Boesel was born as the son of Jorny and Elizadea de Mesquita Boesel. Before motor racing he had a brief but successful career in equestrian show jumping, winning state championships. He studied engineering but gave up his degree to pursue motorsport. Since 1988, Boesel has resided in Key Biscayne, Florida.
Boesel entered the first-ever season of the Brazilian Stock Car championship in 1979. He moved to Britain in 1980 to race in Formula Ford 1600, and in 1981 competed in Formula Three, finishing third in the championship. In November 1981 he tested for McLaren. He entered the March Formula One team for the 1982 season, then switched to Ligier for 1983. At the end of 1983 he departed Europe to race in CART in the United States.
Boesel's Formula One career with March and Ligier produced limited results during a competitive period in the championship. The switch to American open-wheel racing and subsequently to endurance sportscar competition proved a more productive direction.
In 1987 Boesel switched to the World Sportscar Championship with Jaguar and won the title with five victories. The following year, 1988, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Jaguar XJR-9, sharing the car with Martin Brundle and John Nielsen. In 1991 he came close to the ultimate endurance prize, finishing second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jaguar.
Boesel returned to CART alongside his sportscar commitments in 1988. At Indianapolis in 1989 he finished third — his best result in American open-wheel racing. He finished fifth in the 1993 CART series standings, one of his strongest championship results, though he never won a race in the series across his years of competition. He raced in CART until 1998, with his final CART start coming at the 1999 Marlboro 500 at Fontana. He accumulated multiple Indianapolis 500 starts over his career.
From 1998 Boesel competed in the Indy Racing League. He returned to Stock Car Brasil before ending his professional racing career in 2005, though he continued to appear in occasional races after that date. In 2007 he began a career as a disc jockey.
The Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba, the racing circuit in his home city of Curitiba, is officially nicknamed "Circuito Raul Boesel" in recognition of his achievements in European sportscar racing. Boesel remains one of only a handful of drivers to have won the World Sportscar Championship and the 24 Hours of Daytona, and his second place at Le Mans in 1991 means he claimed the podium at each of the three most prestigious endurance events of the era.
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