Race 1 - 2021 Mazda MX-5 Cup From Road America

hello everybody and welcome along to america's national park of speed uh this is road america i'm john heindoff uh in the global broadcast center with share adam our pit and paddock reporter for many years on inside and also part of our team for radio lemon hello there and welcome it seems like it's been a long time since we've seen the edematous master mx-5 cup hello and yes it has been far too long since we've heard the hum of the mx-5 global cup cars out on the racetrack but they're back and we have a full grid the championship contenders mostly at the front where you would expect them to be a couple of new cars couple of cars switching teams in what was quite a long summer break the summer break is over it's time to go racing not quite the full grid that we were expecting if i'm honest and we'll take you through that in a moment we have had qualifying at best time setting the starting grids the official master starting grid for this race second best for the second race later on this weekend but it wasn't a an easy run for some of our competitors as we're rolling on the formation that uh three competitors that i have listed here is mike love jared thomas and his gtr motorsports engineering [Music] no correct and the first thing of note is that jtr has actually doubled in size since beginning of the season jared thomas and chris nunes who started out the year joined by peter atwater from the last round and also with woody hyman on the team as well so now they're up to four cars peter not contesting the race today he had some business to attend to back in colorado he will be in the race tomorrow jared with the wheel speed sensor going about people who have worked on cars know how difficult wheel speed sensors can be and if one goes off they're all going to have issues he had slight body damage but wound up qualifying in 22nd position he finished the last race first was later disqualified due to a post-race technical infraction meaning that his teammate chris nunes actually inherited his first ever win well we are behind the master mx-5 safety car let's take it a look at how they will line up here for the edema 2 mazda mx5 cup presented by bf goodrich titans on poor position once again right at the sharp ending for the number 87 he support the sports master of celine roland with herman palerno the slipstream is the number 20 alongside him on raw two it's russian wagon for spark performance he's got number 24 aaron johnson for provision motorsports right alongside him uh rule number three on the inside the number 11 is andrew cavanaugh for higgs and motorsports but could be magalia racing driver sam early is the second best of the rookies second best to aaron johnson just a couple of rows ahead of him then it's chris newness another one of the rookies in the number 32 gtr motorsports engineering runner before that is michael carter on the outside of that run number five luger mars in the 41 corbin motorsports brightly colored machine another buccaneer racing car in 10th is jensen ultimate watch for him coming forward he's been racing very very well recently just outside the 10 on raw number six justin piscotel in the 89th but racing has gtr motorsports engineering strider woody hyman right alongside him in the 82. my haretzky but mccombie mcalee racing is in team 13 and the 55 staff was centrally performed 36 alongside him flipping flying hunter for hicks and motorsports with alex patura for slipstream in the 33. then it's oda for mccombie mcaleer daniel williams savannah little brian hickson and then the three that didn't get the time scene mike globe jared thomas peter atwater all explained earlier on by shea adam road america 4.048 miles around the longest circuit for the edema 2 mazda presented by b.f goodrich tyres up the long run from the final corner turn 14 climbing the hill we're gonna have another slipstream battle i will absolutely guarantee it watch out for the long straights and the draft these other top cars leave a big hole in the air and from poor position selling roland gets the green flag and moves away nicely in the 87 the multi-coloured car to the inside drivers right going down into the first corner and dragging through the inside lead also going through gresham wagner and andrew carbonell and they'll be the top three as they go under the arianes bridge and down towards turn number three for the first time that inside lane has gone very well indeed chris needs as well coming through with gtr engineering colours the red and white car in fourth position ahead of of hernan palermo for slipstream so the outside pull sit there only just here adam hanging on to the top six brilliant start from the pool sitter who dragged that inside it was i'm surprised that hernan palermo is starting because he's somebody who's always gone well here at road america so for him to drop back from second to what about to be seven on half of the first lap that's a big shock to me but roland has an advantage he is the only driver in the field who has won here at america in this series before and uh he's been a little busy in this off time he just got his commercial pilot's license last week the guy who was so happy to win at saint petersburg because he often flies in there well there's an airport not too far away from here and uh if he wins again here this might