The 2022 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BF Goodrich was a single-make motor racing championship, the 18th season of the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the 2nd under a new sanctioning agreement with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The series began on January 27 at Daytona International Speedway, and concluded on October 1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta after 14 rounds. Jared Thomas won the driver's championship by a narrow margin of 10 points over Connor Zilisch, who was awarded Rookie of the Year. Hixon Motor Sports earned the entrant's championship.
The schedule was announced on August 6, 2021, featuring 14 rounds across seven double-header weekends. [1] All races are 45 minutes in length.
Rnd. | Circuit | Location | Dates | Supporting |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Daytona International Speedway (Road Course) | Daytona Beach, Florida | January 27–30 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
2 | ||||
3 | Streets of St. Petersburg | St. Petersburg, Florida | February 25–27 | NTT Data IndyCar Series |
4 | ||||
5 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | Lexington, Ohio | May 13–15 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
6 | ||||
7 | Watkins Glen International | Watkins Glen, New York | June 23–26 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
8 | ||||
9 | Road America | Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin | July 1–3 | NASCAR Cup Series |
10 | ||||
11 | Virginia International Raceway | Alton, Virginia | August 26–28 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
12 | ||||
13 | Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta | Braselton, Georgia | September 28–October 1 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
14 | ||||
Source: [2] |
All competitors utilize the Mazda MX-5 Cup car, modified to their homologated racing specification by Flis Performance.
Team | No. | Driver | Rounds | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Carter Racing Enterprises | 08 | Michael Carter | 1–5 | |
Copeland Motorsports | 2 | Maximilian Opalski [3] | R | 1–4, 6–7 |
7 | Matt Curry [4] | R | 1, 3 | |
31 | Jameson Riley [5] | R | All | |
51 | Tyler Gonzalez [6] | 1–4, 6–7 | ||
Maximilian Opalski [3] | R | 5 | ||
Spark Performance | 5 | Gresham Wagner [7] | All | |
24 | Aaron Jeansonne [7] | All | ||
33 | Alex Bachoura [7] | All | ||
48 | Rossi Lee [8] | 2–3, 6 | ||
Hixon Motor Sports | 10 | Thomas Annunziata [9] | R | 6 |
21 | Bruno Carneiro [10] | R | 1–6 | |
27 | Dante Tornello [11] | R | 1–5 | |
65 | Bryce Cornet [12] | R | 1–6 | |
72 | Connor Zilisch [13] | R | All | |
80 | Ethan Tyler | R | 3–6 | |
85 | Bruno Smielevski [14] | R | 6–7 | |
87 | Selin Rollan [15] | All | ||
McCumbee McAleer Racing | 13 | Jenson Altzman [8] | All | |
15 | Aidan Fassnacht [16] | R | All | |
28 | Sam Paley [17] | All | ||
39 | John Jodoin [8] | R | All | |
48 | Rossi Lee [8] | 1 | ||
53 | Mark Kvamme | 7 | ||
55 | Moisey Uretsky [8] | 1–5 | ||
76 | Matthew Dirks [8] | All | ||
89 | Justin Piscitell [8] | All | ||
Thunder Bunny Racing | 22 | Laura Hayes | R | All |
75 | Parker Kligerman [18] | R | 5 | |
JTR Motorsports Engineering | 23 | Glenn McGee | All | |
69 | Anthony McIntosh | R | 1–5, 7 | |
81 | James Hayosh | R | 4–5 | |
82 | Woody Heimann | All | ||
88 | Sean Varwig | R | 1–2 | |
Cameron Lawrence | 7 | |||
96 | Jared Thomas | All | ||
Formidable Racing | 32 | Chris Nunes [19] | 1–6 | |
43 | Joey Atanasio [19] | R | All | |
44 | Mickey Thomas | R | 2 | |
Slipstream Performance | 36 | David Staab | All | |
37 | Michael Staab | R | 1–3, 5–7 | |
Sources: [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] |
R = Eligible for Rookie's Championship
Bold indicates overall winner.
