The 2023 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BF Goodrich is a single-make motor racing championship, the 19th season of the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the 3rd under a new sanctioning agreement with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The series began on January 25 at Daytona International Speedway, and concluded on October 13 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta after 14 rounds. Jared Thomas defended the driver's championship, with his team JTR Motorsports Engineering winning the entrant's championship as well. Nate Cicero from McCumbee McAleer Racing won the Rookie of The Year award.
The schedule was announced on August 5, 2022, featuring 14 rounds across seven double-header weekends, one of which was not confirmed at the time. [1] On September 1, the missing round was revealed to be Laguna Seca. [2] All races are 45 minutes in length.
Rnd. | Circuit | Location | Dates | Supporting |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Daytona International Speedway (Road Course) | Daytona Beach, Florida | January 25–27 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
2 | ||||
3 | Streets of St. Petersburg | St. Petersburg, Florida | March 3–5 | NTT IndyCar Series |
4 | ||||
5 | WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca | Monterey, California | May 12–14 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
6 | ||||
7 | Watkins Glen International | Watkins Glen, New York | June 22–24 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
8 | ||||
9 | Road America | Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin | August 4–6 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
10 | ||||
11 | Virginia International Raceway | Alton, Virginia | August 25–27 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
12 | ||||
13 | Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta | Braselton, Georgia | October 11–13 | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship |
14 | ||||
Source: [3] |
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 | 03 | John Hansen | R | 5–6 |
Copeland Motorsports | 2 | Maximilian Opalski | All | |
22 | Jeremy Fletcher | R | All | |
51 | Tyler Gonzalez | 1–2, 7 | ||
JTR Motorsports Engineering | 3 | James Hinchcliffe | 4 | |
Cody Powell | R | 6 | ||
4 | Zane Hodgen | R | 1–3 | |
23 | Glenn McGee | 1, 3–4 | ||
24 | Aaron Jeansonne | All | ||
26 | Peter Atwater | 1–3, 5–7 | ||
69 | Anthony McIntosh | All | ||
81 | James Hayosh | R | 1, 4–5 | |
82 | Woody Heimann | All | ||
96 | Jared Thomas | All | ||
Spark Performance | 5 | Gresham Wagner | All | |
15 | Sally Mott | R | 7 | |
20 | Hernan Palermo | All | ||
33 | Alex Bachoura | 1–6 | ||
50 | Grant West | R | 1–5, 7 | |
54 | Heather Hadley | R | All | |
65 | Bryce Cornet | 1, 3 | ||
Hixon Motor Sports | 10 | Thomas Annunziata | R | All |
32 | Christian Hodneland | 7 | ||
44 | Bailey Cruse | R | 5–7 | |
48 | Rossi Lee | 2 | ||
55 | Jonathan Neudorf | R | All | |
72 | Connor Zilisch | 1–3, 6–7 | ||
73 | Steven Clemons | R | 1 | |
74 | Hanna Zellers | 1, 3–5 | ||
78 | Julian DaCosta | R | 6–7 | |
80 | Ethan Tyler | 1, 4–6 | ||
85 | Bruno Smielevski | R | 1–3 | |
87 | Selin Rollan | All | ||
95 | Farhan Siddiqi | R | 2, 4–7 | |
Robert Noaker Racing | 13 | Robert Noaker | All | |
17 | Joe Rainey | R | 5, 7 | |
25 | Bryan Heitman | R | 5, 7 | |
30 | Joey Rainey | R | 5 | |
88 | Justin Brigandi | R | 4 | |
Saito MotorSport Group | 19 | Clayton Ketcher | R | 4 |
Michael Carter | 6 | |||
Ben Keating | 7 | |||
McCumbee McAleer Racing | 28 | Sam Paley | 1–4 | |
39 | John Jodoin | All | ||
49 | Andrew Wilson | R | 5 | |
76 | Matthew Dirks | 1–4 | ||
83 | Nate Cicero | R | All | |
Sources: [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] |
R = Eligible for Rookie's Championship
Bold indicates overall winner.
Round | Circuit | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning Driver | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | R1 | Daytona | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #28 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #51 Copeland Motorsports |
Connor Zilisch | Sam Paley | Tyler Gonzalez | |||
R2 | #28 McCumbee McAleer Racing | #5 Spark Performance | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | ||
Sam Paley | Gresham Wagner | Jared Thomas | |||
2 | R1 | St. Petersburg | #13 Robert Noaker Racing | #5 Spark Performance | #5 Spark Performance |
Robert Noaker | Gresham Wagner | Gresham Wagner | |||
R2 | #5 Spark Performance | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | ||
Gresham Wagner | Connor Zilisch | Connor Zilisch | |||
3 | R1 | Laguna Seca | #5 Spark Performance | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #72 Hixon Motor Sports |
Gresham Wagner | Connor Zilisch | Connor Zilisch | |||
R2 | #24 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #24 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #24 JTR Motorsports Engineering | ||
Aaron Jeansonne | Aaron Jeansonne | Aaron Jeansonne | |||
4 | R1 | Watkins Glen | #5 Spark Performance | #13 Robert Noaker Racing | #24 JTR Motorsports Engineering |
Gresham Wagner | Robert Noaker | Aaron Jeansonne | |||
R2 | #87 Hixon Motor Sports | #87 Hixon Motor Sports | #87 Hixon Motor Sports | ||
Selin Rollan | Selin Rollan | Selin Rollan | |||
5 | R1 | Road America | #55 Hixon Motor Sports | #2 Copeland Motorsports | #5 Spark Performance |
Jonathan Neudorf | Maximilian Opalski | Gresham Wagner | |||
R2 | #2 Copeland Motorsports | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | ||
Maximilian Opalski | Jared Thomas | Jared Thomas | |||
6 | R1 | Virginia | #24 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #22 Copeland Motorsports | #83 McCumbee McAleer Racing |
Aaron Jeansonne | Jeremy Fletcher | Nate Cicero | |||
R2 | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | #19 Saito MotorSport Group | #96 JTR Motorsports Engineering | ||
Connor Zilisch | Michael Carter | Jared Thomas | |||
7 | R1 | Road Atlanta | #24 JTR Motorsports Engineering | #5 Spark Performance | #72 Hixon Motor Sports |
Aaron Jeansonne | Gresham Wagner | Connor Zilisch | |||
R2 | #5 Spark Performance | #51 Copeland Motorsports | #72 Hixon Motor Sports | ||
Gresham Wagner | Tyler Gonzalez | Connor Zilisch |
Championship points are awarded at the finish of each event according to the chart below. [11]
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 |
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 | LGA | WGL | ELK | VIR | ATL | Bonus | Points | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | JTR Motorsports Engineering | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 70 | 4540 |
2 | Hixon Motor Sports | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 150 | 4540 |
3 | McCumbee McAleer Racing | 3 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 20 | 4060 |
4 | Spark Performance | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 100 | 4030 |
5 | Copeland Motorsports | 1 | 2 | 7 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 40 | 3950 |
6 | Robert Noaker Racing | 12 | 19 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 23 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 22 | 6 | 20 | 3760 |
7 | Saito MotorSport Group | 14 | 23 | 8 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 1620 | ||||||||
8 | Carter Racing Enterprises | 17 | 11 | 24 | 20 | 0 | 940 | ||||||||||
Pos. | Driver | DAY | STP | LGA | WGL | ELK | VIR | ATL | Bonus | Points | |||||||
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