This past weekend was the inaugural Mazda Global MX-5 Cup Invitational, which was hosted at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. With all the international drivers joining some of the American racers, we knew it was going to be an exciting event. Drivers who had never raced against each other before were coming together for the first time, but they would all be driving identical cars. There were five drivers from Europe, two from Japan and two from Australia in addition to 11 American drivers.
Yuui Tsutsumi, one of the Japanese drivers I was lucky enough to be coaching this weekend.
The drivers were anxious to get on track the opening day. It was just the load-in day, so we took advantage of the time to do a track walk. My role was to work with Copeland Motorsports, who was hosting the two Japanese drivers and a German driver.
During the track walk we went over all the details about the circuit. They had all seen the track on iRacing, but until you get there, you don’t appreciate the elevation and all the subtleties that the simulator doesn’t quite put into perspective. The most intriguing to everyone was, of course, the famed Corkscrew, and we had a long stop there to take pictures and discuss its nuances.
The following day was busy: we had two practice sessions and qualifying. My goal for the drivers I was coaching was not to get caught up in their qualifying positions, but to keep learning each session. That was not only relevant to the drivers, but also to the car setup. With plenty of data and video review after each session and small setup tweaks, we were able to maximize every run, and each driver continued to improve as the sessions went on.
The result is that Yuui Tsutsumi, one of the Japanese drivers, qualified fifth out of a field of 20 in his first visit to Mazda Raceway!
Success! Congratulations to all participants and event winner Nate Sparks “Sparky” with Yuui Tsutsumi with a 3rd! He was the highest-placing International driver all weekend.
There was a lot of anticipation for race one the next day. All of the drivers had a clean start. Interestingly enough, most of the international drivers had never done a rolling start before, so that was another twist. As everyone settled in, there was some great racing throughout the field. In the end, Americans swept the podium, but the German driver I was coaching, Moritz Kranz, was the highest international finisher at seventh.
On the final day, race two had a similar starting order. Yuui got a great start and was up to fourth, then had an exciting pass for third going into the turn 11 hairpin. Yuui, Moritz and Robby Foley, who was the previous day’s race winner, had a great battle. In the end, Yuui was able to hold on for third place while Moritz came away with fourth. It was really an exciting and proud moment for me to have one of my international drivers on the podium and two of them in the top five.
It’s impressive to think that these international drivers, who had never driven at the circuit before, were able to apply their coaching to a level where they could compete with the top runners of the U.S. Global Mazda MX-5 Cup Series. For some of the American racers, it was even their home track. It speaks to the talent of the drivers but also to how competitive and evenly matched the MX-5s are in the series.