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Teen Tristan McKee Goes Pole to Checkered Flag for Second Career Victory; Fellow Teen Carson Brown Scores First TA2 Podium
Overview:
Date: July 12, 2025
Event: Watkins Glen SpeedTour (Round 8 of 12)
Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli
Division: Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series
Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
Layout: 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course
Format: 30 laps or 75 minutes
Weather: Sunny, upper-80s
TA2 Winner: Tristan McKee of TeamSLR
TeamSLR:
- Tristan McKee – Started 1st, Finished 1st (Running, completed 30/30 laps)
- Carson Brown – Started 3rd, Finished 3rd (Running, completed 30/30 laps)
- Barry Boes – Started 4th, Finished 12th (Running, completed 30/30 laps)
M1 Racecars:
- Jared Odrick – Started 13th, Finished 23rd (Mechanical, completed 6/30 laps)
Noteworthy:
- The 14-year-old McKee drove to his second career TA2 Series victory in his 10th career start. It was his second win in the last three races and his sixth consecutive podium finish. He also earned his first career TA2 Series pole in qualifying Saturday morning. And like he did June 22 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, where he led all 42 race laps from the second starting position en route to his maiden victory, McKee led all 30 laps today. With his Mid-Ohio victory, he became the second-youngest winner in Trans Am history at 14 years, 10 months and 19 days. Only Brent Crews, who won the June 2022 race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, at the age of 14 years, three months and four days, was younger. McKee entered the weekend with a 34-point lead over second-place Thomas Annunziata atop the TA2 championship. Annunziata retired eight laps into today’s race with a mechanical issue and placed 22nd.
- Today’s victory was TeamSLR’s third at Watkins Glen in the last five seasons. Connor Mosack scored back-to-back wins at The Glen in 2021 and 2022.
- Brown, who will celebrate his 17th birthday Sunday, earned his first career TA2 podium in just his third career start. He qualified third Saturday morning, dropped to seventh in the early laps, but rallied in the closing laps to grab the final podium spot. Brown made his TA2 Series debut in February at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, where he started 12th and finished 8th, and followed it up with a fourth-place finish from the sixth starting position in the April race at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
- Boes, the defending Pro-Am Challenge champion, crossed the finish line first among the Pro-Am Challenge-class competitors for the third time this season. But a 42-second post-race penalty for avoidable contact dropped him from fifth to 12th overall, and from first to fourth in Pro-Am. Boes qualified fourth overall Saturday morning, his second-best career effort behind his third-place qualifying run at Mid-Ohio three weekends ago.
Tristan McKee, Driver, No. 28 Spire Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“I just want to thank all of the TeamSLR and M1 Racecars guys. They brought a really fast car and it was lights out all weekend and we were able to execute in the race. We overcame a few challenges from a few different cars behind me, but then we just built a little bit of a gap on each restart and just kind of maintained and saved tires a little bit. I know a lot of people were having tire issues in practice, so we were all kind of worried about that a little bit. So once I got out to a little bit of a lead, I would just kind of go easy on the brakes, easy on the tires, stuff like that. I want to thank Spire and Gainbridge, and Jeff Dickerson, Josh Wise, and Scott Speed at Chevrolet for preparing me to be so fast when we got here and being so comfortable as soon as we unloaded. Looking at the rest of the season, a couple of these last few tracks I’ve been to a lot and raced at last year, so I’m feeling really good about that. We have two new tracks – Canadian Tire and Barber – but other than that, I know VIR and COTA, so I’m looking forward to finishing strong.”
Carson Brown, Driver No. 8 PayCafe/Ebb Logistics/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“It feels really good to stand on my first podium in my third race. Just a big thank you to Scott Lagasse Racing, the whole group, PayCafe, Ebb Logistics, Sunoco Race Fuels, just everybody that helps get me here. Overall, it was a very good weekend. I struggled a bit firing off there in the race, but was able to work my way back up after we fell back to sixth or seventh and ended up with a P3 run. Just couldn’t do without all the guys, who kept working on the car to make it better and better. At the start, there were some guys behind me that beat me down into the first corner. We were able to slowly work our way back up toward the front when our M1 racecar came in.”
Barry Boes, Driver No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“You know, it’s absolutely incredible. I can’t say enough about TeamSLR. We showed up here yesterday and the first time through the carousel, my 14-year-old teammate (Tristan McKee) was 15 miles an hour faster than me, showed me what I needed to do, and I was really able to up my game because of those guys, him and Carson Brown. I super appreciate them. Most of the race was very clean, but about five laps from the end, Sam Corry made an amazing move, got under me in turn five, and we got into each other in six, and he ended up going off track. I feel horrible about that. I just wanted to tuck in behind him and run there. We’re not even in the same class. But I made it here on the top step of the (Pro-Am Challenge) podium and it feels fantastic.”
Next Up
The Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series takes a six-week hiatus before kicking off the home stretch of the 2025 campaign with round nine Aug. 28-30 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. The three-day CTMP SpeedTour begins Thursday (Aug. 28) with a three-pack of test sessions at 10 a.m., noon and 2:40 p.m. EDT. Official practice is set for 11:50 a.m. Friday, followed by qualifying at 3:55 p.m. Saturday’s 41-lap, 75-minute race is set for 2:15 p.m. with live video provided by series partner Speed Sport 1, augmented by simulcast coverage on the Trans Am channel on YouTube.
-TeamSLR-