The 2021 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BF Goodrich was a single-make motor racing championship, the 17th season of the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the 1st under a new sanctioning agreement with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The series began on January 28 at Daytona International Speedway, and concluded on November 12 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta after 14 rounds. Gresham Wagner won the driver's championship, earning Spark Performance the entrant's championship as well. Sam Paley won the Rookie of the Year championship with McCumbee McAleer Racing.

Schedule

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The schedule was initially announced on October 28, 2020, and features 14 rounds across seven double-header weekends.[1] On December 17, 2020, the schedule was revised, along with the 2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

On January 6, 2021, the St. Petersburg event was rescheduled from its March date to April 23–25, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

On February 8, 2021, IMSA announced an additional double-header event to be held during the 12 Hours of Sebring event weekend in March. Rounds 3 and 4 at Sebring will serve as a replacement for a future race venue to be announced at a later date. Thus, the 2021 MX-5 Cup Championship will still be composed of 14 rounds at seven tracks.[4]

On April 7, 2021, the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event scheduled for July 2-4 was cancelled due to COVID-19 quarantine requirements.[5]

All races are 45 minutes in length.

Rnd. Circuit Location Dates
1 Daytona International Speedway (Road Course)   Daytona Beach, Florida January 27-29
2
3 Sebring International Raceway   Sebring, Florida March 17-19
4
5 Streets of St. Petersburg   St. Petersburg, Florida April 23–25
6
7 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course   Lexington, Ohio May 14–16
8
9 Road America   Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 6–8
10
11 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca   Monterey, California September 10–12
12
13 Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta   Braselton, Georgia November 10-12
14
Source:[6]

Confirmed Entries

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All competitors utilize the Mazda MX-5 Cup car, modified to their homologated racing specification by Flis Performance.

Team No. Driver Rounds
  Carter Racing Enterprises 08   Michael Carter All
  Copeland Motorsports 4   Bryan Ortiz 1–8
26   Peter Atwater  R  1–2, 5–8
38   Daniel Williams  R  1–10
41   Luca Mars  R  All
43   Joey Atanasio  R  1–2
51   Dean Copeland 11–12
  Hixon Motorsports 37   Sabré Cook  R  1–2
42   Preston Pardus 1–2
47   Bryan Hixon 1–12
63   Savanna Little  R  1–10, 13–14
72   Hannah Grisham  R  1–2
  Connor Zilisch  R  13–14
73   Dan Moen 3–4
87   Selin Rollan All
92   Loni Unser All
98   Derek Ware 1–2
11   Andrew Carbonell 9–10
22   Alex Berg  R  13–14
  Irish Mike's Racing 95   Todd Buras 3–4
  JTR Motorsports Engineering 32   Chris Nunes  R  All
96   Jared Thomas All
82   Woody Heimann  R  7–14
26   Peter Atwater  R  9–14
97   Daniel Williams  R  11–12
69   Anthony McIntosh  R  13–14
  McCumbee McAleer Racing 13   Jenson Altzman  R  All
28   Sam Paley  R  All
31   John Jodoin  R  3–4, 8–12
48   Zachry Lee 3–8,11–12
55   Moisey Uretsky All
89   Justin Piscitell All
  Provision Motorsports 24   Aaron Jeansonne  R  1–14
99   Drake Kemper 1–8, 13–14
43   Joey Atanasio  R  3–4
99   Drake Kemper 1–8, 13–14
  Bruno Carneiro 11–12
  Slipstream Performance 12   Mike Globe 3–4, 7–10, 13–14
20   Hernan Palermo 1–4, 7–14
33   Alex Bachoura All
36   David Staab All
  Spark Performance 5   Gresham Wagner All
  Team Guatemala Racing 59   Juan Hernandez Leiva  R  1–8
Sources: [7]

