Gonzalez Beats Sebring Heat to Take Tight Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Victory
Saito Motorsports Driver Wins by 0.079 Seconds
Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 Saito Motorsports) held off three formidable opponents at Sebring International Raceway to take his first Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin race win of the season on Thursday. Gonzalez made a last-lap pass and kept three charging drivers behind in a mad dash from the final turn to the checkered flag, winning by 0.079 seconds.
Not long after the start of the 45-minute race, Gonzalez was part of a three-car pack that pulled away from the rest of the field. He and polesitter Connor Zilisch (No. 72 BSI Racing) spent most of the race trading the lead, while Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing) bided his time in third.
The trio were able to pull out a gap of nearly six seconds over the next group of cars, led by Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing).
It may have appeared that Gonzalez and Zilisch were impatient, swapping the lead in an aggressive battle so early in the race, but under the hot Florida sun, both knew it was important to keep their car cool by getting clean air. When you‘re the one in front, however, you‘re the one pushing the air out of the way for the car behind you.
“It was really hot and slick – not very fast,” Zilisch said. “But you know, the tires actually stayed on pretty well throughout the race. We weren‘t pushing that hard up front. Honestly, we were kind of just riding and that‘s why they (rest of the field) caught us. We all wanted to lead to have the coolest car at the end. But, you know, it all comes down to the last lap so everything until then is kind of a throwaway.”
Wagner was focused on keeping his car cool as well. When Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) and Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) started to scuffle behind him, he was able to pull away and close the gap to the leaders, with plenty of clean air ahead of him.
The race changed from car preservation to attack mode with two laps to go when Zilisch grabbed the lead from Gonzalez. By then, Wagner had caught the group and was filling the mirrors of third-place Cicero. An impressive progression considering the race ran without any caution periods.
On the final lap, coming into the final turn, Gonzalez went to the inside of Zilisch. Cicero pulled in behind Gonzalez and Wagner behind Zilisch. Exiting the turn, Gonzalez had the edge over Zilisch, who tucked in behind. Cicero opted to pop out of the train and Wagner took his place.
Zilisch tried to pop out from behind Gonzalez at the last minute, but it wasn‘t enough, and Gonzalez took the win by 0.079 seconds. In line behind them, Wagner crossed the line third, 0.083 seconds ahead of Cicero.
“It‘s really hot out here today at Sebring and I think everyone was just trying to keep their cars cool,” Gonzalez said. “I tried to stay up front as long as possible, really just waiting for the last 15 minutes to figure out who was where and what to do at the end.
“I thought I was the better pusher and I wanted to see if we could push away from the rest of the pack and make it a two-car race. It just wasn‘t the case. I mean, my car was pretty cool enough so I knew I could sit behind him for at least two or three laps to bide my time. That‘s what I did. I waited until the last second and just made it happen.”
The win was the first for Gonzalez since Daytona in 2022.
“I can‘t thank Saito Motorsports Group, Whelen and Mazda enough and everyone that‘s helped get me here this weekend,” Gonzalez said. “I‘m glad we could get it done and hopefully can do it tomorrow. It‘s been too long, too long!”
The ending could have been much different had Zilisch blocked off the inside from Gonzalez, which he wanted to do, but believed he couldn‘t.
“I didn‘t know you could pass under the white line on the back straightaway and that‘s kind of why I didn‘t block it (Gonzalez‘s pass in Turn 17), so that‘s my fault,” Zilisch said. “I should have known that, but still it was a great day. It‘s another good finish for the team, but hopefully tomorrow will be better. You know, we‘ve got a really fast car and I feel like we can run with anybody, so I just have to do my job on the last lap.”
Normally in an MX-5 Cup race, cars can work the draft together to make up lost ground, but that was not the case at Sebring.
“It‘s so hot out here that the following car just overheats so quickly, so there‘s only so much you can do,” Wagner said. “I know he (Thomas) was trying to work together and he was definitely helping when he could, but I knew that as the lead car that I was the one that was cool and had to make the time. It was stagnated for a while there, but towards the end I could see the gap closing pretty quickly so it was just a matter of if I could get there in time.
