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Road Atlanta Weekend Sees Finales in TUDOR, CTSCC, MX-5 Cup and IMSA Lites

October 4, 2014 (BRASELTON, Georgia) – The Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta wrapped up the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship on Saturday night. While the headliner was the 10-Hour TUDOR race, the weekend also featured the season finale for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, and season ending double-headers for both the Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires and the Cooper Tires IMSA Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda. These four series are among a wide variety of roadracing series featuring Mazda cars and teams. The Mazda Road to Indy seasons wrapped up in late August, while there are still a few more weekends of major club racing events between now and year end.

John Doonan, director of motorsports for Mazda North American Operations noted: “In a traditional ‘racing sense’ the highlight of the season was the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park race where we scored our best finish of the season. But the true highlight of the season is the ‘miracle’ that was achieved in this Mazda program…and the progress that was made each step of the way. What we did by putting a production diesel engine in an endurance racing prototype has never been done before and we believe it is the best way to showcase SKYACTIV Technology and Mazda’s overall brand strength. In the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge we enjoyed three great wins. Both our MX-5 Cup and the IMSA Prototype Lites saw large grids and amazing racing. Congratulations to our latest Mazda SportsCar Racing Academy champions.”

TUDOR United SportsCar Championship – Using the smallest engine, one that is 51 percent stock, meant that the Mazda SKYACTIV team had a huge engineering task in front of them. The team worked tirelessly all year long and their efforts were applauded by competitors and fans alike. The SpeedSource teams finished the season ranked ninth and eleventh in points.

Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge – Thanks to three race wins and a dozen podium finishes from Freedom Autosport and CJ Wilson Racing, Mazda finished third in the ST Manufacturers Championship, just one point behind second place. Andrew Carbonell and Randy Pobst scored two of the wins while Tom Long teamed up with U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Liam Dwyer for their memorable Memorial Day weekend win.

Mazda would like to congratulate three successful alums who claimed championships this weekend. 2008 MX-5 Cup Champion Eric Foss won the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge ST Drivers Championship, 2010 Mazda/Skip Barber Karting Shootout winner Trent Hindman won the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS Drivers Championship, and 2007 Star Mazda Champion Dane Cameron won the TUDOR GT Daytona Drivers Championship.

Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires – Sebastian Landy was the star of the weekend scoring his first two race wins. Kenton Koch finished fourth and second, which added to his six previous wins, earning him the championship. Drake Kemper won the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge class championship. Lucas Catania was the Rookie-of-the-Year, while his father, Joseph Catania, was awarded the Masters Championship. ALARA Racing was awarded Team-of-the-Year, while Ken Murillo won the Spirit of Mazda award.

Cooper Tires IMSA Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda – Mikhail Goikhberg ended the season the same way he started it – with a win. Goikhberg won nine of the 14 races to easily take the championship. Matt McMurry won the other Lites race at Road Atlanta.

While the Petit weekend closes out the professional road racing season, the action is not completely done for the year. October 10-12 will see the 51st Annual SCCA National Championship Runoffs take place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. This is the largest club road racing event in the country and more than 500 cars have entered. Among the entries are 132 Mazda and Mazda-powered racers.

About Mazda, Mazda Motorsports, and MAZDASPEED
Mazda is a leading player in all aspects of sports car racing with an emphasis on endurance road racing. Mazda is the number-one brand for road-racers across North America among both club racers and professionals. Thousands of Mazda-powered grassroots racers compete in various classes with the SCCA and NASA highlighted by Spec Miata, the world’s largest spec class with over 2,500 cars built. Via the Mazda SportsCar Racing Academy, Mazda supports racers at all levels of the sport from club racing up to the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship where it races with production SKYACTIV Technology.

Mazda remains the only Asian car company to score an overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1991). Mazda has had a naming rights agreement at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca since 2000.

Mazda Motorsports is managed by Mazda North American Operations (MNAO). MNAO is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.

Consumer information can be found at www.mazdausa.com, with press information at www.mazdausamedia.com. Racers and fans can follow the action on Facebook (Mazda Motorsports), Twitter (@mazdaracing), Instagram (MazdaMotorsport) and www.mazdamotorsports.com

Sebastian Landy wins second race at Road Atlanta; Drake Kemper claims Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge title. Sebastian Landy, of Great Falls, Va., completed the weekend sweep at Road Atlanta after winning Round 12 of the SCCA Pro Racing Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires. Kenton Koch, of Glendora, Calif., and Joey Bickers, of […]”

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Sebastian Landy wins penultimate round at Road Atlanta while Kenton Koch claims the Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires title. Sebastian Landy won the battle, but Kenton Koch won the war. Landy, of Great Falls, Va., captured the top spot in Round 11 of the SCCA Pro Racing Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich […]”

