2021 Mazda MX-5 Cup

The 2021 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BF Goodrich was a single-make motor racing championship, the 17th season of the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the 1st under a new sanctioning agreement with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The series began on January 28 at Daytona International Speedway, and concluded on November 12 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta after 14 rounds. Gresham Wagner won the driver's championship, earning Spark Performance the entrant's championship as well. Sam Paley won the Rookie of the Year championship with McCumbee McAleer Racing.

Schedule

The schedule was initially announced on October 28, 2020, and features 14 rounds across seven double-header weekends.[1] On December 17, 2020, the schedule was revised, along with the 2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

On January 6, 2021, the St. Petersburg event was rescheduled from its March date to April 23–25, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

On February 8, 2021, IMSA announced an additional double-header event to be held during the 12 Hours of Sebring event weekend in March. Rounds 3 and 4 at Sebring will serve as a replacement for a future race venue to be announced at a later date. Thus, the 2021 MX-5 Cup Championship will still be composed of 14 rounds at seven tracks.[4]

On April 7, 2021, the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event scheduled for July 2-4 was cancelled due to COVID-19 quarantine requirements.[5]

All races are 45 minutes in length.

Rnd. Circuit Location Dates
1 Daytona International Speedway (Road Course) Daytona Beach, Florida January 27-29
2
3 Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 17-19
4
5 Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida April 23–25
6
7 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio May 14–16
8
9 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 6–8
10
11 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California September 10–12
12
13 Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia November 10-12
14
Source:[6]

Confirmed Entries

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 08 Michael Carter 1-14
Copeland Motorsports 4 Bryan Ortiz 1-8
26 Peter Atwater  R  1-2, 5-8
38 Daniel Williams  R  1-10
41 Luca Mars  R  1-14
43 Joey Atanasio  R  1-2
51 Dean Copeland 11-12
Hixon Motorsports 37 Sabre Cook  R  1-2
42 Preston Pardus 1-2
47 Bryan Hixon 1-12
63 Savanna Little  R  1-10, 13-14
72 Hannah Grisham  R  1-2
Connor Zilisch  R  13-14
73 Dan Moen 3-4
87 Selin Rollan 1-14
92 Loni Unser 1-14
98 Derek Ware 1-2
11 Andrew Carbonell 9-10
22 Alex Berg  R  13-14
Irish Mike's Racing 95 Todd Buras 3-4
JTR Motorsports Engineering 32 Chris Nunes  R  1-14
96 Jared Thomas 1-14
82 Woody Heimann  R  7-14
26 Peter Atwater  R  9-14
97 Daniel Williams  R  11-12
69 Anthony McIntosh  R  13-14
McCumbee McAleer Racing 13 Jenson Altzman  R  1-14
28 Sam Paley  R  1-14
31 John Jodoin  R  3-4, 8-12
48 Zachry Lee 3-8,11-12
55 Moisey Uretsky 1-14
89 Justin Piscitell 1-14
Provision Motorsports 24 Aaron Jeansonne  R  1-14
99 Drake Kemper 1-8, 13-14
43 Joey Atanasio  R  3-4
99 Drake Kemper 1-8, 13-14
Bruno Carneiro 11-12
Slipstream Performance 12 Mike Globe 3-4, 7-10, 13-14
20 Hernan Palermo 1-4, 7-14
33 Alex Bachoura 1-14
36 David Staab 1-14
Spark Performance 5 Gresham Wagner 1-14
Team Guatemala Racing 59 Juan Hernandez Leiva  R  1-8
Sources: [7]

