Sept. 1, 2022 – When the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires 2023 schedule was revealed on August 5, there was one event missing from the calendar. That date is now confirmed to be WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
Rounds Five and Six of the Mazda MX-5 Cup series will take place May 12 – 14 at the celebrated 2.238-mile road course. The track was not part of the 2022 season.
“Racing under the IMSA umbrella provides our drivers and teams with the opportunity to race on some of the absolute best tracks on the continent, and we are really pleased with the 2023 schedule,” Mazda Motorsports Program Manager Jonathan Applegate said. “We get an early start to the season once again with our launch in Daytona, and we’ve worked to have a good cadence of events through the year. Mazda has such a great history with the track, so it is great to get this final piece of our schedule puzzle in place for next season as our Mazda MX-5 Cup paddock loves the chance to race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.”
Mazda MX-5 Cup and Laguna Seca have a special history: the first ever MX-5 Cup race took place there in 2006. Ten years later, the ND model version of the race car made its debut there.
More recently, MX-5 Cup has raced at Laguna Seca in the fall, but this year IMSA moved the event to the spring.
The 2022 MX-5 Cup season comes to a close September 28 – 30 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Round 11 is tentatively scheduled to take place at 1:50pm ET on Thursday, September 29 and Round 12 at 9:50am ET on Friday, September 30. Both races will be streamed live on RACER.com.
2023 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires Schedule
Date Location With
January 25 – 27 Daytona International Raceway
Daytona Beach, Florida IMSA
March 3-5 St. Petersburg street course
St. Petersburg, Florida IndyCar
May 12 – 14 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Monterey, California IMSA
June 23 – 25 Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, New York IMSA
August 4 – 6 Road America
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin IMSA
August 25 – 27 VIRginia International Raceway
Alton, Virginia IMSA
October 11 – 13 Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
Braselton, Georgia IMSA
*All events are doubleheaders
About: The Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires is the signature spec series for Mazda Motorsports. The series has been operated by Andersen Promotions since 2017 and is currently sanctioned by IMSA. Mazda-powered grassroots champions can earn Mazda scholarships for this pro-level series. The Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup champion is awarded $250,000 as the top rookie nets $80,000.
Find out more at http://www.mx-5cup.com.