Last weekend was my first time back at Mid-Ohio in a couple of years, and it was great! We were welcomed with gorgeous weather all weekend: not too hot, partly cloudy, and just beautiful. It made up for years past, when we’ve had rain, storms and cold!
There was also a fresh layer of pavement waiting for us. The new race surface makes the circuit extremely quick, so we saw new records, not just in Mazda MX-5 cup but across all the IMSA series competing throughout the weekend.
The new surface at Mid-Ohio did not disappoint.
We’ve come to enjoy the exciting suspense the MX-5 Cup Series provides at every race, and this pair of races did not disappoint! They were green from flag to flag, without a single full-course yellow. There was no lack of on-track action, either. The finish in race one had a three-way battle, and there was no telling who would win because the lead changed several times a lap. It also brought us our seventh different winner in seven races, which is quite a feat.
It was a special event at the Flis Performance compound, with MX-5 Cup build #300 completed!
Sunday’s race was another set of exciting twists and turns as the laps wound down. We finally had our first repeat winner of the season, and the race results continued to shake up the points championship. Not only did the overall points standings get shuffled, but so did the Rookie of the Year standings. Competitors in both categories are going for those huge Mazda payouts of $250,000 and $80,000, respectively.
I’ve got a short week back at home before heading to a test at Carolina Motorsports Park. Then I’ll be off to Virginia International Raceway for the next round of the Sprint Challenge series with Rob Trollinger and Jim Jonsin. I’m excited for this week, since all my travels will be within driving distance, and I get to stick closer to home before a busy couple of weeks ahead.