 R  = Eligible for Rookie's Championship

Race Results
Rnd. Circuit Winning Driver Pole Position Fastest Lap Hard Charger
1 Daytona Gresham Wagner Gresham Wagner Gresham Wagner Jenson Altzman
2 Michael Carter Gresham Wagner Preston Pardus Hernan Palermo
3 Sebring Selin Rollan Gresham Wagner Chris Nunes Todd Buras
4 Gresham Wagner Sam Paley Michael Carter Todd Buras
5 St. Petersburg Selin Rollan Michael Carter Michael Carter Aaron Jeansonne
6 Michael Carter Michael Carter Selin Rollan Alex Bachoura
7 Mid-Ohio Selin Rollan Michael Carter Selin Rollan Luca Mars
8 Chris Nunes Gresham Wagner Hernan Palermo Luca Mars
9 Road America Selin Rollan Selin Rollan Gresham Wagner Michael Carter
10 Michael Carter Gresham Wagner Michael Carter John Jodoin
11 Laguna Seca Gresham Wagner Selin Rollan Selin Rollan Alex Bachoura
12 Gresham Wagner Selin Rollan Bruno Carneiro Moisey Uretsky
13 Road Atlanta Gresham Wagner Gresham Wagner Connor Zilisch Chris Nunes
14 Jared Thomas Selin Rollan Jared Thomas Luca Mars

Championship Standings

Points System

Championship points are awarded at the finish of each event according to the chart below.

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 or below
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 SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1 Gresham Wagner 1 3 3 1 17 3 4 2 2 5 1 1 1 6 120 4330
2 Michael Carter 9 1 2 2 2 1 6 6 4 1 4 6 3 3 100 4240
3 Selin Rollan 6 4 1 9 1 18 1 7 1 3 2 2 5 2 110 4150
4 Chris Nunes 4 10 12 10 3 6 12 1 5 7 19 3 4 7 10 3430
5 Sam Paley 2 5 7 22 20 2 2 15 3 2 6 5 9 9 20 3410
6 Luca Mars 13 9 26 7 5 4 7 3 12 8 9 4 7 4 0 3210
7 Justin Piscitell 5 6 4 25 19 9 3 5 7 10 23 7 6 10 0 2980
8 Aaron Jeansonne 8 12 6 4 10 21 13 19 8 4 3 20 8 22 0 2800
9 Jared Thomas 3 2 25 8 21 16 5 24† 22 DNS 5 8 2 1 10 2750
10 Jenson Altzman 16 25 27 6 4 17 11 22 10 6 7 10 10 8 0 2560
11 David Staab 22 16 17 14 11 12 14 20 11 11 20 22 13 12 0 2190
12 Alex Bachoura 18 24 16 13 9 11 18 21 20 14 11 13 17 17 0 2120
13 Moisey Uretsky 24 21 19 26 16 13 19 9 15 13 14 9 21 11 0 2040
14 Hernan Palermo 27† 14 11 24 8 10 9 21 8 19 11 21 10 1900
15 Bryan Hixon 14 19 15 17 13 14 22 13 16 15 17 15 0 1820
16 Loni Unser 25 26 18 15 7 10 16 23 14 12 16 14 DNS DNS 0 1760
17 Bryan Ortiz 11 11 13 3 6 5 15 12 0 1740
18 Daniel Williams 21 22 14 12 22† 8 10 18 19 16 18 18 0 1740
19 Drake Kemper 19 8 5 11 17 DNS 25† 8 18 14 0 1540
20 Peter Atwater 15 17 8 19 21 DNS DNS 17 15 17 12 20 0 1490
21 Savanna Little 23 23 20 19 14 20 23 14 17 18 19 18 0 1440
22 Zachry Lee 9 16 15 15 17 11 10 16 0 1390
23 Juan Hernandez 17 27 23 18 12 7 9 4 0 1320
24 Woody Heimann 20 17 13 22 12 12 14 15 0 1230
25 John Jodoin 10 23 21 9 13 11 0 990
26 Mike Globe 22 21 24 16 18 20 20 19 0 880
27 Joey Atanasio 10 15 24 20 0 550
28 Preston Pardus 7 7 20 500
29 Todd Buras 8 5 0 490
30 Andrew Carbonell 6 19 0 370
31 Sabre Cook 12 13 0 370
32 Connor Zilisch 22 5 10 360
33 Alex Berg 16 13 0 330
34 Anthony McIntosh 15 16 0 310
35 Hannah Grisham 20 20 0 220
36 Bruno Carneiro 22 21 10 200
37 Derek Ware 26 18 0 180
38 Dean Copeland 21 23 0 180
39 Dan Moen 21 27 0 140
Pos. Driver DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points

