Detroit, Mich. (6 June 2018) -With hundreds of passes completed in each race usually building up to razor-thin close finishes, racing in Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires competition quickly helps drivers improve both their speed and race craft.
Building on those lessons, one young Global Mazda MX-5 Cup driver has grown his racing resume with a strong debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this weekend in Detroit.
Robby Foley, who claimed the Mazda Road to 24 $100,000 scholarship ahead of the 2016 Battery Tender Global MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires season, scored seventh in the Detroit Grand Prix this weekend in his first-ever GTD class outing. The result was a hard-fought one as the young Auburn University (engineering) student made his first-ever IMSA start on the concrete-lined circuit set on Detroit’s Belle Isle.
"It was great working with the Turner team and Bill (Auberlen) this weekend," said Foley. "We were able to work through some challenges with setup and come out of the weekend with a solid result, I will be looking forward to getting back in the M6 GT3 again soon."
Foley, who was most recently in Global Mazda MX-5 Cup action in the 2017 Global Invitational at Laguna Seca, earned kudos from both his co-driver Bill Auberlen as well as renowned team principal Will Turner.
"Given how challenging Detroit can be, I am happy with our results and both the team and drivers’ hard work in such a short and hectic weekend schedule,” said Turner. “Specifically, I have to say Robby (Foley) did a fantastic job throughout the entire weekend and we look forward to working with him again."
Foley isn’t the only Global Mazda MX-5 racer who has been active between events, as Bryan Ortiz used his Mazda MX-5 Cup machine to score third in World Challenge competition and then went on to take a podium result at Lime Rock Park in his TCR debut on Memorial Day weekend.
2017 Global Mazda MX-5 Champion Patrick Gallagher took second place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, co-driving with his former team owner Chad McCumbee to his best result of the season so far. The duo will return to IMSA race action at Watkins Glen International on June 30th.
Max Faulkner scored third at Sebring International Raceway in IMSA SportsCar Challenge competition and then backed that up with a run to fourth at Mid-Ohio. Faulkner contested the full 2017 Global Mazda MX-5 Cup championship with McCumbee McAleer Racing, and has handed his Mazda MX-5 Cup seat to his father Nigel, who is competing in the Challenger category presented by Monticello Motor Club in 2018.
Adding to the run of success for Mazda Road to 24 drivers is Aurora Straus, who raced in Global Mazda MX-5 Cup competition during the 2016 season. Straus broke through for a World Challenge GTS-Am victory with co-driver Al Carter at the Circuit of the Americas this spring.
The Global Mazda MX-5 Cup will return to racing action on June 22-23 at Road America as part of the Verizon IndyCar Series event weekend.