2026 Mazda MX-5 Cup

The 2026 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin is a single-make motor racing championship, the 22nd season of the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the sixth sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The series began on January 21 at Daytona International Speedway, and will conclude on October 3 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta after 14 rounds.

Jeremy Fletcher was the defending champion, having won the title in 2025.

Schedule

The schedule was announced on July 7, 2025, featuring 14 rounds across seven double-header weekends.^[1]

Round		Circuit	Location	Dates	Supporting
1	R1	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	January 21–23	IMSA SportsCar Championship
1	R2	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	January 21–23	IMSA SportsCar Championship
2	R3	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	February 27 – March 1	IndyCar Series
2	R4	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	February 27 – March 1	IndyCar Series
3	R5	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	June 5–7	Michelin Pilot Challenge
3	R6	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	June 5–7	Michelin Pilot Challenge
4	R7	Canadian Tire Motorsports Park	Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada	July 10–12	IMSA SportsCar Championship
4	R8	Canadian Tire Motorsports Park	Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada	July 10–12
5	R9	Virginia International Raceway	Alton, Virginia	August 20–23
5	R10	Virginia International Raceway	Alton, Virginia	August 20–23
6	R11	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	September 18–20
6	R12	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	September 18–20
7	R13	Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia	October 1–3
7	R14	Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia	October 1–3
Source:^[2]

Entry list

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

Team	No.	Driver	Class	Rounds
BSI Racing	09	Damon Ockey		2–4
	7	Tristan McKee	R	1–3
	7	Helio Meza		4
	15	Massimo Sunseri	R	3–4
	32	Christian Hodneland		2–4
	44	Bobby Gossett		1–4
	57	Tyler Gonzalez^[a]		1
	67	Amilio DiLauro	R	3
	72	Ethan Goulart		1–2
	77	Ellie Gossett	R	1–4
	80	Ethan Tyler		1–3
	86	Farhan Siddiqi		1
	95	Julian DaCosta		1, 3–4
	95	James Vance		2
Wheels America Racing	3	Max Stallone	R	1–4
Wheels America Racing	98	Logan Stretch	R	1–4
JTR Motorsports Engineering	5	Gresham Wagner^[3]		1–4
	8	Justin Gravett^[3]	R	1–4
	26	Peter Atwater^[3]		1–3
	34	John Salerno^[3]	R	1–4
	46	Christopher Allen^[3]	R	1
	46	Michael O'Dell	R	3
	66	Jameson Riley^[3]	R	1–2
	69	Glenn McGee^[3]		1–4
	81	Chris Hutter^[3]	R	1–3
	82	Woody Heimann^[3]		1, 3
	96	Jared Thomas^[3]		1–4
Advanced Autosports	9	Vaughn Mishko	R	1–4
	11	Matt Novak	R	1–4
	31	Ethan Lampe	R	1–4
	55	Cam Ebben	R	1–4
	56	Nathan Nicholson		1–4
Hendricks Motorsports	12	Noah Harmon		1, 4
	21	Westin Workman		1
		Earl Bamber^[4]		2
		Luke Pullen		3
		Aidan Shimbashi		4
McCumbee McAleer Racing	17	Joe Rainey		1, 3
	22	Jeremy Fletcher		1–4
	23	Justin Adakonis		1–4
	30	Joey Rainey		1
	51	Will Robinson		1–3
	51	Carlton MacFarland		4
	38	Sébastien Bourdais^[5]		2
	38	Marcello Paniccia	R	3–4
Saito Motorsports Group	19	Marcello Paniccia	R	1–2
AAG Racing	25	Fernando Luque	R	1–2
AAG Racing	60	Chuck Mactutus	R	1–2
Spark Performance	33	Alex Bachoura		1–2
	48	Frankie Barroso	R	1–4
	50	Grant West		1–4
	89	Ryan Leach	R	1–4
	84	Ruben Caceres Jr.		1–2
Caceres Racing	88	Ruben Caceres Jr.		3
Rocksteady Racing	40	Brian Dombroski	R	1–4
Parker Delong Racing	42	Parker DeLong		1–4
Parker Delong Racing	43	Charlotte Traynor		1–4
JDH Racing	71	Ben Jacobs	R	1–4
JDH Racing	99	Ethan Jacobs	R	1–4
Source:^[6]

