after finishing strong at Road Atlanta last fall we are on the pole for the 24 hours at 1:34.685. looks like 11 entries in class including two Penske cars and the usual Cadillacs.
Good Luck Mazda!

 

Woot! Gotta like the Soul Red paint scheme too.

What are they using for a motor?

 

one of those weird piston motors... turbo 4 cyl

 

Considering last year's performance where it caught fire and a wheel fell off, if it just runs flat out for the full 24 hours that's a victory in my book.

 

V8 Vs 4 cylinder. I hope Mazda finally has the cars dialed in and don't get pulled on the long straights.
DVR all queued up, pop corn in the hopper.

 

"Considering last year's performance where it caught fire and a wheel fell off"

Shxt can happen when you are actually trying to do something in uncharted extremely competitive waters but it is worth noting that in the last race of 2018
at a very tough track Mazda finished 2nd and 3rd.

 

Absolutely true, towards the last half of last season they really shone, but the overall results were not much better than 2017 when Mazda with Speedsource ran half a season.
Last year we were all expecting a lot better from Joest, who won Le Mans more than any other team. There were at least 3 near wins thrown away by bad pit strategy or driver error.

I just think in an endurance setting too much is expected from this 2.0L engine. Even back in American Le Mans Series with less power it had a spotty record of finishing long races.
I feel there's a definite a win in the coming sprint races. Just a shame we have to go through a 24 and 12 hour first.

 

Nailed it. I am a huge IMSA/Sports car racing fan and have been following Mazda for a long time. This race proved once again that the small engine can't produce the power for competitiveness for 24 hours. I hope the rest of the season is better to them.

 

I think it is a 2.5L, but the engine seems to hold up, but there so many other things that keep popping up to haunt their finishes. I agree that it is asking to much from that engine, but there are so many other details that I really expect not to happen with Joest in command.

I would be interested in finding out more detailed info about what happened overall. It seems that some of the problems on the #55 were due to being hit in the back that caused a fuel leak and consequently low pressure that caused the car to slow and then it got hit again and caught fire..

 

Unless they changed it for this season and didn't tell anybody (including the series), it is a turbocharged 2.0L 4 cyl developed with/by AER. They've had other issues but this is their what, 3rd or 4th year with the engine? Engine failures shouldn't be the norm, and supposedly that's what happened to the #77 this weekend.

 

Yea, after a quick check, you are right. It is a 2.0L

 

77 went down due to turbo failure, which they say is a new issue. So I guess the engine is good and that was the next weak link?

 

I think it was in Race Engine Technology mag that had an article on the MZR-R engine not that long ago. If I'm remembering rightly, it's a new revised engine, not the original they developed over in the UK some years earlier. Turbo was supposed to be variable vane according to that article too, unless I've mixed up the details!

 

I thought team Joest would have better results by now...

 

I went to Sebring this year.
Watched them burn down, (electrical fire) and crash.
They're still snake bit although I keep rooting for them.

 

Seriously, yep. It's annoying how some fans say they're so much better Speedsource yet don't have a win with a bigger budget, more experienced personnel, and more R&D time.

But they just need a win now.
Last race at Mid Ohio 2nd and 3rd place, 2 seconds behind the winner.
Very similar to Petit Le Mans last year.

 

Mazda took what turned out to be the worst chassis (Riley/Multimatic) out of the 4 available and is pushing a 4 cylinder beyond its limits. They've spent a few years behind the ball and have played catch up this whole time while everyone else spent that time getting ahead. There's only so much Speedsource and now Joest can do.

The next generation class will be here in a few years, hopefully Mazda continues.

 

They finally did it

 

and again!

 

Mazda wins the sprint race at daytona

 

I was there at the track to witness it all. Great job Mazda now please use that r&d to give us a rotary car. Go Mazda