I was just at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for another weekend, this time for the Mazda MX-5 Cup Global Challenge. This year’s event was unique because there was $120,000 in prize money.
Once again, the race had international entrants, with two Japanese drivers and one from The Netherlands. The two Japanese drivers race in the MX-5 Series in Japan—in fact, one of them won the championship over there this season! The Dutch driver races in a Spec Miata series there in The Netherlands.
My main priority for the weekend was to coach these three drivers, helping them come up to speed with the track and the nuances of the cars they were driving.
The two Japanese drivers had their cars in matching livery to how they ran in the series overseas.
This year’s schedule provided a test day, which was very beneficial for the international drivers, who got an extra day to learn the circuit and optimize the car setup. After every session, I would review video with each of them, and as the event went on, we dove deeper into the data to find those final tenths prior to race day.
The whole environment was intense heading into qualifying and race day because so much money was on the line: $5,000 for the pole and $75,000 to win! It really intensified the atmosphere, and you could sense that extra layer of resolve on the grid. The format was unique, too, in that it was two races, and the average finish determined the overall winner, with a tiebreaker going to the winner of the second race. It allowed the racers to not feel like there was pressure for a “one and done” event.
In the end, Patrick Gallagher, this year’s Global MX-5 Cup Series champion, came away with the victory. That added $75,000 to the $200,000 scholarship he received for winning the championship, so he has a decent amount of funding going into next season!
Congratulations to Luke Oxner, too, who finished second in race two and third overall for the event. It was exciting because he’s a rookie this year. I was able to help Luke a little bit throughout the weekend, and it was sweet to see him have success.