R = Eligible for Rookie's Championship

Race results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver
1	R1	Daytona	#22 McCumbee McAleer Racing	#69 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#12 Hendricks Motorsports
	R1		Jeremy Fletcher	Glenn McGee	Noah Harmon
	R2		#69 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#5 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#22 McCumbee McAleer Racing
	R2		Glenn McGee	Gresham Wagner	Jeremy Fletcher
2	R1	St. Petersburg	#11 Advanced Autosports	#96 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#44 BSI Racing
	R1		Matt Novak	Jared Thomas	Bobby Gossett
	R2		#23 McCumbee McAleer Racing	#96 JTR Motorsports Engineering	#23 McCumbee McAleer Racing
	R2		Justin Adakonis	Jared Thomas	Justin Adakonis
3	R1	Mid-Ohio	#23 McCumbee McAleer Racing	#95 BSI Racing	#22 McCumbee McAleer Racing
	R1		Justin Adakonis	Julian DaCosta	Jeremy Fletcher
	R2		#95 BSI Racing	#56 Advanced Motorsports	#23 McCumbee McAleer Racing
	R2		Julian DaCosta	Nathan Nicholson	Justin Adakonis
4	R1	Mosport	#11 Advanced Autosports	#42 Parker DeLong Racing	#44 BSI Racing
	R1		Matt Novak	Parker DeLong	Bobby Gosstt
	R2		#11 Advanced Autosports	#9 Advanced Autosports	#31 Hendricks Motorsports
	R2		Matt Novak	Vaughn Mishko	Ethan Lampe
5	R1	Virginia
	R1
	R2
	R2
6	R1	Indianapolis
	R1
	R2
	R2
7	R1	Road Atlanta
	R1
	R2
	R2

Championship standings

Points system

Championship points are awarded at the finish of each event according to the chart below.^[7]

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+
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

Driver's championship

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

Pos.	Driver	DAY		STP		MDO		MOS		VIR	IND	ATL	Bonus	Points
1	Justin Adakonis	2	10	35	1	5	1	3	4				30	2110
2	Bobby Gossett	3	33	1	3	11	21	1	2				20	1950
3	Jared Thomas	4	35	2	2	2	35	14	3				20	1750
4	Frankie Barroso R	11	32	5	5	12	6	8	6				0	1670
5	Ethan Jacobs R	14	11	10	35	4	2	9	29				0	1440
6	Nathan Nicholson	7	31	18	6	9	7	24	7				10	1430
7	Marcello Paniccia R	8	23	25	20	8	19	2	9				0	1400
8	Cam Ebben R	22	20	19	14	26	5	6	8				0	1310
9	Jeremy Fletcher	42	1	4	38	1	18	27	25				30	1260
10	Parker DeLong	9	36	15	21	6	27	4	16				10	1250
11	John Salerno R	20	18	13	15	16	11	7	30				0	1210
12	Justin Gravett R	44	12	23	19	18	9	12	10				0	1180
13	Gresham Wagner	41	5	9	7	3	30	30	23				20	1170
14	Ethan Lampe R	29	4	33	40	7	12	31	1				10	1120
15	Matt Novak R	34	16	3	39	20	4	25	22				20	1040
16	Tristan McKee	17	6	7	10	17	29						0	1020
17	Ethan Tyler	12	8	21	12	10	28						0	980
18	Julian DaCosta	5	43			21	3	20	21				20	900
19	Glenn McGee	16	37	14	36	19	33	11	11				20	900
20	Grant West	10	38	6	27	13	13						0	890
21	Noah Harmon	1	41					5	13				0	800
22	Max Stallone R	45	26	17	18	15	14	28	26				0	770
23	Logan Stretch R	43	21	38	30	38	10	13	12				0	740
24	Will Robinson	23	13	12	31	25	15						0	700
25	Ryan Leach R	35	22	16	32	36	25	19	14				0	630
26	Vaughn Mishko R	15	30	39	16	37	34	10	28				10	620
27	Ellie Gossett R	32	24	40	29	24	22	15	18				0	580
28	Charlotte Traynor R	40	25	28	26	34	23	18	15				0	570
29	Christian Hodneland			20	13	27	31	16	27				0	560
30	Brian Dombroski R	33	29	24	23	30	17	23	20				0	550
31	Ruben Caceres Jr.	19	3	37	25	35	37						0	530
32	Ethan Goulart	37	9	32	11								0	460
33	Westin Workman	6	14										0	420
34	Alex Bachoura	25	15	29	17								0	420
35	Jameson Riley	27	45	11	22								0	370
36	Massimo Sunseri					22	24	17	24				0	370
37	Tyler Gonzalez	36	2										10	340
38	James Vance			22	8								0	340
39	Chuck Mactutus R	24	7	34	37								0	330
40	Helio Meza							26	5				0	310
41	Amilio DiLauro					23	8						0	310
42	Damon Ockey			36	33	31	26	21	19				0	300
43	Fernando Luque R	21	17	31	34								0	270
44	Aidan Shimbashi R							22	17				0	230
45	Christopher Allen R	13	39										0	190
46	Luke Pullen					14	32						0	180
47	Michael O’Dell					28	16						0	180
48	Peter Atwater	18	28	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS						0	160
49	Woody Heimann	38	44			29	20						0	150
50	Ben Jacobs R	39	34	26	28	32	36	DNS	DNS				0	150
51	Chris Hutter R	30	40	30	24	DNS	DNS						0	140
52	Joey Rainey	31	19										0	130
53	Joe Rainey	28	27			33	DNS						0	80
54	Farhan Siddiqi	26	42										0	60
55	Carlton MacFarlane R							29	DNS				0	20
Guest drivers ineligible to score points
	Earl Bamber			8	4
	Sébastien Bourdais			27	9
Pos.	Driver	DAY		STP		MDO		MOS		VIR	IND	ATL	Bonus	Points

