrick – Started 14th, Finished 7th (Running, completed 40/40 laps)
● John Moore – Started 30th, Finished 21st (Running, completed 38/40 laps)
● Tim Carroll – Started 13th, Finished 23rd (Accident, completed 38/40 laps)
Noteworthy:
● Sunday’s victory was the fourth in four events this season for Meza, the 18-year-old from Houston, and his fifth in five career CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series starts dating back to the 2025 season finale at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. It was also the 11th win in a row for TeamSLR dating back to 15-year-old Tristan McKee’s triumph at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington last June en route to the 2025 TA2 Series championship.
● Day, the 34-year-old from Ashdod, Israel, and four-time NASCAR Euro Series champion, took the runner-up spot for the second day in a row in his fourth career TA2 Series start.
● Buice, the 19-year-old from Jackson, Georgia, who Saturday became the first female winner in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Western Championship with her sixth-place finish overall, started fourth Sunday and held position in the top-six before a cooler issue midway through the race sent her to pit lane for repairs, dropping her four laps off the pace.
● Mosack, the 27-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, followed up on his third-place finish Saturday with an early exit Sunday, also with a cooler issue. He climbed to second in the opening two laps and held that position until the cooler issue began to develop on lap seven. The car was retired after completing 12 laps.
● Odrick, the 2025 TA2 Series Pro-Am Challenge champion, won the class for the second day in a row and the third time in four races this season with his seventh-place finish overall in his No. 00 Black Underwear/M1 Racecars Camaro for Troy Benner Autosport. He was also victorious in the March 1 season opener at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway.
● Two other Western Championship competitors took to the track Saturday in M1 Racecars equipment – Southern Californian Carroll in the No. 46 Carroll Racing Development Ford Mustang, and Northern Californian Moore in the JM Environmental Ford Mustang.
Helio Meza, Driver, No. 28 Alessandros Racing/Chevrolet/SLR-M1 Racecars Camaro:
“This is unbelievable – five wins in a row, four in my rookie season. Five-for-five. I couldn’t do it without my amazing team, TeamSLR. I did a test with them at the end of last year at Virginia. When I first got to meet them, they were super professional, they were like a family, but they all worked hard, and they’re perfectionists just like I am. I’m always trying to chase those little details, whether it’s trying to get better as a driver, the media, whatever it may be, and they’re always working their butts off to make the cars fast. When you put a combo like that together – and obviously Alon, as well, he has a lot of history, and good results – we’re just a powerhouse of a team and it shows. I’ve got to thank Chevrolet and Alessandros Racing for allowing me to race and have a competitive racecar in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series. I’ve got to thank Racing America for broadcasting all of this, and my family from L.A., who came up to watch. They’re always supporting me and watching on Racing America. There are just so many people behind me that make this possible, so I can’t thank everyone enough. Now we’re ready for Lime Rock next.”
Alon Day, Driver, No. 17 JSSI/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“Overall, let’s be honest, it was a very successful weekend, not only for me personally, but also for TeamSLR. I’m very happy with the results we came away with. Unfortunately, Connor and Lanie had issues in today’s race, otherwise everything could’ve been even better. But I’m very happy with the JSSI car. We got quite a lot of points, which is the most important thing right now for the championship. And there is always work to do. Somebody needs to stop Helio from winning so much. (Laughs.) In the end, he’s my teammate and he’s a good guy, but I’m here to win. The special thing about this team is we all work together and we all learn from each other, no matter if you’re 18 years old or 34.”
Lanie Buice, Driver, No. 27 Sunoco/Guthrie’s Garage/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“I’m really excited about the weekend that we put together. I feel great about the progress that we made, winning my first race with Trans Am in the Western Championship and being competitive both days, qualifying well. Starting fourth overall today was really exciting, as well. We were running, I think, fifth or sixth when my power steering went off, went out today, which was very unfortunate. But super proud of the Sunoco Race Fuels/Guthrie’s Garage Chevrolet that TeamSLR brings to the racetrack, and couldn’t be more grateful for the hard work that they put into weekends like this. These doubleheaders are a little rough. They’re long weekends. But I’m glad we made it as far as we did. Hopefully we’ll come back at Lime Rock in a few weeks and we’ll be up front again.”
Connor Mosack, Driver, No. 48 Friends of Jaclyn/Guthrie’s Garage/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“It was something with the cooler related to the power steering, I’m not totally sure. I didn’t lose power steering, completely, it was kind of cutting in and out and it basically just made things super unpredictable and it was starting to get worse. It wasn’t really worth crashing the thing, trying to ride around in whatever position we were at that point. We were kind of hoping for a caution, so we stayed out there for a few laps, but it didn’t seem like we were going to get one. Definitely a tough break. I feel like we made a really good couple of adjustments from yesterday. It made the car quite a bit better. We got in second at the start and were kind of riding there behind Helio. It felt like we were pretty even with him. I was just planning to save my stuff for the second half of the race but never got an opportunity to see where we were going to end up. So, an unfortunate end. I felt like it could’ve been a pretty interesting race there at the end, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see.”
Next Up:
Round five of the 2026 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series takes competitors to New England for the traditional Memorial Day weekend race at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut May 21-23. The event kicks off with a pair of TA2 test sessions Thursday (May 21) at 11:45 a.m. and 4:50 p.m. EDT. Official TA2 practice is set for 11:50 a.m. Friday (May 22), followed by TA2 qualifying at 4:45 p.m. Th68-lap, 75-minute race around the 1.478-mile, seven-turn circuit is set for 3 p.m. Saturday (May 23) with live streaming video provided by RacingAmerica.tv and the @GoTransAm page on YouTube.
-TeamSLR-