After a lengthy summer break for the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires, teams and drivers are anxiously waiting to get back at it. Our season picks back up at Road America for rounds nine and ten, and it will be important for the drivers as well as the teams to hit the ground running. This is a chance to either pick up where they left off at Mid-Ohio or hit the reset button to advance in the championship during the second half of the season.

It will be important for these competitors to have a very focused plan and mental clarity heading into Road America, not only for their on-track performance but also for their overall strategy and approach to the remaining races. In reality, if a team had a less-than-ideal start to the year, there is still plenty of racing left to make a big difference in their season’s outcome. There’s still a lot of excitement to come this season!

For most competitors, this hasn’t just been a summer break at the beach, since teams have been actively testing and fine-tuning their programs over the last couple of months. Not only does this go for the teams, but also for the series: Flis Performance, the technical support team for MX-5 Cup, has been busy pursuing development for both the remainder of this year as well as the 2022 season. 

Most recently, we did development testing for the series at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia. We worked on tuning calibration adjustments as well as the brake package for next season. I gave an account of the event on my blog, where you can read more details.

As you can imagine, everyone from those of us involved with the series to the individual teams are really focused on what is to come for MX-5 Cup as we head into the second half of the season. No matter who is toward the front in the championship standings right now, it is still anybody’s chance to win the $250,000 grand prize, not to mention the $75,000 Rookie of the Year scholarship. 

Tom Long is an accomplished sports car driver with a number of top honors to his name. His storied career with Mazda Motorsports includes his current role in the Mazda Global MX-5 Cup Series as a test driver, coach and race official. You can keep up with Tom on his blog at TomLongRacing.com or on Facebook.