Watkins Glen Doubleheader Shakes Up CUBE 3 TA2 Series Title Chase

The CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series championship has taken on the form of a two-horse race between TeamSLR teammates Helio Meza and Alon Day. That battle shifted in a massive way during a doubleheader weekend at Watkins Glen International, with Day moving into the top spot in the Driver's Championship.

Meza opened the season with four consecutive wins, taking the checkered flag at Sebring International Raceway and Road Atlanta before sweeping a doubleheader weekend at Sonoma Raceway. Meza also added a win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but a late-race mechanical issue at Road America while leading helped Day close the gap with a win.

Day finished 14th in the season opener at Sebring, but has not finished worse than third since the first round. He scored his first win of the season at Lime Rock Park before adding a second victory after Meza's issues at Road America.

Meza opened the doubleheader by winning Saturday's CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series event. However, an incident on the opening lap relegated him to an 18th-place finish in Sunday's contest.

After contact with Tristan McKee in the first corner, Meza entered the high-speed esses alongside Vinny Meskelis. Suffering from damage in the steering of his car from the initial contact, Meza collided with Meskelis, sending both drivers into the retaining wall.

“I've just got to thank all the safety equipment in the car and TeamSLR for making the racecar safe," said Meza after the incident. "Going into turn one, just had a little bit of side-by-side contact with Tristan, and then going up into the esses, I think either something broke in the steering and I couldn’t turn left going up the hill, and unfortunately, I had contact with Vinny [Meskelis] on my outside just because I couldn’t make the corner.

"That just kind of ended the day early, which is unfortunate because of the speed that we had yesterday. We made a couple of changes overnight to make it even better. But these things happen, can’t really control it. I mean, obviously bummed that I missed out on the race, but these things happen."

Meanwhile, Day added another runner-up finish in Sunday's race, finishing behind 2025 CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series champion Tristan McKee.

“The start of the race was pretty eventful with Helio and other cars making contact and having issues," said Day. "After that, it was a pretty tame race. I tried to catch Tristan, but he was very good. He did an amazing job. It’s amazing to get another 1-2 for TeamSLR.

"That’s always nice. The guys did such an amazing job giving us such a good car. And I’m happy to be here thanks to JSSI. I think today had a big impact on the championship, but there are still three races to go and, as everybody knows, anything can happen.”

Entering Sunday, Meza led the championship by 18 points over Day. After the 18th-place finish on Sunday, Day now holds a 41-point advantage.

The CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series will have a little more than a month off before a pair of critical races in the championship in September. The series heads north of the border to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on September 3-6 before tackling VIRginia International Raceway on September 17-20.

Those two races will set the stage for the final race in the title hunt at Circuit of The Americas on November 5-8. Last year, Meza won in his CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series debut in the season finale at Circuit of The Americas.

-Photo credit: Chris Clark Photography