Helio Meza Prepares for CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Title Fight at COTA

It's been an incredible journey over the past year for Helio Meza.

In 2025, Meza made his CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series debut at Circuit of The Americas, winning in the season finale. Now, Meza returns to COTA in contention for the TA2 championship.

Meza sat down with Allen Bestwick to discuss his 2026 season, his championship battle with TeamSLR teammate Alon Day and his mindset entering the final race of the season.

Meza could not have expected the success he'd enjoy so quickly in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series. He entered last year's event at COTA looking for experience heading into a potential part-time campaign in 2026.

"Going into COTA last year, there were really no expectations going into that weekend. I knew how competitive this series is. Really, it was just going to be trying to learn as much as I could, being my first big stock car race on a road course.

"There were some talks at that point of the year that I could have a chance at running this 2026 season," said Meza. "I was going to use that race to learn from the mistakes I was going to make. I still made a bunch of mistakes, btu the results turned out a lot better than I would have imagined."

With the support of sponsor Alessandros Racing, that potential part-time effort this year evolved into a full-time pursuit of the 2026 CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series championship. Meza has made the most of that opportunity, with eight wins in 11 TA2 races so far this year.

Still, Meza is approaching each race as another chance to learn and develop as a racer, even while locked in a tight championship battle with his teammate. Meza enters COTA five points ahead of Day, retaking the points lead with a win in the penultimate race at VIRginia International Raceway.

"I'm one of those drivers, I don't try to put too much, I don't know if pressure is the right word, but expectations on myself," Meza said. "I approach every race weekend as a learning opportunity. That just helps me go out there and perform with no pressure. My dad always told me in the karting days to treat every session like a practice session. Just got out there and treat it like you're just doing laps.

"Even though I'm at a little bigger stage than I was on the karting scene, it's the same mindset I have. This year, it's helped me out a lot. The last race we had at VIR, I was 30-plus points back. You can call it a high-pressure situation, two races left in the season and you're trying to get everything you can for a championship. I treated it like any other race and ended up finishing VIR five points ahead of Alon Day in the championship."

Meza now carries that razor-thin margin into the championship finale. In some ways, the race boasts a playoff atmosphere, but Meza knows it will not be as simple as outracing his teammate for the title.

"I think you can almost look at it like a playoff race. This is going to be the Super Bowl of the TA2 Series this year. For us, at least, me and Alon, we're thinking more about each other. In motorsports, it's interesting, because you have the other 30 drivers out there on the racetrack. While you may be thinking about Alon or while he's thinking about me, we've also got to worry about all these other cars, whether we catch lapped traffic or there's another driver in the mix with us."

Garage Living presents Racing America @ COTA on November 6-8, including the season finale for the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series. Live coverage will be available on RacingAmerica.TV and @TheTransAmSeries on YouTube.

-Photo credit: Chris Clark Photography