JTR Motorsports Engineering, winner of the 2022 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Series presented by BFGoodrich Tires championship with driver and team principal Jared Thomas, has teamed up with Dave Zuber of Zuber Gardner CPAs to make racing and testing opportunities available to aspiring drivers looking to compete in the IMSA-sanctioned MX-5 Cup series or gain experience in a professionally prepared race car.
“Anyone who has ever thought about racing professionally knows that it can be a pretty daunting task when first starting out given the cost of equipment and the number of people needed to prepare and maintain it,” says Thomas. “So at JTR we provide drivers with everything they need to go racing in the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Series. This includes engineering, driver coaching, transporters, hospitality, and top-notch car preparation by our full-time mechanics.
“In 2023, JTR is preparing eight cars in the MX-5 Cup Series,” continues Thomas. “All of the cars are housed and maintained in our shop in North Vernon, Indiana. However, one of the car owners, Dave Zuber, president of Zuber Gardner CPAs in Cleveland, Ohio, is making his MX-5 Cup car available to drivers on a per-race basis.”
“Unfortunately, my schedule won’t allow me to drive more than a couple of the MX-5 races this year,” states Zuber. “So I’ve decided to allow other drivers to race the car in the events that I can’t. The car will also be available for test days, so even if a driver isn’t ready to go racing they can get some valuable seat time that will help them in their career down the road. Testing could also help a driver who has been invited to the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout at the end of the season to gain experience in a MX-5 Cup car before attending the event.”
“This is a great opportunity for just about every driver looking to test the waters of professional racing,” adds Thomas. “Not only do they to get to sit behind the wheel of a pro-level racing car, they will be doing it at several of the most-iconic racing circuits in North America, like Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen, and Road America, just to name three.” (Full 2023 schedule listed on following page.)
For drivers interested in driving the Zuber Gardner CPAs Mazda MX-5 in selected MX-5 Cup Series events or test sessions this season, please contact Jared Thomas at jtr_96@comcast.net for more information.