Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup 2023 race highlights of season finale Round 14 at Road Atlanta.
Watch race highlights of Round 13 here: [ Ссылка ]
Mazda MX-5 Cup returns with a new season January 26-27, 2024 at Daytona International Speedway, learn more: [ Ссылка ]
▬▬ Description ▬▬
It was a day of repeats for the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires. Connor Zilisch (No. 72 Hixon Motor Sports) was a repeat winner at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) became the first repeat champion in Mazda MX-5 Cup history. Veteran racer Selin Rollan (No. 87 Hixon Motor Sports), finished second, with Max Opalski (No. 2 Copeland Motorsports) closing out a promising season with a run to third.
So consistent was Thomas this season, he only needed to finish the race to claim his second-consecutive Mazda MX-5 Cup Championship. While a fifth-place finish at Road Atlanta for Thomas certainly wasn’t his best race, it was more than enough to win the championship and the $250,000 prize on offer from Mazda.
With teammates Thomas and Aaron Jeansonne (No. 24 JTR Motorsports Engineering) one-two in the drivers’ championship, JTR Motorsports Engineering had no trouble securing the Team Championship.
Zilisch and Gresham Wagner (No. 5 Spark Performance) spent the most time in the lead, but Rollan, Robert Noaker (No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing), Tyler Gonzalez (No. 35 Saito Motorsports Group) and Opalski were always in the mix. With less than 10 minutes to go, Wagner started to pull away from the pack, but the others just needed to work together to draft right back to his bumper.
Gonzalez was leading with three laps to go when Joe Rainey (No. 17 Robert Noaker Racing) made contact with the wall exiting Turn 12 and came to a stop near pit out. The leaders all had their teams communicating to them that a full-course yellow was about to come out. Knowing that if the safety car did come out, the race would end under yellow, the drivers sense of urgency escalated. Coming into Turn 10, Noaker, Gonzalez, Wagner and Zilisch went two-by-two. Contact was made, spinning Noaker around and forcing Gonzalez, Wagner and Zilisch to take evasive action.
The incident allowed Rollan and Opalski to slip through and queue up behind Zilisch, who had taken the best escape route.
Race control determined the car was in a safe spot and did not issue a full-course yellow. With two laps to go, Zilisch led Rollan and Opalski and that’s how the race finished.
Teammates Zilisch and Rollan came across the finish line glued to each other, something that’s become fairly common for the two.
Opalski was able to take advantage of the Turn 10 incident, but had to hold off Wagner and Gonzalez for two laps to take the final podium spot.
Wagner finished fourth on the track, but a post-race penalty for his involvement in the Turn 10 scuffle dropped him to 19th. That promoted Gonzalez to fourth and Thomas to fifth.
Rookie Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing) finished 10th, securing his Rookie of the Year Title and a nice $80,000 prize from Mazda.
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Every event on the Mazda MX-5 Cup schedule featured two, 45-minute sprint races livestreamed on RACER.com. The broadcast was produced by NASCAR Productions, and feature play by play and commentary from the IMSA Radio squad headed by John Hindhaugh and Shea Adam.