become one of roland's destinations yeah not too far you're absolutely right 45 minutes was on the clock to start with you're going to have to keep an eye to the heavens as well the cubs and white sox came and august was struggling to get underway down the road a wee bit down at chicago but there have been one or two pop-up storms in the area we do race in the rain here they've started on their bf bridge tyres which are dry weather racing tires they do have wet weather tires available to them and to answer anybody's question if you're going forward you don't get wet even with your roof and that's exactly the same as in the street car it's only when you have to stop with a traffic [Music] to light the car that you start getting wet the disadvantage you have here is you don't have the option of just reaching behind you and pulling the roof up which on a street mx-5 is so easy you can do it one-handed and you don't need an electric motor because you can do it quicker yourself so it will get a little bit hairy if it starts to rain it looks like there might be one or two drops of rain as they come across the line this time around cylindrical and then late number five going through in seconds wagner for spark performance he tries to the outside ahern and palermo in the bright yellow number 20 car sitting in fifth position trying to make back some of the gravy lot of one or two sets of wings screen wipers going on now as well as they're headed down to turn one for the second time of asking yes there's definitely a little bit of spray being thrown up from the leading cars not the problem for the new leader though gretchen wagner has gone through to the lead out of championship big time we have had two drivers win three races apiece so far this season gretchen wagner and flynn along being two of those drivers windshield wipers are on the back of the car but we do have problems further back down the field and hernan palermo i noticed has an under tray that's flapping below him so his car as well with a bit of damage early on i wonder if that affects things it was woody hyman who was off one of the two cars just at the exit of turn three as they are going three abreast coming up to turn five this is getting chaotic underneath the corvette bridge trying to go around the outside and reclaim the lead the ball sitter cylindrical but he's unable to get that one done they're still sitting side by side as they go through the very quick turn number six dropping down the hill through the kick hurry down and right back with them now this is a really good drive back by the man who started on the outside of the front row and was completely mugged by the inside lane first four of the inside lane rules went through a little bit of oversteer the back end of that number 20 cards just beginning to get a little lively going through the first part of the carousel as the head down with the kink have a listen i think they're flat through there i really think they're blocked through there didn't hear a pop or a crackle or a lift from any [Music] ultimate excuse me jason is he's done and jensen ultimate and they could be back on there right in there ahead of moisture yuretsky who's the second of those black castle number 55. 28 in there as well sampling that's another company magalia racing car so those guys are working their way through the field very nicely indeed over the top of the rise new fastest lap for her and palermo to get back to the two leaders there two minutes 38.6 and that is important cheers we're watching the battle for the lead going down into turn one for the ball oh the big mistake come back to that i think it's getting better return one because first and second roland whack the fourth went wide and palermo in the yellow and black uh hixson excuse me slip straight performance car has gone back to the lead he now leads he's also got the fastest lap and that means points in this championship as we've had a spinner further back down between the uh the field that's the slipstream performance number 20 might globe in the gold car but really was it a mistake or was it just a lack of grip it was a lack of grip huge rear end slide by the then leader celine roland for hixon actually a masterful save he's dropped down to third [Music] [Applause] people have to fight against the number five progression wagner he'll be still in second but he's got a different car ahead of him now that being the bright yellow slip straight car and turn him on sorry i was about to talk about uh points at the additional points that you get apart from your position finishes all good you do get bonus points for leading the most laps in a race and for taking the fastest lap as well as 10 bonus points for the uh best pull fine position both across yellow now as mike globe has not yet moved from that turn one incident i believe uh he might be moving again actually just a little bit wonky but yeah the yellows all right because we're talking about the yellow car in the lead of this race palermo is not in the top 16 as far as points are concerned and of course the ls come out mike globe manages to find that here to get the cardboard together it should be a quick yellow hernan has not actually finished within the top five positions so far this year his best finish was 10th at ohio but he has gotten bonus points before in that second race at mid-ohio so