DANVILLE, Va. (Aug. 23, 2024) – The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin is back on track for Rounds 11 and 12 at VIRginia International Raceway. After a day of practice, Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing) posted the quickest time of the day.

Cicero, who scored his first-ever Mazda MX-5 Cup win at VIR last year, seemingly picked up where he left off by topping both of Friday’s practice sessions. His quick time in the second session was the fastest of the day, a 2:06.544.

“We’re P1 in practice today, probably thanks to the Speak Up Now Charity go-kart race we did here yesterday,” Cicero said. “Huge thanks to MMR for giving me a great car. I’m real excited and we’ll see how the rest of the weekend goes.”

Second-fastest of the day was Jonathan Neudorf (No. 55 BSI Racing) followed by Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 Saito Motorsport Group).

Aaron Jeansonne is leading the championship with 2600 points to his credit, but is being chased by Cicero (2570 points) and two-time series champion Jared Thomas (2540 points) 

MX-5 Cup qualifying at VIR begins at 9:45am ET on Saturday, August 24. Race 1 begins at 6:05pm ET Saturday and will be streamed live on RACER.com and IMSA.tv.