Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Season Opener Goes to Gonzalez
Mixed conditions under the lights creates epic battle of skill through record setting field
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2025) – Since 2021, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin has started its season at Daytona International Speedway and has produced some of the best racing of the year. Thursday was no different, as Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 BSI Racing) went from 14th on the grid to the top step of the podium in mixed conditions and under the speedway lights.
With unseasonably cold temperatures and steady winds, the weather in Daytona has been frigid since Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup teams arrived, and this trend continued into Thursday’s race. It wasn’t just cold, however, as it also began to rain ever so slightly as the 36 cars made their way to the grid. Race officials expected the rain to intensify during the 45-minute race and therefore declared it a wet race, forcing all cars to switch to rain tires.
For the opening laps of the race, the track seemed too dry for rain tires, and polesitter Nate Cicero (No. 19 Saito Motorsports Group) gambled by pitting and losing a massive amount of time to put on slick tires.
This handed the lead to defending champion Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) followed by Gonzalez, who had an incredible start, advancing to third on the first lap.
Only a handful of laps later, Wagner too pulled into pitlane, but not for tires; he retired with a mechanical problem.
Gonzalez was now the leader, and the rain was beginning to intensify.
“It was dry, then it wasn't dry, and then it went dry again for a little bit, and then it went really wet,” Gonzalez explained. “At the beginning of the race, we were contemplating whether or not we were going to come in and put dries on. I'm glad we didn’t. I’m glad we stuck it out.”
Without a drafting partner, it didn’t take long for Bryce Cornet (No. 65 Spark Performance) to catch and pass Gonzalez.
“We were all kind of questioning what rain tires would actually do on a dry track,” Cornet said. “But it was slick the whole way through, and then obviously it started to rain a little bit, and that exacerbated the situation, because our rain tires were warm.”
Cornet and Gonzalez swapped the lead a few more times, but once they were joined by rookie Ethan Goulart (No. 29 Saito Motorsports Group) the trio began to pull away a bit from the rest of the field.
As the rain came down even harder, the trio of cars grew to six with Helio Meza (No. 27 BSI Racing), Parker Delong (No. 42 Parker Delong Racing) and Ethan Tyler (No. 80 BSI Racing) joining the group. Each driver keenly aware that time was running out.
Any forward planning they did for where they wanted to be on the white flag lap went out the window with six minutes left to go. Christian Hodneland (No. 32 BSI Racing) experienced an engine failure resulting in a fire. He pulled his car to a safe location but the fire forced race control to bring out a full-course yellow so safety crews could get to the car.
At the time the yellow came out, Gonzalez was the leader with two laps to go, effectively making him the race winner. It is his third MX-5 Cup win at Daytona.
Behind him Goulart and Cornet completed the podium.
“The yellow threw a wrench in my plans,” Gonzalez said. “I did not want to lead, but I was also in a weird spot. We were in a three-car pack, but there was a big pack behind us too, so I didn't want to play too many games and risk it being a 14-car race instead of a three-car race. They went full-course yellow, and it’s sad to see the race end that way, but glad I was leading!”
It may seem surprising for a rookie to finish his first MX-5 Cup race in second, especially at Daytona, but Goulart is a Miata specialist. He won last year’s Spec Miata SCCA National Championship and was a finalist for the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout. Still, his MX-5 Cup debut was an eye-opening experience.
“That was probably one of the wildest races I've ever been in,” Goulart said. “We had a setback in practice with a mechanical failure and only had a couple laps in the practice sessions before we went into qualifying. I qualified P4 but unfortunately, I had a lap time infringement. That's all on me. I'm sorry to the team. I told the team I'd bring it back for them, and we went 19th to second! I mean, on my rookie debut, I think that's pretty amazing. We almost got the win. Congrats to Tyler Gonzalez, that was an awesome race. And thank you to the whole Saito Motorsports team.”
Anything but a rookie, Cornet picked up his first podium in his fourth season of MX-5 Cup.
“I can't thank my family enough,” a grateful Cornet said. “I have great sponsors this weekend with the Braxton Byrd Foundation, and Spark Performance is an amazing team to work with. This is a huge monkey off my back to get third and I feel really good going into the season. What's crazy for me is, I don't know if I'll make the full season, but that's part of the story. But we'll keep the momentum going, and hope this helps.”
Meza, a MX-5 Cup Shootout scholarship winner, finished his first-ever MX-5 Cup race in fourth. His teammate, Tyler, followed in fifth, a career best finish for him.
The Penske Shocking Performance of the Race Award went to Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) who started dead last on the grid but fought his way up to eighth at the finish.
“After qualifying I was pretty down on myself,” Fletcher said. “You know, it was pretty much 99 percent on me, and I apologized to the team too, but the backup car never disappoints. We did it at Canada last year and drove through the field. We drove through the field at VIR, so it's not really a worry to me. Unfortunately, I think that caution kind of cost us a couple more spots. Daytona last lap, every year, there's a couple cars that don't end up coming back to the finish line and I was kind of banking on that, but a top 10 after starting 36th was pretty incredible.”
Alex Bachoura (No. 33 Spark Performance) won the Takumi Award, which recognizes the performance of drivers who’ve spent decades mastering their craft. These drivers are looked upon with great respect for their dedication to MX-5 Cup. Bachoura finished 15th despite missing all of Wednesday’s sessions due to flight cancellations. His first time in the car was qualifying on Thursday morning. Bachoura recently set a new record for career starts in MX-5 Cup and finished on the podium most recently at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last July.
Thursday’s race boasted six female drivers. The most experienced of the six, Heather Hadley (No. 54 Hendricks Motorsports) was the highest finishing female driver, crossing the finish line in 18th.
MX-5 Cup Race 2 at Daytona will go green Friday at 10:15am ET with live streaming on the IMSA and RACER YouTube channels.