The Mid-Ohio sports car course never disappoints for nearby bike-to-wheel racing, and Saturday’s Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires was no exception. Selin Rollan (# 87 Hixon Motor Sports) was the winner in a six-way battle for victory in a 45-minute green flag sprint to the checkered flag. Sam Paley (No. 28 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and Justin Piscitell (No. 89 McCumbee McAleer Racing) completed the podium.
Rollan has never had much luck in his fourth season in the Mazda MX-5 Cup at Mid-Ohio. The 2018 Rookie of the Year felt his driving style never quite matched the 13-corner, 2,258-mile course. All of that changed when Rollan crossed the finish line 1.552 seconds before his next competition.
Tincknell takes pole in Mid-Ohio for Mazda
Carter wins Mazda MX-5 Cup in Mid-Ohio
Wagner sweeps the Mazda MX-5 Cup practice session in Mid-Ohio
The front row represented the first two places in the championship in Mid-Ohio: Michael Carter (No. 08 Carter Racing Enterprises) on pole and Gresham Wagner (No. 5 Spark Performance) in second. Wagner dropped his tires in the mud on a couple of corners early in the race, giving third-start Paley plenty of opportunities to challenge him for second place and allowing Carter to pull a small gap.
Soon, however, the four cars behind Carter were able to work together and catch the polesitter. When they did so, Rollan took the opportunity to move up to second place and began his offer to lead the race.
Shortly thereafter, Carter had a brief problem exiting the keyhole that brought him back to fifth rank. Rollan was the new leader but was pursued by Paley in search of his first MX-5 Cup win.
Paley led for one lap, but Rollan took control and retired from the field for his third win of the season.
“It was good and the car handled really well, especially at the end,” said Rollan. “Hixon Motor Sports put together a perfect car. In the end, it was really consistent and went where I wanted it to be. I felt bad for [Michael] Carter when he had this problem. I gave it a squeeze and we tried to get away but then it lost the power coming from the keyhole. I feel bad for him, but on the other hand, it’s nice for the championship to be on the podium without Michael [Carter] and Gresham [Wagner] for the points. The car is really good and hopefully we can continue that in the race tomorrow! “
Paley, a newcomer, has been knocking on the door of victory for some time. He admitted he had to work on his tire strategy to finally get that elusive victory.
“To be honest, I didn’t feel any pressure when I was up front,” said Paley. “I felt the pressure more than I stayed behind and honestly tried to catch up. It was the first time that I was leading this season, that was good. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace in the end. I had worked my tires pretty hard at the beginning of the race.
“I would like to thank BiiND.app for the sponsorship help and McCumbee McAleer Racing for this great car. I knew I didn’t have the car in the end so I had to take it to make passes when I got the chance. It can be difficult to get through here – every inside turns into an outside – you have to go deep in because you are trying to hold the outside when someone else is holding the inside and it can go on for more than a corner. I am satisfied with the points in the bag. It was a good race and I’m happy to be on the podium again. “
Piscitell started in sixth, but showed an enormous racing pace. He made his way through the intense six-way battle for the podium and wrestled last place away from Wagner in the final laps of the race.
“I’m pretty excited about this,” said Piscitell. “It feels like I’m long overdue. We’ve had a car on the podium several times, but we’ve had some problems here and there. Some are just unlucky, others are my fault. I am super happy to be here and to represent Matty’s Light. I drove conservatively at the beginning of the race and put a gap in P6. I tried to use the draft and not destroy the tires to save up for a hard load in the end. I think I waited too long to get through in the end. “
Wagner finally crossed the finish line in fourth. He will start on the pole on the eighth lap on Sunday.
Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) completed the top 5. Thomas made contact with the tires during practice on Friday and had to borrow another car to continue participating over the weekend. Thomas qualified eighth and was alone for much of the 45-minute race, but was able to take the lead just in time to finish fifth.
Carter finished sixth.
Luca Mars (No. 41 Copeland Motorsports) won the Hard Charger Award for moving up from 11th to 7th place.
MX-5 Cup riders will have the opportunity to apply what they learned today to Sunday’s eighth lap race, which begins at a nearly identical time: 11:45 a.m. ET. The race will be broadcast live on IMSA.com/tvlive and NBC Sports Gold TrackPass.