 R  = Eligible for Rookie's Championship

Race Results

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Rnd. Circuit Winning Driver Pole Position Fastest Lap Hard Charger
1 Daytona   Gresham Wagner   Gresham Wagner   Gresham Wagner   Jenson Altzman
2   Michael Carter   Gresham Wagner   Preston Pardus   Hernan Palermo
3 Sebring   Selin Rollan   Gresham Wagner   Chris Nunes   Todd Buras
4   Gresham Wagner   Sam Paley   Michael Carter   Todd Buras
5 St. Petersburg   Selin Rollan   Michael Carter   Michael Carter   Aaron Jeansonne
6   Michael Carter   Michael Carter   Selin Rollan   Alex Bachoura
7 Mid-Ohio   Selin Rollan   Michael Carter   Selin Rollan   Luca Mars
8   Chris Nunes   Gresham Wagner   Hernan Palermo   Luca Mars
9 Road America   Selin Rollan   Selin Rollan   Gresham Wagner   Michael Carter
10   Michael Carter   Gresham Wagner   Michael Carter   John Jodoin
11 Laguna Seca   Gresham Wagner   Selin Rollan   Selin Rollan   Alex Bachoura
12   Gresham Wagner   Selin Rollan   Bruno Carneiro   Moisey Uretsky
13 Road Atlanta   Gresham Wagner   Gresham Wagner   Connor Zilisch   Chris Nunes
14   Jared Thomas   Selin Rollan   Jared Thomas   Luca Mars

Championship Standings

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Points System

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Championship points are awarded at the finish of each event according to the chart below.

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 or below
Points 350 320 300 280 260 250 240 230 220 210 200 190 180 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

For each race, bonus points are awarded for the following:

Award Points
Pole Position 10
Most Race Laps Led 10
Fastest Race Lap 10
  • The ten (10) additional points for achieving pole position are not awarded if the starting grid is determined by “Other Means”.
  • In the case of a tie for the most laps led, the Competitor that finishes the highest in the running order is declared the winner.
  • In the case of a tie for the fastest Race lap, the Competitor that first achieves the fastest Race lap is declared the winner.

Driver's Championship

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IMSA recognizes Driver champions based on the total number of championship points earned during the season.

Pos. Driver DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1   Gresham Wagner 1 3 3 1 17 3 4 2 2 5 1 1 1 6 120 4330
2   Michael Carter 9 1 2 2 2 1 6 6 4 1 4 6 3 3 100 4240
3   Selin Rollan 6 4 1 9 1 18 1 7 1 3 2 2 5 2 110 4150
4   Chris Nunes 4 10 12 10 3 6 12 1 5 7 19 3 4 7 10 3430
5   Sam Paley 2 5 7 22 20 2 2 15 3 2 6 5 9 9 20 3410
6   Luca Mars 13 9 26 7 5 4 7 3 12 8 9 4 7 4 0 3210
7   Justin Piscitell 5 6 4 25 19 9 3 5 7 10 23 7 6 10 0 2980
8   Aaron Jeansonne 8 12 6 4 10 21 13 19 8 4 3 20 8 22 0 2800
9   Jared Thomas 3 2 25 8 21 16 5 24 22 DNS 5 8 2 1 10 2750
10   Jenson Altzman 16 25 27 6 4 17 11 22 10 6 7 10 10 8 0 2560
11   David Staab 22 16 17 14 11 12 14 20 11 11 20 22 13 12 0 2190
12   Alex Bachoura 18 24 16 13 9 11 18 21 20 14 11 13 17 17 0 2120
13   Moisey Uretsky 24 21 19 26 16 13 19 9 15 13 14 9 21 11 0 2040
14   Hernan Palermo 27 14 11 24 8 10 9 21 8 19 11 21 10 1900
15   Bryan Hixon 14 19 15 17 13 14 22 13 16 15 17 15 0 1820
16   Loni Unser 25 26 18 15 7 10 16 23 14 12 16 14 DNS DNS 0 1760
17   Bryan Ortiz 11 11 13 3 6 5 15 12 0 1740
18   Daniel Williams 21 22 14 12 22 8 10 18 19 16 18 18 0 1740
19   Drake Kemper 19 8 5 11 17 DNS 25 8 18 14 0 1540
20   Peter Atwater 15 17 8 19 21 DNS DNS 17 15 17 12 20 0 1490
21   Savanna Little 23 23 20 19 14 20 23 14 17 18 19 18 0 1440
22   Zachry Lee 9 16 15 15 17 11 10 16 0 1390
23   Juan Hernandez 17 27 23 18 12 7 9 4 0 1320
24   Woody Heimann 20 17 13 22 12 12 14 15 0 1230
25   John Jodoin 10 23 21 9 13 11 0 990
26   Mike Globe 22 21 24 16 18 20 20 19 0 880
27   Joey Atanasio 10 15 24 20 0 550
28   Preston Pardus 7 7 20 500
29   Todd Buras 8 5 0 490
30   Andrew Carbonell 6 19 0 370
31   Sabré Cook 12 13 0 370
32   Connor Zilisch 22 5 10 360
33   Alex Berg 16 13 0 330
34   Anthony McIntosh 15 16 0 310
35   Hannah Grisham 20 20 0 220
36   Bruno Carneiro 22 21 10 200
37   Derek Ware 26 18 0 180
38   Dean Copeland 21 23 0 180
39   Dan Moen 21 27 0 140
Pos. Driver DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points

