Nunez Puts Mazda on Pole at Mosport

Tristan Nunez

Tristan Nunez drove the No. 55 Mazda Prototype to the pole position for tomorrow’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. His teammate Tom Long qualified third in the No. 70 Mazda Prototype. Both cars are carrying the special liveries paying tribute to the 25th anniversary of Mazda’s victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991.

“It’s a little saying we have at Mazda and that’s ‘Never Stop Challenging,’" said Nunez after his pole run. “It’s been in our hearts since the start of the Prototype program, and now that’s really showing off. We had a pole at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca at our home track. We learned a lot from that race. Coming into this race – qualifying is good – but we have one focus and that’s to win the race tomorrow and to put both of the Mazdas on the podium. Everyone’s really prepared for that – our engineers and the crew have been training their tails off at the shop to get the pit stops perfect. All of us drivers have been training to be physically fit because this is a very physical track. All of the pieces are in line and we just have to go get it tomorrow."

The Mazda Prototype debuted in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January of 2014, and now, two and a half years later, the car is still looking for its first win.

This weekend, perhaps, at the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Canada?

Just maybe.

For the first two seasons, the car was saddled with a small diesel engine, as decreed by the company’s Japanese headquarters. Despite millions of dollars, and probably at least that many hours of development work, the diesel engine never developed the horsepower necessary to run at the front of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype field.

Pole winning Mazda

For 2016, the diesel finally disappeared, replaced by a turbocharged four-cylinder engine — still smaller than the V-8s in the dominant Daytona Prototype Chevrolet Corvettes, but promising. Led by SpeedSource owner Sylvain Tremblay, the engine has gotten more and more powerful, more and more dependable, and at the race at Mazda’s home track, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the two Mazda Prototypes qualified on the front row and led the first portion of the race.

But then, small mistakes and minor problems conspired to ruin the race for both Mazdas, and they finished fourth and 18th.

Now, at CTMP, a fast, undulating track not unlike Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Mazda Prototypes qualified first and third, split by one of those Corvette DPs. Leading the pack was Tristan Nunez in the No. 55 car, which he shares with Jonathan Bomarito, with a lap of 1 minute, 10.126 seconds.

Ricky Taylor, driving the No. 10 Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Corvette DP he shares with brother Jordan, had a best lap of 1:10.435. In third, in the No. 70 Mazda he splits with Joel Miller, Tom Long laid down a lap of 1:10.572. And just behind them were the Action Express Corvette DPs, the Nos. 5 and 31, which had a one-two finish last week at the Sahlen’s Six Hours at The Glen, a six-hour endurance race at Watkins Glen International in New York.

That so-close weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca “was definitely character-building," said Tristan Nunez, who qualified on the pole there, too. “What we took away from that is that we are in the fight now, at least, but we have to close the deal. We have to do everything right. And that’s what we’ve been working on, and practicing, every day since."

One of the keys to victory Sunday will be managing traffic — all four classes of cars will be competing in tomorrow’s race, and the track, at 2.459 miles, is relatively short and narrow. Mazda’s drivers are undeniably talented but young, and it could be a race where experience wins out.

Or not. We’ll know soon enough.

In Prototype Challenge, Colin Braun qualified the No. 54 CORE Autosport ORECA-Chevrolet out front with a blistering lap of 1.11.946. Second was James French in the No. 38 Performance Tech entry, followed by Stephen Simpson in the No. 85 JDC-Miller car.

In GT Le Mans, Antonio Garcia qualified the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R on the class pole with the lap of 1:15.198. The Corvettes are benefitting from a rule change enacted last week that allows them to run lighter than before, and use a larger air intake, designed to speed the cars up, as the Corvettes were about 1.5 seconds slower than the new Ford GTs at Watkins Glen.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Conversely, the Ford GTs, which finished one-two at Watkins Glen and finished first, third and fourth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in their class, were required to add weight to the car, and the turbo boost was reduced. If it slowed the GTs down, it wasn’t by much, as they qualified second and third — Dirk Mueller ran a lap of 1:15.236 in the No. 66 GT, and Richard Westbrook’s best lap in the No. 67 was 1:15.430. Fourth was the No. 100 Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM, with driver Lucas Luhr logging a lap of 1.15.446. It’s a close, close field.

In GT Daytona, the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was the fast qualifier with a lap by Alex Riberas of 1.18.248, followed by Andrew Davis in the No. 6 Stevenson Audi R8 LMS GT3 with a lap of 1.18.582. Third was Spencer Pumpelly, fresh from a second-place finish in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race, with a lap of 1:18.672 in the No. 16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3.

Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix will be presented live on FS1, beginning at 11 a.m. ET. IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile app also will carry IMSA Radio plus live timing and scoring throughout the weekend.

HOMETOWN ADVANTAGE: Multimatic Motorsports isn’t far from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, so the company, which fields the No. 15 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350R-C in the GS class in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, came to track with one thing in mind: Winning the race.

“Nothing else was on the agenda," said co-driver Scott Maxwell.

Mission accomplished. The white Shelby Mustang was fastest in qualifying, and Maxwell and co-driver Billy Johnson won the 95-lap race, finishing 11.271 seconds ahead of the second-place car, the No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 of Marc Miller and Danny Burkett. Third in GS was another Shelby Mustang, the No. 76 fielded by C360R, with drivers Pierre Kleinubing and Paul Holton — with Holton driving, that car set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:28.215.

Fourth was the No. 12 Porsche Cayman GT4 of Bodymotion Racing, with Trent Hindman and Cameron Cassels.

The victory “was truly a team win," said Billy Johnson. “An entire group effort."

After all, Multimatic knows how to make cars go fast — they developed the Ford GT that has been dominating the IMSA GT Le Mans class, and won its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The company is also building the street version of the GT. Scott Maxwell was the first driver to turn laps in the GT during its development, and Johnson drove one at Le Mans, turning the fastest lap in his class of the race.

In the ST class, it was a battle to the wire between the No. 44 CRG-I Do Borrow Nissan Altima Coupe of Owen Trinkler and Sarah Cattaneo, and the No. 17 RS1 Porsche Cayman of Spencer Pumpelly and Nick Galante.

Trinkler wrestled the lead away from Pumpelly on the last few laps, and kept the Altima ahead of last week’s winner at Watkins Glen, with a margin at the checkered flag of just 0.439 seconds. Third was the No. 93 HART Honda Civic Si of Chad Gilsinger and Ryan Eversley. Galante had the fastest lap of the race in the No. 17 Porsche — a lap of 1:33.388.

Next up for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge: The Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut Saturday, July 23.

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