Round | Circuit | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning Driver | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | R1 | Daytona | #28 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #51 Copeland Motorsports |
Sam Paley | Jared Thomas | Tyler Gonzalez | |||
R2 | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #5 Spark Performance | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | ||
Connor Zilisch | Gresham Wagner | Jared Thomas | |||
2 | R1 | St. Petersburg | #23 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #89 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering |
Glenn McGee | Justin Piscitell | Jared Thomas | |||
R2 | #23 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #89 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #87 Hixon Motor Sports | ||
Glenn McGee | Justin Piscitell | Selin Rollan | |||
3 | R1 | Mid-Ohio | #76 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #28 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #5 Spark Performance |
Matthew Dirks | Sam Paley | Gresham Wagner | |||
R2 | #76 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #08 Carter Racing Enterprises | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | ||
Matthew Dirks | Michael Carter | Jared Thomas | |||
4 | R1 | Watkins Glen | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #21 Hixon Motor Sports | #51 Copeland Motorsports |
Connor Zilisch | Bruno Carneiro | Tyler Gonzalez | |||
R2 | #24 Spark Performance | #76 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #15 McCumbee McAleer Racing | ||
Aaron Jeansonne | Matthew Dirks | Aidan Fassnacht | |||
5 | R1 | Road America | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #5 Spark Performance | #72 Hixon Motor Sports |
Connor Zilisch | Gresham Wagner | Connor Zilisch | |||
R2 | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #5 Spark Performance | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | ||
Connor Zilisch | Gresham Wagner | Connor Zilisch | |||
6 | R1 | Virginia | #15 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #51 Copeland Motorsports | #51 Copeland Motorsports |
Aidan Fassnacht | Tyler Gonzalez | Tyler Gonzalez | |||
R2 | #15 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | ||
Aidan Fassnacht | Jared Thomas | Connor Zilisch | |||
7 | R1 | Road Atlanta | #28 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #76 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #72 Hixon Motor Sports |
Sam Paley | Matthew Dirks | Connor Zilisch | |||
R2 | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #39 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #51 Copeland Motorsports | ||
Connor Zilisch | John Jodoin | Tyler Gonzalez |
Championship points are awarded at the finish of each event according to the chart below.
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30+ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 350 | 320 | 300 | 280 | 260 | 250 | 240 | 230 | 220 | 210 | 200 | 190 | 180 | 170 | 160 | 150 | 140 | 130 | 120 | 110 | 100 | 90 | 80 | 70 | 60 | 50 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 |
For each race, bonus points are awarded for the following:
Award | Points |
---|---|
Pole Position | 10 |
Most Race Laps Led | 10 |
Fastest Race Lap | 10 |
IMSA recognizes driver champions based on the total number of championship points earned during the season.
|
Bold - Pole position Italics - Fastest lap Underline = Most Laps Led |
‡: Race 1 at Mid-Ohio shortened due to weather, half points awarded except for pole position bonus points.
Each entrant receives championship points for its highest car finishing position in each race. The positions of subsequent finishing cars from the same entrant are not considered in the results and all other cars are elevated in the finishing positions accordingly.
Pos. | Driver | DAY | STP | MOH‡ | WGL | ELK | VIR | ATL | Bonus | Points | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hixon Motor Sports | 3 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 29 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 130 | 4340 |
2 | McCumbee McAleer Racing | 9 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 125 | 4085 |
3 | JTR Motorsports Engineering | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 70 | 4300 |
4 | Spark Performance | 10 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 60 | 3935 |
5 | Copeland Motorsports | 1 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 19 | 23 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 3800 |
6 | Formidable Racing | 2 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 25 | 25 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3675 |
7 | Slipstream Performance | 11 | 12 | 20 | 12 | 20 | 23 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 3165 |
8 | Thunder Bunny Racing | 20 | 24 | 22 | 15 | 25 | 25 | 18 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 3160 |
9 | Carter Racing Enterprises | 7 | 29 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 15 | 27 | 2 | 22 | 10 | 2420 | ||||
Pos. | Driver | DAY | STP | MOH‡ | WGL | ELK | VIR | ATL | Bonus | Points | |||||||
‡: Race 1 at Mid-Ohio shortened due to weather, half points awarded except for pole position bonus points.
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