ALTON, Va. (August 25, 2023) – The quickest driver in Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires practice at VIRginia International Raceway was Virginia-native Gresham Wagner (No. 5 Spark Performance). Wagner’s best lap in the first session could not be bested in the afternoon session.

The 2021 MX-5 Cup Champion was the only driver to break the 2:07 threshold with a lap of 2:06.795 around the 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course.

In the afternoon session, Connor Zilisch (No. 72 Hixon Motor Sports) topped the time sheets but could not beat Wagner’s lap from the morning.

“I think this track is really draft dependent,” Wagner said. “The car feels good. It could be better. It’ll come down to getting with the people you should be around, because I expect qualifying to be a bit messy. I’m sure once we get to the race it’ll be what we’ve come to expect. The hierarchy will form. Once that gets sorted out, I think we’ll have some good, clean racing, like I’ve come to expect from this place. It’s a great track and these cars are a lot of fun around it. It’s narrow in some spots, but luckily our cars are nimble enough we can race side-by-side just about anywhere. I’m expecting hard, clean racing this weekend and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Qualifying for Rounds 11 and 12 of the Mazda MX-5 Cup will take place Saturday at 8:50am ET. Race 1 is slated for 1:30pm ET the same day and Race 2 will get started Sunday at 10:25am ET. Both races will be streamed live on RACER.com.