he knows how to be fast and this is the track where hernan palermo is the biggest threat on the calendar this is the one where clearly he feels most comfortable so it's going to be tough work for russian wagner points in second right now after the last round he's 40 points behind michael carter the zero eight michael carter currently down in seventh position that stands for championship shake-up even if correction wagner finishes second yeah the uh quiet qualifying and first part of the race for carter racing enterprises zero eight sitting in seventh position we are under full course yellow at road america america's national part of spain playing horse this weekend the two ida mitsu mazda mx5 cup race is presented by bf goodrich ties it's out of petra high up in the global broadcast center here as we are live in sand and vision on imsa tv also at imsa radio.com we've got the pictures there as well and the mx-5 safety car is rolling as she said i think this is just going to be a very quick yellow because mike glove did manage to find the forward gear on that racing gearbox proper racing cars these might look like you could go down to your master dealer and buy one off the floor well of course you could buy the road car but these cars come in from japan and into florida and the brothers flicks work their magic on them uh stripping them back pretty much to the bare shell and i think probably the only thing that isn't modified or tuned is the engine that is your street stock two liter four cylinder in line normally aspirated mazda mx-5 engine 180 horsepower and that's quite enough thank you very much to propel these quite light open top roadsters but everything else multimatic suspension on there you've got the racing sequential gearbox and saturn box you've got a racing differential and of course all the safety equipment as well with door bars on both sides always handy if you want to take one of your sponsors out for a track day fire suppression systems etc more than 250 racing parts then it goes to the paint shop and you can have any color you want as long as it's white that's the standard color when it comes out thankfully nowadays people are very very sheer very very good and creative with vinyl [Music] yes and you know even such when you get the car and it is in that beautiful white a blank canvas if you will it still makes for the best value in racing because eighty thousand dollars get to a car and two races per weekend that are broadcast for everybody for free it's a phenomenal value and by the way it's a lot of fun you get to go out and fix mx5 touch cards against other people and share your skills we don't have to talk about money important racing because it's often seen to be a bit crass to do so but as the safety car lights are out and we're gonna about to go green the other side of this the buying and the running of the car is extremely good value i'll never say anything's cheaper because it isn't and we know that it's a significant investment before and time but the rewards here have been there's a lot of people who instead of perhaps as we might have done in years gone by in championships such as this instead of using it as a stepping stone to something else they're making a career and what's more making money out of being in this championship particularly if you're at the sharp ending championship come at the end of the season yeah let me just throw some numbers out for you 250 000 worth the scholarship for winning the championship overall it pays all the way down to 10th place in the championship 80 000 for the rookie of the year there's a 75 000 scholarship for women in motorsport to try and promote that initiative and grassroots racing is very important for mazda they give a hundred and ten thousand dollars with the scholarship to the best grassroots race for every year mazda creates great racing drivers so a quick yellow was predicted by sheer adam a quick yellow is what we have had so hernan palermo who started on the outside of the front row in the bright yellow number 20 is leading them through to start another lap this is time centered a bit of puff trapping on the front straight it's that long front straight connie's throwing the green flag with some gusto there the spots of ram seem to have disappeared from the moment down into turn one the red white black card aggression for spark performance having to look down the inside that wasn't the proper look and in fact he's cost himself some time and amazingly and very quickly taking advantage off by celebrating [Music] down the well i was going to see the straight but there's actually a little kink at turn four and then they head over the brow to the tricky downhill breaking area turn five and gresham wagner has indeed lost one please immediately lose a couple boys down the inside now though the nearly resurfaced turn number five both of the leaders go wider down we've got two sets of two two wide too deep going under the bridge and turn five and they all managed to get through a little bit of rally crossing for those on the right hand side of the circuit and round the outside and into the lead there goes gresham wagner fantastic maneuver absolutely glorious and exactly what we expect from mazda mx5 racing big time behind there sam clearly at the black number 28 is the best of the rookies and he's just been a position on andre carbonell