“I knew the racing line ends up being the left-hand side, so I figured I‘d just put my car over on the left and someone may end up getting hung out on the right. Unfortunately, it was my teammate (Cicero), but that‘s just where the momentum went. Happy to bring it home third after working so hard the whole race.”
Cicero finished fourth, 2.78 seconds ahead of fifth-place Workman, who was the highest-finishing rookie.
Mazda Scholarship Winner Workman Takes MX-5 Cup Race in Photo Finish
The BSI Racing Rookie Edges Teammate Connor Zilisch by 0.004 Seconds
Continuing its tradition of races ending with miniscule margins of victory, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin provided another photo finish at Sebring International Raceway on Friday. Series rookie and Mazda Shootout Scholarship winner Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) beat Connor Zilisch (No. 72 BSI Racing) to the timing stripe by 0.004 seconds.
Workman started the 45-minute race on the outside of the front row but didn‘t get the best start and fell out of the top five. He clawed his way back into the top three before the first of two full-course caution periods.
The opening stages of the race saw Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) tangle with Thursday‘s race winner Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 Saito Motorsports Group). Gonzalez continued but Wagner fell to the back of the field.
Gonzalez didn‘t continue for long, however. A mechanical issue brought his car to a stop in Turn 15 and a full-course caution was issued. Gonzalez was able to jump out and give his battery a quick fix before continuing on track and into the pits. He returned to the track but struggled and eventually went a lap down.
Returning to green-flag racing, Zilisch led the field followed by Workman and Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering). Another full-course yellow came out one lap later to retrieve another stranded car, but after the second restart the race stayed green until the checkered flag.
Workman was able to get around Zilisch with only a few minutes remaining, but that wasn‘t exactly where he wanted to be when the white flag came out.
“So the driving style here at Sebring is a little bit different than Daytona,” Workman said. “At Daytona you really don‘t want to be leading. And here we have a really long back straightaway and I didn‘t think the lead was the best spot to be in, but I couldn‘t check up to let a few cars by and get the draft down the back straight because there are too many cars in our front pack. So I just stayed in the lead.”
Coming into the final turn, Workman defended the inside from Zilisch, while Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) chose the outside line. There was contact between Zilisch and Workman at the apex, but it didn‘t slow them and they drag raced to the finish line.
Workman took his first Mazda MX-5 Cup win by 0.004 seconds over Zilisch. It is the third-closest finish in series history, right behind the 2021 MX-5 Cup race at Sebring that ended with a 0.001-second finish.
“I‘m just very fortunate and very thankful for all the opportunity that Mazda Motorsports has given me,” said Workman. “To win this race, it felt like redemption from Daytona where we just had some unfortunate situations on the last lap in both races. So, I‘m very happy to get it done this weekend. Thank you to Mazda Motorsports and BSI Racing for a really fast car.”
Zilisch repeated his runner-up finish from the day before and, although disappointed, knew that it was a solid weekend.
“The race today honestly was a little bit less stressful,” said Zilisch. “You know, I felt a lot more comfortable at the front with my teammate and it was just good to be up front the whole race. I knew that they were going to catch us, you just can‘t pull away in this series. It was really hot out there.
“I‘m glad he (Workman) got a win and got his first of his career in the series. It‘s the first one (that) is always special, so I‘m happy for him and glad that we could get a 1-2 for BSI Racing, but two seconds in one weekend, not what I wanted to have! It‘s not what we want, but it‘s hard to be frustrated when we had the chance to win in both races.”
Finishing third was a welcome result for Fletcher, who earned a DNF in Thursday‘s race.
“We definitely fell back at the start,” said Fletcher. “I thought I was personally falling off there and didn‘t have the pace, but those cautions came out and I kind of got the motor temps down, tire temps down and went back hard after it and started moving up through the field.
“This is definitely an amazing start to the year with three podiums,” said Fletcher. “I can‘t thank the MMR guys enough, my mechanic Dalton, the Holster Store, my grandparents for bringing me out here. Everybody that‘s kind of helped me out with this. It was an unfortunate day yesterday, but glad that we came back today.”
Thomas, the defending MX-5 Cup champion, finished fourth with his teammate Aaron Jeansonne (No. 24 JTR Motorsports Engineering) right behind in fifth.
