Mazdas To Start Eighth And Ninth In Detroit

Two-car Mazda challenge will come from the fourth and fifth row

Detroit, Mich. (June 1, 2018) – The pair of Mazda RT24-Ps entered in this weekend’s IMSA Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle will line up for tomorrow’s race in eighth and ninth position.

Making their first starts on the temporary, 2.3-mile Raceway at Belle Isle, Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell both acclimated themselves to the circuit during the day’s two practice sessions, but qualifying duties would fall to Tristan Nunez in the No. 77 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda RT24-P and Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P.

The qualifying sessions started strong, with Nunez posting a time good enough for third on the grid before the session was red-flagged due to an incident. After the session resumed, neither he nor Bomarito were able to improve their times and finished the session in eighth and ninth position in the Prototype field.

The Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle will be broadcast live on Saturday, June 2 at 12:30 PM ET on FOX Sports 2.

Mazda Team Joest fans can follow the team at @MazdaMotorsports on all social media platforms.

Quotes
John Doonan, Director, Mazda Motorsports
“It was a challenging day today and while we thought that we would have a car that could have been further up the grid in qualifying, it just wasn’t meant to be today. Our guys will have their work cut out for them tomorrow. Keeping the car out of trouble during a street race is not easy, so we will need to be smart about where we attack and play the strategy game as best as we can. Mazda is a company that has a challenger spirit, and we’ll have to prove that tomorrow.”

No. 55 Mazda RT24-P
Jonathan Bomarito
“It was a pretty tough day in qualifying today, there’s no doubt about that. Even though it is possible to pass at Detroit, it isn’t easy, which is why qualifying is so important here. But we know we have a good car that is strong over a stint and over a race, and my teammate Harry was fast today in practice. If we stay out of trouble and have a good strategy, we can pull off a good finish tomorrow and challenge for another podium.”

No. 77 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda RT24-P
Tristan Nunez
“Qualifying was a bit of a struggle for us today, but I think we have a better car than the qualifying results show. It will be up to us to bring the Mazda through the field and battle for a podium or a win, but with only a hundred minutes to race, Olly and I will have to attack from the time the green flag drops. Detroit is always a battle, but we are ready for the challenge.”