in the number 11 car that was a very good move as well so those two black cars not teammates but could be magalia racing leads hicks and motorsports 28 from 11 leader in the red coming to the king just over half an hour 31 minutes still to go in the sunshine for the moment at broad america what a great race we've been treated here have we got to some phenomenal close finishes and brilliant racing as they go three wide or at least think about it in the canada corner think better of it though but now rather just having two or three cars we've got what two four six eight ten i reckon right the way down to luka martin called the motorsports all right in the mix there yeah and i was just checking it [Music] yeah you mentioned him and the moment you mentioned him now he's that bodywork on a tyre or is that something worse i think that looks like oil smoke either that or he's auditioning to replace daniel craig in the bond movies uh after the next one comes out and i'm afraid the silver number 96 car the gtr motorsport has dropped to the back [Music] he's out of the car and looks towards the back of the car the unforeseeable smell of engine oil is what is greeting him there mean time nine cars now at the front of the field down to arizona in the saw crystal saw red crystal castle but he's the top nine now then there is a little bit of a gap back to luka mars who i think might have been caught up in that small screen further back but the top nine are down at turn five led by slipstream performance it's the yellow black car what a weird to get our race action underway this weekend it was uh that's who by the way has a new sponsor for this week sport track rv which is a motorhome dealership out of arizona and california uh he's making a good effort to stick with this leading group but the other black car is the one that i'm really interested in andrew carbino car number 11. he's joining hixon motorsport this weekend as a driver normally he is coach for the team and why is that important because the car right in front of him now saleem is his teammate and teammates work very well together at road america to get to the front watch those two because they won't be back in fifth and sixth for long there used to be a seeing tour north front raw in qualifying and possibly that could count for the race but of course when you get into the money laps at the end or the money minutes as it is here back on 28 still to go then it is every driver for themselves three black cars in that uh top running set of machinery top eight and it's still a bright yellow one that's the easy one to spot as they head up the rise once more now how how hard are the guys behind trying i know you're thinking that yourself but here's the pass around the outside the long way around and a little bit of bump drafting as well to get not one but two passer and palermo down the inside here comes the number 28 to sample aggression with the fastest lap last time around carbondale follows the black car apparently through so the two black cars now third and fourth and heard and palermo who led across the line all of a sudden down in sixth could be seven and that flapping under the tree there's clearly been a little bit of frontal contact on that number twenty the yellow car which has just got wide and turn number three and onto the grass for her palermo and that is flapping more and there's also a bit of trim just above the radiate the air intake at the front of that car and he's lost he's lost the draft now that it's like losing that's like losing the peloton in cycle road racing and that's going to be hard for him to get back we've seen the team sprints the team pursuits at the olympics haven't we and if you don't steer right on the back of the guys in front you're gonna struggle and palermo is now dropping away you know what motorsport at the olympics mazda mx-5 would be absolutely absolutely gold metal [Music] also by the way somebody looking for a gold medal he's got the silver medal three times in eight races so far this year he's looking really good and super competitive but you asked why these guys would be pushing so hard to get to the lead the ten bonus points gresham wagner knows that he needs it to try and catch up to michael carter celine moran does not want to let the guy that he's chasing in the championship i.e wagner to get those 10 points [Music] [Applause] still not even at half distance we've still got a lap to go before we get somewhere near halfway through had a freak brief yellow flag period [Applause] and back to racing [Music] i was i was about to say things settling down a little bit in the front but that is the worst thing to say palermo is definitely dropping away in seventh position and he's gonna have to keep his eyes filled eighth position now as he's dropped even further back [Music] and again drafting off the line this time it's andrew carmen who takes the fastest lap and here comes the black trade of cars down the inside they've gone in behind rolando roland's going to the leader turned on now oh track limits on the exit you've got to keep two bf goodrich tires on the curbing there which is marked by the stripes beyond that of the black asphalt is out of bounds and turn one he's one of the places that race control would be watching as they went across the line wagner was leading but now it's for alignment leads leading