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	Second place
Bronze	Third place
Green	Points classification
Blue	Non-points classification
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired, not classified (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

Bold - Pole position

Italics - Fastest lap

Underline = Most Laps Led

†: Post-event penalty. Car moved to back of class.

Notes

↑ Gonzalez is an American-Spanish driver competing under a Spanish licence.

References

↑ "2026 Mazda MX-5 Cup Schedule Set". SPEED SPORT. July 7, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
↑ "Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Unveils 2026 Schedule". mx-5cup.com. July 7, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "JTR MOTORSPORTS BRINGS NINE DRIVERS TO 2026 WHELEN MAZDA MX-5 CUP SEASON OPENER AT DAYTONA". RTD Media. January 19, 2026. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
↑ O’Connell, RJ (February 18, 2026). "Earl Bamber Returns To MX-5 Cup At St. Petersburg". Dailysportscar. Retrieved February 18, 2026.
↑ "Bourdais to Make MX-5 Cup Debut at St. Pete for Charity". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. February 11, 2026. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
↑ "Daytona Entry List" (PDF). IMSA.com. IMSA. January 20, 2026. Retrieved January 22, 2026.
↑ "2026 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS & SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS of the WHELEN MAZDA MX-5 CUP PRESENTED BY MICHELIN" (PDF). mx-5cup.com. December 17, 2025. Retrieved January 22, 2026.

External links

Official Website

[3] Gonzalez is an American-Spanish driver competing under a Spanish licence.

[1] "2026 Mazda MX-5 Cup Schedule Set". SPEED SPORT. July 7, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2026.

[2] "Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Unveils 2026 Schedule". mx-5cup.com. July 7, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2026.

[JTRLineup-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "JTR MOTORSPORTS BRINGS NINE DRIVERS TO 2026 WHELEN MAZDA MX-5 CUP SEASON OPENER AT DAYTONA". RTD Media. January 19, 2026. Retrieved January 23, 2026.

[BamberMazdaStPete-5] O’Connell, RJ (February 18, 2026). "Earl Bamber Returns To MX-5 Cup At St. Petersburg". Dailysportscar. Retrieved February 18, 2026.

[BourdaisMazdaStPete-6] "Bourdais to Make MX-5 Cup Debut at St. Pete for Charity". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. February 11, 2026. Retrieved February 11, 2026.

[7] "Daytona Entry List" (PDF). IMSA.com. IMSA. January 20, 2026. Retrieved January 22, 2026.

[8] "2026 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS & SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS of the WHELEN MAZDA MX-5 CUP PRESENTED BY MICHELIN" (PDF). mx-5cup.com. December 17, 2025. Retrieved January 22, 2026.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]