{"id":8233,"date":"2025-06-02T12:09:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T16:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=8233"},"modified":"2025-06-03T12:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T16:14:07","slug":"will-mid-ohio-sports-car-course-produce-any-suprises-in-whelen-mazda-mx-5-cup-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/02\/will-mid-ohio-sports-car-course-produce-any-suprises-in-whelen-mazda-mx-5-cup-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Produce Any Suprises in Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Championship?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whelen\u2019s Jesse Love returns as series hits summer stretch<\/em><\/p>\n

LEXINGTON, Ohio (June 2, 2025)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin is back alongside its IMSA brethren for the first time since Daytona as it reaches the halfway mark of the 2025 season this week at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.<\/p>\n

All eyes are on Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 BSI Racing) to see if he continues his win streak that started at St. Petersburg and continued with a sweep of the Barber Motorsports Park doubleheader. Showing how every point matters in Mazda MX-5 Cup, Gonzalez doesn\u2019t actually hold the points lead despite that success owing to a DNF in race 2 at Daytona.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely want to keep the momentum going into Mid-Ohio,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cHistorically, Mid-Ohio hasn\u2019t been too kind to me, but I have no doubt that the number 57 BSI Racing car will be in the front, and this is MX-5 Cup so anything is possible. I definitely wouldn\u2019t mind some rain either!\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year when Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup came to Mid-Ohio, the series had yet to have a repeat race winner. This year, the story is reversed, with only Gonzalez and Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) taking race wins so far. Thomas has led the point standings since Daytona, but now only has a 40-point lead over Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

Stealing some of the spotlight from the championship fight is Xfinity Series driver Jesse Love Jr. (No. 2 BSI Racing), who joins the grid at Mid-Ohio promoting\u00a0Whelen\u2019s \u2018Everyday Champion\u2019<\/a>\u00a0initiative that recognizes citizens who make their communities a better and safer place to live. This is Love\u2019s second time racing Mazda MX-5 Cup, his first coming at Sebring in 2024. He was unable to crack the top 10 in those two races and is looking for redemption at Mid-Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be representing Whelen\u2019s Everyday Champion initiative with BSI Racing in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Presented by Michelin,\u201d said Love.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to celebrate those that make our country the greatest on earth, and I\u2019m so excited to do so at Mid-Ohio this June. This is an exciting challenge. BSI and MX-5 Cup are known for some of the best racing out there, and I can\u2019t wait to go out and give it my best. Thank you to BSI Racing, Mazda Motorsports and Whelen Engineering for this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just like there\u2019s only been two race winners so far this season, there\u2019s only been two polesitters: Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing). Is the pole position cursed in 2025? You might think so considering Fletcher and Cicero got together in the final turn at Barber preventing either from making the podium.<\/p>\n

Current Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout winner Noah Harmon (No. 77 AAG Racing) continues to impress. He solidified his lead in the rookie championship by finally getting his first podium at Barber. Harmon is motivated, as Mazda awards $80,000 to the rookie of the year.<\/p>\n

A familiar name returns to the entry list this weekend at Mid-Ohio, that of Ohio-native Woody Heimann (No. 82 JTR Motorsports Engineering). Heimann had been racing MX-5 Cup full time since 2021 but has scaled back this year. He couldn\u2019t resist getting behind the wheel at his home track one more time.<\/p>\n

Will we have a new MX-5 Cup race winner at Mid-Ohio or will Gonzalez continue his win streak and takeover the championship lead? Watch both races live on the RACER and IMSA YouTube channels. Race 1 is slated for 3:05pm ET on Saturday, June7. Race 2 will go green at 10:05am ET on Sunday, June 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whelen\u2019s Jesse Love returns as series hits summer stretch LEXINGTON, Ohio (June 2, 2025)\u00a0\u2013 The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin is back alongside its [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-mazda-mx-5-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8235,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8233\/revisions\/8235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}