from the first of the black cars in second which i think is sam paley yes it is it's purely who goes to the left-hand side and he brings back the rhythm down [Music] [Applause] [Music] before the top court is put on it looks great in any mazda road car that just sitting at the back at the moment aaron johnson provision motorsports and he's in eighth position to palermo now dropped away from that top octet and he's got trouble with uh the slipstream performance number 36 on his tail uh and that of course is david starb and that's going to be a couple of laps before david as the light blue car [Music] [Applause] [Music] after being decent decently placed earlier on we might as well just pick a random name shay and say you know somebody's just moved up because it seems to be that that will people could make passes here i think that's exactly what's gonna happen with michael carter coming at your team done because the championship leader has been stealthing his way up through the pack he now sits fifth and he's the first part behind the leading duo he's pushing her across the front so it's haley roland carp finnell wagner if carbonell and rolland get matched up together they could run away from everyone else but it's now then on palermo who steals back with 10 bonus points for fastest lap wow okay so he's dropped back and we thought he had trouble with his car but now he's found a little bit of pace and he's got those 10 points and he's gaining on the eight in front so whatever was healing that car being sideways over the turn three that was gretchen wagner [Music] right off and rallycross style bf goodrich ty is doing a great job of still giving him forward momentum and here comes palermo he really has had a good rap this battle up front is slowing them down but he has put the fastest lap in his clearly goes back to the lake to turn right now as everybody takes some innovative and creative lives lines at turn five but there was no battlements in eighth position as soon as i throw it at you something will happen but i want to make the point here this year about who is in the championship points in these top positions and who isn't celine roland who is back in front now certainly is in the championship points and sam nearly is strapping for the rookie championship yeah and just to put this into context really clearly the gaps are going to sound massive they're not they change really quickly we've got michael carter leading the way 200 2 450 points wagner is 40 points behind him and roland is 250 points off the lead then there's a bit of a gap back to chris view she's leading the championship for the rookie hunt right behind him sam paley so those two very closely embedded in this rookie hunt for the championship but right now [Music] rookies can win in this championship we've seen it done paley's got three trophies from the year but they're all silver down the inside at canada corner a couple of corners back for palermo who's made up another position i reckon he's up in the seventh now oh and that's palermo going off at the final corner turn 14. well take that back he's back down to ninth again all that hard work and he's managed to make a mistake in the final corner he'll be kicking himself [Applause] [Music] [Music] tries to make a little bit of a break now the black car in second is no longer sampling it's andre carbonell in second position up into thirds back up with the third the zero five that is michael carter that's the championship leader we said he'd had a quiet qualifying he's stealthed his wheel in the third that's huge for him and this would be a good result from where he started here that would be massive you talk about flying back the points and everyone counts the most important thing is that he's ahead of gresham wagner even though celine rolon is still leading the way a 250 point buffer is good enough for first to third for carter to hang on to the championship lead i've just gotten reports by the way that john joe dwayne pulled off in turn five there were reports of smoke coming out of his car so he's taking the back door entrance to the paddock we should be staying green for this one so very heads-up drive from the maxler racing driver adam along with me john handoff as we are once again being royally entertained by the of the 2 master mx5 cup raceward here at road america presented by bf goodrich tyres that top nine that we had has gradually been whittled down and now there's just half a dozen roland led across the line from carbon carbonell in seconds and then michael carter sampaoli's the second of the black cars the red white black car is fresh and whacker under five and chris nunes the second of the rookies in that top six in the red and white car at the back of that leading sex debt at the moment wagner pulls out the line oh is he slowing or is he trying to get a bit of a tour from her head no he was trying to get the talk from up ahead down into turn five again sunshine out one or two spots of rain earlier on that had the windshield wipers on for these cars but now it's perfect conditions turn six under the corvette bridge hasn't been able to make the break lots of i mean absolutely on the ragged edge of adhesion every single one of them they're torturing the bf goodrich tyres and i don't think i've seen so many of the leadership going off the side of the circuit before but that's