Bold = Pole Position

Italics = Fastest Race Lap

Underline = Most Laps Led

† = Post-race penalty; moved to back of class

Entrant's Championship

Each Entrant receives championship points for its highest Car finishing position in each class 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. Entrant DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1 Spark Performance 1 3 3 1 17 3 4 2 2 5 1 1 1 6 120 4450
2 Hixon Motorsports 6 4 1 9 1 10 1 7 1 3 2 2 5 2 140 4350
3 Carter Racing Enterprises 9 1 2 2 2 1 6 6 4 1 4 6 3 3 100 4280
4 JTR Motorsports Engineering 3 2 12 8 3 6 5 1 5 7 5 3 2 1 20 4040
5 McCumbee McAleer Racing 2 5 4 6 4 2 2 5 3 2 6 5 6 8 20 3950
6 Copeland Motorsports 10 15 13 3 5 4 7 3 12 8 9 4 7 4 0 3600
7 Provision Motorsports 8 8 5 4 10 21 13 8 8 4 3 20 8 14 10 3500
8 Slipstream Performance 19 14 11 13 9 11 14 20 9 11 8 13 11 12 10 3280
9 Team Guatemala Racing 17 27 23 18 12 7 9 4 0 1860
10 Irish Mike's Racing 8 5 0 510
Pos. Entrant DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points

Bold = Pole Position

Italics = Fastest Race Lap

Underline = Most Laps Led

Rookie's Championship

Rookie points are awarded based on the Car’s finishing position for each Rookie Driver, with the finishing positions of Cars without Rookie Drivers not considered in the results and all other Cars with Rookie Drivers elevated in the finishing positions accordingly.

Pos. Driver DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Points
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1 Sam Paley 2 5 7 22 20 2 2 15 3 2 6 5 9 9 4290
2 Chris Nunes 4 10 12 10 3 6 12 1 5 7 19 3 4 7 4250
3 Luca Mars 13 9 26 7 5 4 7 3 12 8 9 4 7 4 4140
4 Aaron Jeansonne 8 12 6 4 10 21 13 19 8 4 3 20 8 22 3920
5 Jenson Altzman 16 25 27 6 4 17 11 27 10 6 7 10 10 8 3720
6 Daniel Williams 21 22 14 12 22† 8 10 18 19 16 18 18 2870
7 Savanna Little 23 23 20 19 14 20 23 14 17 18 19 18 2740
8 Peter Atwater 15 17 8 19 21 DNS DNS 17 15 17 12 20 2390
9 Juan Hernandez 17 27 23 18 12 7 9 4 2030
10 Woody Heimann 20 17 13 22 12 12 14 15 1930
11 John Jodoin 10 23 21 9 13 11 1490
12 Joey Atanasio 10 15 24 20 990
13 Connor Zilisch 22 5 520
14 Sabre Cook 12 13 520
15 Alex Berg 16 13 470
16 Anthony McIntosh 15 16 460
17 Hannah Grisham 20 20 440
Pos. Driver DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Points

† = Post-race penalty; moved to back of class

References
  1. "Mazda MX-5 Cup Unveils 2021 Schedule with New Partner IMSA". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  2. "IMSA West Coast Swing Moves to September for 2021". IMSA. December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  3. "Mazda MX-5 Cup Set for New Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Date". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  4. "Sebring added to MX-5 Cup schedule, Daytona openers on TV". RACER. February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  5. "Mazda MX-5 Cup Removes Canadian Tire Motorsport Park from 2021 Schedule". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  6. "Schedule". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  7. "Pre-Event Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
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