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Sylvain Tremblay compares the 1991 Mazda 787B and the current Mazda SKYACTIV Diesel Prototype. There’s no doubt that racing technology, like every facet of technology, has advanced rapidly in the last two decades. Although to a casual observer, a prototype racer from the early ’90s may not look vastly different from a current closed-cockpit prototype […]”

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Mazda teams look for victory in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge finale at Road Atlanta. The 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season is drawing to a close this weekend. The CJ Wilson Racing and Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 teams in the Street Tuner category are looking for strong performances to finish out the season, give […]”

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Young Mazda-powered racers earn Team USA Scholarship to compete in prestigious UK races. After intense deliberations, Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda Rookie of the Year Aaron Telitz of Birchwood, Wis., and Skip Barber Summer Series standout Michai Stephens of Evanston, Ill., have been selected as winners of prestigious Team USA Scholarships for 2014. […]”

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You can make your car quieter without losing horsepower.   There is nothing quite like the sound of a rotary at full song. It’s the sort of thing that makes a gearhead’s heart flutter. Unfortunately not everyone responds to the noise the same way, which is why sound limits at racetracks are here to stay. […]”

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A breakdown of the home of the 2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs with turn-by-turn, data, annotated track map, plus in-car and track walk video.   For the first time in 45 years, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs will be held on the West Coast and, for the first time, at the famed Mazda Raceway Laguna […]”

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A turn-by-turn breakdown of VIRginia International Raceway from the BEHIND THE ZOOM team. Join the forum on Wednesday, Sept. 24 from 7:30—8:30 PM EST. The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) heads to VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) on Oct. 3-5, 2014 for its famed OktoberFAST race event. With the significant elevation changes and winding corners VIR […]”

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The National Auto Sport Association put together a highlight video package of the Spec Miata race from the Eastern States Championships at Road Atlanta. NASA produced this stunning video from its Eastern States Championships at Road Atlanta, showcasing the best Spec Miata had to offer at the event. Several drivers were interviewed, discussing what makes […]”

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Grassroots Motorsports is building an early Miata for 24 Hours of Lemons Racing. The editors of Grassroots Motorsports magazine found a rough, but cheap ($500), 1992 Sunburst Yellow Miata on their Web site classified section. One look at the rat’s nest under the hood, the rust in the trunk and the quarter panel that had been […]”

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Mazda’s R.A.C.E. STEM Education Outreach Program Surpasses 10,000 Students September 19, 2014 (AUSTIN, Tex.) – It’s back-to-school time for school kids across the county and the acclaimed R.A.C.E. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education outreach program is back in action. Launched by Mazda in January, the Racing Accelerates Creative Education (R.A.C.E.) outreach program has now […]”

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SpeedSource and its innovative Mazda diesels hope to make an impression at COTA and Road Atlanta. As the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship heads into its final races, the SpeedSource Race Engineering team and its Mazda SKYACTIV Diesel Prototypes have only a couple more occasions to show the progress the team has made with the cars […]”

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BEHIND THE ZOOM forums for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and VIR are upon us. The BEHIND THE ZOOM campaign is a series where 12 Mazda factory drivers and champions break down many of the tracks and venues that you race at. Many of these drivers will take you through a turn-by-turn discussion of Mazda Raceway […]”

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MX-5 racer earns second victory of the season with flag-to-flag win. Adam Poland scored his second Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car victory of the season, and the second for Mazda, in his No. 11 Texas Track Works/Eastex Motorsports MX-5 in the penultimate round at Miller Motorsports Park. Poland, of Mt. Vernon, Texas, drove a flawless […]”

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Six Team USA Scholarship Candidates Display Their Talents at Auto Club Speedway.

 A wide variety of accomplished insiders from the world of motorsports have a tough task ahead of them as they work toward naming two winners from a group of six candidates who auditioned at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., on Monday for […]”

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Mazda racers earn nation-wide points championships in SCCA SafeRacer Club Racing program.     Following the conclusion of the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour season, 27 nation-wide points champions have been crowned in in the SafeRacer Club Racing program. Eight of those were Mazda racers – six in open classes and two in spec classes. The […]”

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Ernie Francis Jr. has a shot at the Touring Car A title in his MX-5. The Pirelli World Challenge concludes its 25th anniversary season with a return to Miller Motorsports Park, where five of the six championships are set to be decided. One Mazda driver has an outside shot at claiming the title in his […]”

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Switching from car to car doesn’t have to be dramatic, says club and pro racer Andrew Carbonell. Andrew Carbonell has driven a variety of MX-5s. In addition, he has some karting and formula car experience plus some time in the GX-class Mazda SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesels that ran in the Rolex Sports Car Series last year. […]”

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