just testament to how hard they are all pushing it really is everyone wants a race win in this series because it is so valuable to get up in that top 10 of the championship like we talked about it pays we've got uh some track limits starting to come into play though john it was a warning for aaron johnson a few moments ago and now hernan palermo getting noticed by race control as well palermo has dropped down to ninth again and he's now nine seconds off the ladies already now half a second ahead of the blue number 36 of david starts that's the two slip strings work together we've got about a second and a half on luke and marge for a couple of more to sport and then jensen altman back up into 12th remember he dropped down as far as 15. so it's another good drive for young altman but the leaders are well up the road top six separated by just on one second and it might need to be less than that as the aerodynamic effect of four or five mx fives ahead of you punching a hole in the air the guys at the back get almost a video game speed up effect down the long start finish straight and here comes chris nunes at the back he pulls out to get a good look at the corner but he made up three or four cars leads there on gresham wagner ahead of him and they're all back together again through turn one and again the back two just running wide at turn one down the hill get your breaking right foot turn three late turn in there you always feel like you might have run too far looks like dunes did a little bit again digging a little bit of a hall on the far side of the curb the left-hand side of the curb with the bf goodrich ties on the left-hand side of that mx-5 under 14 minutes to go mx5 eat a bit two cup race race warner brother very good top six and turn five no quarter been asked all given [Music] such concentration and staff's court palermo for ninth position the blue car with the yellow wheels right in behind the yellow and black car i do think palermo is struggling with a car that's not great after whatever it was that caused that undertrip and part of the front end of that car to start wobbling around down into turn eight two black cars side by side they are not teammates carbondale will have the inside of the number 11 into the into the carousel and he holds on to it for a split second there sam pilly was right around the outside but that's not doable that's the at the carousel that little scrap has just allowed the leader to break away and when i say breakaway i'm talking fractions of a second maybe a half a second if that as they go down to canada corner two black cars side by side again carbonell from pearly there's the championship leader the zero eight michael carter well as it stands at the moment what do you think of what you're thinking of now if you're celine roland if you're michael carter you are two of the top men in the championship surely it would be good to win but you cannot afford a dnf here if you're celine roland you're thinking man i love andrew carpenter i need to buy that guy another beer and i'm so grateful that he's my teammate and tail gunner because as long as celine has carbonell behind him he's going to be breathing a little bit easier if paley gets up alongside carbonell and makes the pass into turn one well then the dynamic changes but you mentioned roland breaking away a little bit he doesn't really want to break away from carbonell he'll be happy to take tarvanelle and break away yeah that's exactly what they've done they are both hicks and motorsport cars the uh autism speaks jigsaw patton on that leading 87 car well the black car in behind is his teammate and that's what she is talking about the second of the black cars it's not that's a mccumbee mcaleer racing cars racing team so they are i think working as a team [Music] down in the turn five surprised we haven't seen more passing there at turn five it's a downhill breaking area but just showing to me how quick these mx-5s are going through their but there's not actually all that much breaking there is some breaking but clearly not enough to be able to make the inside move work we've seen a couple of people try it you end up tend to end up being side by side all the way up through six uh and into seven which is that really quick uh right hander and then [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] us but the fight is still very much on at the front of the field again the leading pair have just got away a little bit this time it is the two hicks in cards but a great turn three for sam palin he's bringing michael carter with him for mccombie mcallister racing and carter racing and the prizes any one of these top six could win it could be none of these top six the way they're driving at the moment ship very much so cast mine back to the first race of the season at daytona when uh the guy who left the most laps found it finishing what was it seven and he had been leading out of the final turn so it's one of those tracks as well where just because you're leading at the exit of 14 doesn't mean you're gonna cross the finish line first i love the fact that we get to see celine milan's helmet bright yellow steering up into his rear view mirror frequently checking to see which black car it is behind him and uh sam paley sometimes but most of the time being carbonell as michael carter now looking a bit more aggressive and