Bold = Pole Position

Italics = Fastest Race Lap

Underline = Most Laps Led

† = Post-race penalty; moved to back of class

Entrant's Championship

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Each Entrant receives championship points for its highest Car finishing position in each class in each race. The positions of subsequent finishing cars from the same entrant are not considered in the results and all other cars are elevated in the finishing positions accordingly.

Pos. Entrant DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1 Spark Performance 1 3 3 1 17 3 4 2 2 5 1 1 1 6 120 4450
2 Hixon Motorsports 6 4 1 9 1 10 1 7 1 3 2 2 5 2 140 4350
3 Carter Racing Enterprises 9 1 2 2 2 1 6 6 4 1 4 6 3 3 100 4280
4 JTR Motorsports Engineering 3 2 12 8 3 6 5 1 5 7 5 3 2 1 20 4040
5 McCumbee McAleer Racing 2 5 4 6 4 2 2 5 3 2 6 5 6 8 20 3950
6 Copeland Motorsports 10 15 13 3 5 4 7 3 12 8 9 4 7 4 0 3600
7 Provision Motorsports 8 8 5 4 10 21 13 8 8 4 3 20 8 14 10 3500
8 Slipstream Performance 19 14 11 13 9 11 14 20 9 11 8 13 11 12 10 3280
9 Team Guatemala Racing 17 27 23 18 12 7 9 4 0 1860
10 Irish Mike's Racing 8 5 0 510
Pos. Entrant DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Bonus Points

Bold = Pole Position

Italics = Fastest Race Lap

Underline = Most Laps Led

Rookie's Championship

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Rookie points are awarded based on the Car’s finishing position for each Rookie Driver, with the finishing positions of Cars without Rookie Drivers not considered in the results and all other Cars with Rookie Drivers elevated in the finishing positions accordingly.

Pos. Driver DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Points
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1   Sam Paley 2 5 7 22 20 2 2 15 3 2 6 5 9 9 4290
2   Chris Nunes 4 10 12 10 3 6 12 1 5 7 19 3 4 7 4250
3   Luca Mars 13 9 26 7 5 4 7 3 12 8 9 4 7 4 4140
4   Aaron Jeansonne 8 12 6 4 10 21 13 19 8 4 3 20 8 22 3920
5   Jenson Altzman 16 25 27 6 4 17 11 27 10 6 7 10 10 8 3720
6   Daniel Williams 21 22 14 12 22 8 10 18 19 16 18 18 2870
7   Savanna Little 23 23 20 19 14 20 23 14 17 18 19 18 2740
8   Peter Atwater 15 17 8 19 21 DNS DNS 17 15 17 12 20 2390
9   Juan Hernandez 17 27 23 18 12 7 9 4 2030
10   Woody Heimann 20 17 13 22 12 12 14 15 1930
11   John Jodoin 10 23 21 9 13 11 1490
12   Joey Atanasio 10 15 24 20 990
13   Connor Zilisch 22 5 520
14   Sabre Cook 12 13 520
15   Alex Berg 16 13 470
16   Anthony McIntosh 15 16 460
17   Hannah Grisham 20 20 440
Pos. Driver DAY SEB STP MOH ELK LGA ATL Points

† = Post-race penalty; moved to back of class

References

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  1. ^ "Mazda MX-5 Cup Unveils 2021 Schedule with New Partner IMSA". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  2. ^ "IMSA West Coast Swing Moves to September for 2021". IMSA. December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  3. ^ "Mazda MX-5 Cup Set for New Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Date". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  4. ^ "Sebring added to MX-5 Cup schedule, Daytona openers on TV". RACER. February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  5. ^ "Mazda MX-5 Cup Removes Canadian Tire Motorsport Park from 2021 Schedule". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  6. ^ "Schedule". www.mx-5cup.com. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  7. ^ "Pre-Event Entry List" (PDF). IMSA. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
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