2023 Mazda MX-5 Cup

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.

Schedule

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	Daytona International Speedway (Road Course)	Daytona Beach, Florida	January 25–27	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
3	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	March 3–5	NTT IndyCar Series
4	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	March 3–5	NTT IndyCar Series
5	WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	May 12–14	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
6	WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	May 12–14	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
7	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	June 22–24	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
8	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	June 22–24	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
9	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 4–6	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
10	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 4–6	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
11	Virginia International Raceway	Alton, Virginia	August 25–27	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
12	Virginia International Raceway	Alton, Virginia	August 25–27	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
13	Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia	October 11–13	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
14	Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia	October 11–13	IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Source:^[3]

Entry list

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
	3	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

Race Results

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
	R1		Connor Zilisch	Sam Paley	Tyler Gonzalez
	R2		#28 McCumbee McAleer Racing	#5 Spark Performance	#96 JTR Motorsports Engineering
	R2		Sam Paley	Gresham Wagner	Jared Thomas
2	R1	St. Petersburg	#13 Robert Noaker Racing	#5 Spark Performance	#5 Spark Performance
	R1		Robert Noaker	Gresham Wagner	Gresham Wagner
	R2		#5 Spark Performance	#72 Hixon Motor Sports	#72 Hixon Motor Sports
	R2		Gresham Wagner	Connor Zilisch	Connor Zilisch
3	R1	Laguna Seca	#5 Spark Performance	#72 Hixon Motor Sports	#72 Hixon Motor Sports
	R1		Gresham Wagner	Connor Zilisch	Connor Zilisch
	R2		#24 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#24 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#24 JTR Motorsports Engineering
	R2		Aaron Jeansonne	Aaron Jeansonne	Aaron Jeansonne
4	R1	Watkins Glen	#5 Spark Performance	#13 Robert Noaker Racing	#24 JTR Motorsports Engineering
	R1		Gresham Wagner	Robert Noaker	Aaron Jeansonne
	R2		#87 Hixon Motor Sports	#87 Hixon Motor Sports	#87 Hixon Motor Sports
	R2		Selin Rollan	Selin Rollan	Selin Rollan
5	R1	Road America	#55 Hixon Motor Sports	#2 Copeland Motorsports	#5 Spark Performance
	R1		Jonathan Neudorf	Maximilian Opalski	Gresham Wagner
	R2		#2 Copeland Motorsports	#96 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#96 JTR Motorsports Engineering
	R2		Maximilian Opalski	Jared Thomas	Jared Thomas
6	R1	Virginia	#24 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#22 Copeland Motorsports	#83 McCumbee McAleer Racing
	R1		Aaron Jeansonne	Jeremy Fletcher	Nate Cicero
	R2		#72 Hixon Motor Sports	#19 Saito MotorSport Group	#96 JTR Motorsports Engineering
	R2		Connor Zilisch	Michael Carter	Jared Thomas
7	R1	Road Atlanta	#24 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#5 Spark Performance	#72 Hixon Motor Sports
	R1		Aaron Jeansonne	Gresham Wagner	Connor Zilisch
	R2		#5 Spark Performance	#51 Copeland Motorsports	#72 Hixon Motor Sports
	R2		Gresham Wagner	Tyler Gonzalez	Connor Zilisch

Championship Standings

Points System

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

The ten (10) additional points for achieving pole position are not awarded if the starting grid is determined by “Other Means”.
In the case of a tie for the most laps led, the competitor that finishes the highest in the running order is declared the winner.
In the case of a tie for the fastest Race lap, the competitor that first achieves the fastest Race lap is declared the winner.

Driver's Championship

IMSA recognizes driver champions based on the total number of championship points earned during the season.