a bit more racy he seems to understand that roland is going to get the point for leading the 10 points for leading the most laps of this race but there are still a lot more points on offer for winning the race and carter feels that he can get those oh but wagner's right behind him now oh goodness yeah this is all getting a bit messy isn't it coming down to seven and a half minutes to go pearly thought about having a look to the right hand side going into the kink and wisely thought better of it now the two teammates locked together coming down to canada corner little dab on the bridge just to make sure that the pads are in contact with the disc with the rotor running across the curbs a lot here and you get what the driver's called pad not off it just rattles the friction pads away from the disc away from the rotor so you just give it with your left foot probably just a little bit of a tap just to bring it back into contact because when you really need those brakes at canada corner man you really need them and you don't want the pedal to go further down than you were expecting these six are still absolutely as one 24 wheels of mazda mx-5 racing under seven minutes to go off road america hickson one and two but could be racing three carter racing enterprises four spark performance five gtr in sixth position and even as i say that here comes chris newman side by side with michael carter he's got two wheels on the grass news goes through carter goes wide and nudes goes up into fifth position and he had got such a good run through turn number one he actually had to break on the exit of turbo one so he did run in to gresham wagner ahead of him two groups of three now but this will come back together i'm sure of it under the bridge this argento bridge shuts such a feature here down through the yards of road america adam john handoff and the mazda mx5 cup the edemitsu series has been an absolute barnstormer this year and it shows well it shows no appears that it is going to be nor different today to watch right now john that 32 machine from jtr motorsport we saw the jared thomas of the jttr motorsport car come to a end of the race fairly early on but news last lap was the fastest car on track and it was his personal best lap he saved a little bit of his bf goodrich tires he's gonna make a charge at the end of this one and he's just under two seconds off that little lead duo he can do it side by side pearly this time got to the inside at the carousel and this time he will push his black master from mccumbe mcalee racing into second place he's got gretchen wagner who has the fastest lap of the race and the ten points that go with it at the moment trying to follow me through will follow him through so the three cars with black ops the two black cars are the red white and black rear end car and russian wagon absolutely together down the inside wagner having a look still battling with carbonell that's doubting in a third of a lap that battle is absolutely fully lit but it's brilliant news for celine roland he's wingman's done his job steered there as long as he could has now lost a bit of ground but as they come through this time with just on four minutes to go it's going to be around about two and a half seconds between celine roland for hicks and motorsports as he goes across the line now to complete another lap and well i can't count it was a second and a half i thought it was a wee bit more than that if i'm honest second place paylee no going back through in the second is the number eleven that's his teammate back there again andrew carbonell [Music] [Applause] very tight indeed between these cars and this is exactly what we've come to expect one car ahead five battling for two spaces on the podium lap times around about the mid 230s so that i reckon means we'll have this one and a couple more down into turn five well the guys were obviously listening to me gretchen wagner did have a go through into the brick area turned five and that's netted him second position roland wagner carbonal in the first of the all black cars then sam pierre is the first of the rookies zero eight the reds top white middle and black bottom card that's championship leader coming into this weekend michael carter and then behind there chris news he's the leader in the rookie championship we've got all the big guns right at the sharp end of the field adam and then we've got andrew carbonell who's back out racing for the first time in a long time in too long for the miami based driver's face having the time of his life getting to chuck an mx-5 cup car around the track again and try and help his team to win a championship as well as they are looking for that drivers championship with celine milan this is getting fun at this point in the race with six cars up at the front any one of those six could bring home the checkered flag right now celine rolon is thinking how much can i back off the pace to try and make this race not go an extra mile it's definitely gonna be this next one though yeah i think you'll get the white flag this time around now we are under a lapse worth of time left so it will be left white flag this time around championship coming to the business end of things here first of two races at road america and celine roland is pulling out a very handy lead in this race and that will help him in the championship the autism speaks