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IndyCar To Sanction Mazda MX-5 Cup Sportscar Series

By Brittany Frederick

Jan 29, 2016; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; The Mazda Motorsports Mazda driven by Joel Miller , Tom Long and Ben Devlin (70) during the practice for the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 29, 2016; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; The Mazda Motorsports Mazda driven by Joel Miller , Tom Long and Ben Devlin (70) during the practice for the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /
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IndyCar is moving outside of the open-wheel box, as the league will sanction the Mazda MX-5 Cup sportscar series beginning with the 2017 season.

No longer is IndyCar a solely open-wheel brand. The Verizon IndyCar Series, Mazda Motorsports and Andersen Promotions announced Friday that they have enlisted IndyCar to sanction Mazda’s sportscar development league, the Mazda MX-5 Cup, starting in 2017.

The Mazda MX-5 Cup is part of the company’s “Mazda Road to 24” career ladder for sportscar racers.

It’s the equivalent to IndyCar’s own development program, the “Mazda Road to Indy”, which includes USF2000, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights.

For race fans, Friday’s deal means that four Mazda MX-5 Cup races will be part of upcoming IndyCar race weekends. The series will run with IndyCar at April’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana, June’s Kohler Grand Prix at Road America, July’s Honda Indy Toronto and September’s Grand Prix at the Glen.

IndyCar’s President of Competition and Operations Jay Frye had this to say about why the league chose to get involved with sportscar racing:

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"When Mazda approached us regarding MX-5 Cup, we felt it would be a great opportunity for IndyCar to expand upon what we’re already doing with our involvement in the Mazda Road to Indy.This agreement also allows us to enhance our overall platform with Mazda Motorsports and Andersen Promotions, who have been great partners of IndyCar."

This is a business move for IndyCar, plain and simple. The league isn’t going to increase its own driver pool or gain anything technologically from backing a development series for another type of racing with a manufacturer that isn’t participating in their own activities.

But now IndyCar has a stake in the sportscar world and can market itself to sportscar fans in the process. Both open-wheel and sportscar racing have a long way to go before they can reach the popularity of NASCAR in the United States; maybe working together will help raise both their profiles.

In addition, as Frye notes above, it adds solidarity to IndyCar’s existing relationship with Mazda. The league helps Mazda with its series and Mazda continues to back IndyCar’s own rising stars with its title support of the Road to Indy.

Plus if these inaugural showings go well there are IndyCar race weekends that would benefit from having another support series on the ticket. Most notably, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach lost the long-running Pro/Celebrity Race this year as a consequence of Toyota moving their headquarters to Texas – so what are GPLB organizers going to put in that big hole in their Saturday schedule? Maybe in 2018, it’s the Mazda MX-5 Cup.

Or maybe, much further down the road and if other factors align, Mazda becomes the third manufacturer that IndyCar is known to be looking for.

Next: Audi Is Leaving The World Endurance Championship

As strange as it sounds that an open-wheel series is now lending its name and space to sportscar racing, the IndyCar/Mazda deal is a mutually beneficial relationship for both parties and will hopefully work to everyone’s advantage in 2017.