Pos.	Driver	DAY		STP		LGA		WGL		ELK		VIR		ATL		Bonus	Points
1	Jared Thomas	9	1	13	26	2	2	3	4	2	1	2	1	3	5	10	3930
2	Aaron Jeansonne	4	6	4	2	3	1	1	7	15	21	23	2	7	7	60	3570
3	Selin Rollan	7	4	6	4	4	3	10	1	9	23	25	12	4	2	30	3370
4	Maximilian Opalski	11	5	10	16	12	25	21	13	5	3	4	4	6	3	30	3050
5	Gresham Wagner	5	3	1	23	6	14	26	16	1	2	17	10	17	19	100	2990
6	Nate Cicero R	26	8	9	19	5	4	12	19	4	6	1	3	18	10	0	2990
7	Robert Noaker	12	19	11	15	7	23	4	2	3	4	5	7	27	6	20	2980
8	Connor Zilisch	2	15	2	1	1	22					3	9	1	1	110	2920
9	John Jodoin	18	23	8	18	13	18	5	5	6	5	6	6	5	9	0	2890
10	Thomas Annunziata R	8	24	5	22	11	7	2	3	26	18	7	5	8	8	0	2850
11	Alex Bachoura	27	10	12	3	15	6	16	22	10	10	13	17	9	12	0	2540
12	Hernan Palermo	19	14	18	17	17	19	7	10	11	8	14	14	12	11	0	2430
13	Woody Heimann	16	7	24	12	14	9	9	21	13	19	15	16	11	14	0	2340
14	Jonathan Neudorf R	24	9	23	9	26	20	22	8	14	7	11	8	13	25	10	2160
15	Anthony McIntosh	15	13	20	6	16	13	25	DNS	8	20	12	DNS	15	13	0	1960
16	Heather Hadley R	22	25	19	8	21	17	18	14	7	13	18	18	14	28	0	1920
17	Jeremy Fletcher R	14	26	22	13	22	26	24	6	16	24	10	11	10	23	0	1880
18	Sam Paley	3	21	3	5	8	8	11	24							20	1710
19	Tyler Gonzalez	1	2	7	25									2	4	10	1580
20	Peter Atwater	21	12	16	21	25	11			22	9	19	15	23	26	0	1520
21	Farhan Siddiqi R			25	14			20	17	21	17	21	22	21	21	0	1110
22	Matthew Dirks	17	11	21	20	23	12	23	20							0	1010
23	Bruno Smielevski R	6	28	26	10	10	10									0	960
24	Grant West R	DNS	DNS	15	7	24	21	17	25	DNS	DNS			28	15	0	960
25	James Hayosh R	20	16					15	12	12	15					0	960
26	Glenn McGee	10	22			18	16	8	18							0	940
27	Bailey Cruse R									19	12	20	24	19	16	0	760
28	Zane Hodgen R	25	17	17	11	19	24									0	730
29	Bryce Cornet	13	27			9	5									0	700
30	Hanna Zellers	28	20			20	15	27	DNS	23	22					0	620
31	Ethan Tyler	29	29					13	11	DNS	DNS	22	21			0	610
32	Julian DaCosta R											9	23	16	17	0	590
33	John Hansen R									17	11	24	20			0	520
34	James Hinchcliffe							6	9							0	470
35	Joe Rainey R									18	14			22	24	0	460
36	Michael Carter											8	13			0	420
37	Bryan Heitman R									20	16			25	22	0	410
38	Justin Brigandi R							19	15							0	280
39	Cody Powell R											16	19			0	270
40	Clayton Ketcher R							14	23							0	250
41	Rossi Lee			14	24											0	240
42	Sally Mott R													20	18	0	240
43	Steven Clemons R	23	18													0	210
44	Ben Keating													26	20	0	160
45	Christian Hodneland													24	27	0	110
46	Joey Rainey R									24	DNS					0	70
47	Andrew Wilson R									25	DNS					0	60
Pos.	Driver	DAY		STP		LGA		WGL		ELK		VIR		ATL		Bonus	Points

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	Second place
Bronze	Third place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

Bold - Pole position

Italics - Fastest lap

Underline = Most Laps Led

Entrant's Championship

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

References

^ "Mazda unveils 2023 MX-5 Cup schedule". mx-5cup.com. August 5, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
^ "Laguna Seca completes 2023 MX-5 Cup schedule". racer.com. September 1, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
^ "Schedule". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
^ "The Rolex 24 at Daytona MX-5 Pre-Race Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
^ "Grand Prix of St. Petersburg MX-5 Official Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
^ "MOTUL Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N MX-5 Official Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
^ "Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen MX-5 Pre-Race Entry List-V2.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
^ "idemitsu Mazda Mx-5 Cup Test MX-5 Official Entry List.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
^ "Michelin GT Challenge at VIR MX-5 Official Entry List.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
^ "Motul Petit LeMans MX-5 Official Entry List.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
^ "2023 IMSA Sporting Regulations (and SSR) for the MX-5 Cup" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

External links

Official Website

[1] "Mazda unveils 2023 MX-5 Cup schedule". mx-5cup.com. August 5, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

[2] "Laguna Seca completes 2023 MX-5 Cup schedule". racer.com. September 1, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

[3] "Schedule". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

[4] "The Rolex 24 at Daytona MX-5 Pre-Race Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

[5] "Grand Prix of St. Petersburg MX-5 Official Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

[6] "MOTUL Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N MX-5 Official Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

[7] "Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen MX-5 Pre-Race Entry List-V2.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved June 27, 2023.

[8] "idemitsu Mazda Mx-5 Cup Test MX-5 Official Entry List.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved August 7, 2023.

[9] "Michelin GT Challenge at VIR MX-5 Official Entry List.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved August 31, 2023.

[10] "Motul Petit LeMans MX-5 Official Entry List.pdf" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved October 23, 2023.

[11] "2023 IMSA Sporting Regulations (and SSR) for the MX-5 Cup" (PDF). IMSA. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

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