livery on that car so much brilliant work being done in the paddock for a number of very worthy causes that is one of them and it's leading at the moment wagner in seconds 1.2 seconds at the line samperly in third just .070 away from the car in front that basically means he's pushing him across the line [Music] saw final lap and these six have stayed pretty close together we did have nine at one stage looks like roland's done enough for me but who's gonna be second oh well don't say that too soon like jinx the guy and if he can hang on to this it would be the fourth consecutive race weekend where celine rowland wins race number one but i'm not giving him the win just yet he still has quite a few corners to try and negotiate before he gets that on her seventh heart this point second place progression michael carter all together i'm going to say chris nunes well he's that's going to be a heck of a drive it's going to be robin liddell like isn't it if he's going to make that amount of ground he's just lost touch so it's one car three cars in one car at the moment that's the top five the one car in the lead is the number 87. celine roland hicks and mortar sports he's tasted victory already this season he's up there at the sharp end of the championship and now with a little bit of bodywork flapping to the right rear of that car he's heading through the kink for the 16th and final time as time has elapsed now the guys behind have stopped fighting a little bit and they are pulling closer it was over a second now it's half a second and wagner is pulling the other three cards close this could yet be the grandstand finish that we've seen at dear toner on the highbacks on the bumps of sebring international race where you could have thrown a picnic blanket over the top three in that lightning mcqueen through the the middle finish and in america's national park of speed they've done it again all action all entertainment and the race to the checkered flag will go the way of celine roland picks and motorsports he wins it the arms out who's second is it wagner it is wagner but barely .079 of a second wagner in second place and takes the ten extra bonus points for fastest lap sampling is the best of the rookies and he's on the overall podium from michael carter who came with his championship leader in fourth chris nunes in fifth who was the rookie championship leader coming in here then carbonell back to racing but did his job in the wheel tracks of celine roland he's hicks and motorsports teammate piscatell will come through in seventh for mccombie macalee racing giving them another car in the top ten provision motorsports aaron johnson he's in eighth and the ten made up by helen palermo who will be gutted started on the front row got mugged at the start dropped down to fifth forty straight back to the lead but a couple of mistakes and some under body flapping around has seen his piece slip away towards the end of the race he'll finish up in ninth back up to tenth jensen altman is the fourth of the rookies for mccombie magalia racing then it started mars woody heinemann lonnie unser michioretsky hixson little and i think my club will actually finish although he's has dropped a lap down sheer adam brilliant win from celine roland he's proved he can do it from the front and drive away he can fight his spirit through but that was all about piercing himself and working with his teammates marvelous stuff from the hixsome duel there has been a lot of focus lately in motorsport on how important a teammate can be and a tail gunner that's exactly what we saw today from andrew carpenell with celine milan getting the win very fernando alonso and uh espon ocon asking if you're a formula one fan you'll know what i'm talking about but teammates can make all the difference in the world and for celine roland trying to win this championship that was his goal at the beginning of the year this is win number four out of nine races that's an impressive run at winning the overall championship can he make it five and ten tomorrow we'll find out well we'll do a bit of arithmetic as well and try and work the points out [Music] and see what that has done but michael carter who at one stage was not even in the top 10. uh he yeah i mean that was a very very good run for him steered out of trouble sorry go ahead it actually earned him a hard charger award john yeah not surprised not surprised at all about that um michael starting down in eighth position and then getting caught up in the shenanigans early on and then fighting his way through to what was then a fourth place finish given what was going on around him people throwing oil up into the air a bit of rain early on as well well that's it then it's another win for hixson and another win for celine roland the mx-5 cup the edamit 2 mx5 cup presented by bf goodrich bought that tires will be back tomorrow and share adam and majon hindoff will be back to talk about it and i suspect we'll be getting quite excited again it's just what edematsu mazda mx5 cup is back to the national park of speed tomorrow for the second race of the weekend bye you

Channel: IMSA Official

Views: 49,729

Rating: 4.9551401 out of 5

Keywords: IMSA, International Motor Sports Association, Road America, Mazda, MX-5 Cup

Id: M17ln5v5TqA

Length: 55min 22sec (3322 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021