The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup offered by Michelin has its second repeat champion as Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) added the 2024 title to the primary one he captured in 2021. His teammate and championship rival Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) received the ultimate race at Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to surpass Wagner, who completed the race in third.
The rostrum for Spherical 14 was in actual fact a McCumbee McAleer sweep, with Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing) ending second. All three drivers had been in rivalry for the title and up towards defending champion Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) and his teammate Aaron Jeansonne (No. 24 JTR Motorsports Engineering).
Cicero began from pole however had some additional time to arrange for the beginning when Woody Heimann (No. 82 JTR Motorsports Engineering) bought into the wall on the tempo lap. This required the sector to stay behind the tempo automobile for an extra 10 minutes whereas the automobile was eliminated.
When the race lastly went inexperienced, Cicero and Wagner labored collectively on the entrance of the sector and had been shortly joined by Fletcher, however Jeansonne was additionally on the scene to interrupt up the MMR social gathering.
Fletcher was the race chief when a full-course yellow was issued to retrieve a automobile caught within the Flip 10 gravel lure. Circulating for six laps underneath yellow was useful for Fletcher, who acquired 10 bonus factors for main essentially the most laps of the race.
He continued to steer after the restart and had his sights firmly set on a race win, whereas his teammates shuffled backwards and forwards with JTR teammates, Thomas and Jeansonne. The continual passing prevented any pack of vehicles from pulling away and resulted in a protracted practice of a dozen vehicles able to pounce on any mistake.
Fletcher made zero errors and drove it residence for the victory, though the ultimate lap was underneath full-course warning after a nasty accident for Jonathan Neudorf (No. 55 BSI Racing) in Flip 1.
Even with the race win and most laps led, Fletcher was not in a position to overcome the purpose deficit created by his Spherical 13 DNF. He ends the season third within the championship standings, solely 70 factors out of the lead.
“I actually want I might go residence and rejoice a championship and a win with the crew like they deserve tonight on the banquet, however issues had been out of our fingers yesterday,” Fletcher stated. “I’m fairly positive we had second place locked-up popping out of that final nook, however contact was made. I simply sort of shrugged it off and got here out right here and did what I do and did it for the crew.
“I’m simply comfortable to get my third win of the season, and it actually proves that I had the automobile to beat all through the season. I simply want I might have gotten the championship, as a result of I really feel like issues that had been out of my management and out of the crew’s management are what actually value us that championship.”
Cicero was in a position to get round Wagner within the remaining laps to take second. He ends his sophomore season fourth within the championship standings.
“You must steadiness working together with your teammates versus attempting to be a bit of egocentric,” Cicero stated. “We had been 1-2-3, which is an especially tough spot. Jeremy and I going into that race had been tied on factors and he ended up one spot in entrance of me. We simply have such a powerful crew this yr. All of us knew how one can work collectively and when to battle. It’s been an incredible crew effort. I’m disillusioned to be on the brief finish of the stick, however nonetheless, ending up preventing for the championship and a pair wins this yr, I can’t complain an excessive amount of, and that happiness will sink in.”
Profitable his first MX-5 Cup Championship in 2021, Wagner turns into the second driver ever to attain two MX-5 Cup titles.
“I wasn’t essentially attempting to win the race,” Wagner stated. “I used to be simply attempting to be on the entrance. There was a little bit of a niche in factors between me and Nate [Cicero] and Jeremy [Fletcher], so so long as I used to be there serving to them, I used to be all proper, and I used to be more than pleased to strive my greatest to work collectively.
Together with the champion’s trophy, Wagner receives the grand prize of $250,000 from Mazda.
“Profitable two [championships] is an elite membership. I imply, it’s onerous sufficient to win one,” he says. “Jared [Thomas] bought his back-to-back, however I needed to wait a bit longer. On the similar time, I believe that speaks to how lengthy I’ve been right here and had success, and that’s one thing everybody desires, to maintain doing it and nonetheless be on the high. I’m actually comfortable I might say I used to be one of the best.”
Collection newcomer Noah Harmon (No. 77 AAG Racing) had a powerful race and scored his greatest lead to MX-5 Cup by ending fourth.
Ending fifth within the race, Thomas, the 2022 and 2023 champion, was unable to make it a three-peat, however did finish the season runner-up to Wagner within the factors.
Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) completed seventh however had clinched the Rookie of the Yr title with a fourth-place end in Thursday’s race. His rookie title earns Workman a $80,000 test from Mazda.
All Mazda MX-5 Cup races from the 2024 season can be found to view anytime on the RACER and IMSA YouTube channels.
Although the MX-5 Cup common season is over, in two weeks’ time drivers will go well with up for an exhibition race at Martinsville Speedway, the collection’ first-ever oval race on October 26.
