2023 Mazda MX-5 Cup explained

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
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]

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		5–6
Copeland Motorsports	2	Maximilian Opalski		All
	22	Jeremy Fletcher		All
	51	Tyler Gonzalez		1–2, 7
JTR Motorsports Engineering	3	James Hinchcliffe		4
		Cody Powell		6
	4	Zane Hodgen		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		1, 4–5
	82	Woody Heimann		All
	96	Jared Thomas		All
Spark Performance	5	Gresham Wagner		All
	15	Sally Mott		7
	20	Hernan Palermo		All
	33	Alex Bachoura		1–6
	50	Grant West		1–5, 7
	54	Heather Hadley		All
	65	Bryce Cornet		1, 3
Hixon Motor Sports	10	Thomas Annunziata		All
	32	Christian Hodneland		7
	44	Bailey Cruse		5–7
	48	Rossi Lee		2
	55	Jonathan Neudorf		All
	72	Connor Zilisch		1–3, 6–7
	73	Steven Clemons		1
	74	Hanna Zellers		1, 3–5
	78	Julian DaCosta		6–7
	80	Ethan Tyler		1, 4–6
	85	Bruno Smielevski		1–3
	87	Selin Rollan		All
	95	Farhan Siddiqi		2, 4–7
Robert Noaker Racing	13	Robert Noaker		All
	17	Joe Rainey		5, 7
	25	Bryan Heitman		5, 7
	30	Joey Rainey		5
	88	Justin Brigandi		4
Saito MotorSport Group	19	Clayton Ketcher		4
		Michael Carter		6
		Ben Keating		7
McCumbee McAleer Racing	28	Sam Paley		1–4
	39	John Jodoin		All
	49	Andrew Wilson		5
	76	Matthew Dirks		1–4
	83	Nate Cicero		All
Sources: ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] ^[10]

= Eligible for Rookie's Championship

Race Results

Bold indicates overall winner.

Round		Circuit	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver
1	1	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	1	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	1	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	1	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	1	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	1	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	1	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 Standings

Points System

Championship points are awarded at the finish of each event according to the chart below.^[11]

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 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 align=left nowrap Thomas Annunziata 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 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 22 25 19 8 21 17 18 14 7 13 18 18 14 28 0 1920 17 Jeremy Fletcher 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 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 6 28 26 10 10 10 0 960 24 Grant West DNS DNS 15 7 24 21 17 25 DNS DNS 28 15 0 960 25 James Hayosh 20 16 15 12 12 15 0 960 26 Glenn McGee 10 22 18 16 8 18 0 940 27 Bailey Cruse 19 12 20 24 19 16 0 760 28 Zane Hodgen 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 9 23 16 17 0 590 33 John Hansen 17 11 24 20 0 520 34 James Hinchcliffe 6 9 0 470 35 Joe Rainey 18 14 22 24 0 460 36 Michael Carter 8 13 0 420 37 Bryan Heitman 20 16 25 22 0 410 38 Justin Brigandi 19 15 0 280 39 Cody Powell 16 19 0 270 40 Clayton Ketcher 14 23 0 250 41 Rossi Lee 14 24 0 240 42 Sally Mott 20 18 0 240 43 Steven Clemons 23 18 0 210 44 Ben Keating 26 20 0 160 45 Christian Hodneland 24 27 0 110 46 Joey Rainey 24 DNS 0 70 47 Andrew Wilson 25 DNS 0 60 Pos. Driver DAY STP LGA WGL ELK VIR ATL Bonus Points

Bold - Pole positionItalics - Fastest lapUnderline = 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

External links

• Official Website

Notes and References

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