Experience played a key factor in Round Three of the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Saturday. The podium was composed of drivers with plenty of experience at the street circuit. Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) led the way to the checkered flag, followed by teammate Glenn McGee (No. 69 JTR Motorsports Engineering) and Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports).
Polesitter Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) appeared in control of the race early on, leading all but two laps before the first full-course caution came out. He held off a charge from defending Rookie of the Year Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) before pulling a three and a half second gap on the rest of the field. That lead was erased when the first full-course caution was issued 15 minutes into the race.
Fluids on the track caused multiple cars to lose control in Turn 10 and three cars made contact with the tire wall, necessitating a lengthy cleanup. When racing resumed, there was less than 12 minutes left on the clock.
On the restart, Fletcher went wide in Turn 1, allowing multiple cars to slip by on the inside, including Thomas, who took over the lead. He was followed through by Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports), McGee, and Gonzalez.
McGee effectively acted as rear-gunner as he put the pressure on Nicholson and then took over second place. A few short laps later, a full-course caution came out again for a car stopped in Turn 10. When it was time to go back racing, drivers found themselves in a green, white, checkered scenario.
Thomas had a great restart and built a gap to his teammate by the time they reached the white flag. McGee was able to shake free from Nicholson and get some breathing room for the final lap.
There was no denying Thomas the win, his second on the streets of St. Pete.
“I think it’s one thing just to turn laps here,” Thomas said. “But it’s another thing to race hard and get your elbows out and be door to door going through these corners with a wall right next to you. I think the experience does help. I was really comfortable.”
Thomas qualified an uncharacteristic 10th but was confident he had a fast car beneath him.
“I knew we had a good car,” Thomas said. “I was a little upset with how I qualified. I wasn’t too thrilled with that, so I knew I had some work to do. We made some more adjustments going in the race and we had a car good enough to win.”
McGee fiercely defended his runner-up position, determined to score his first career podium finish. It was an emotional accomplishment for the driver who went from a sim racer, to a MX-5 Cup driver thanks to the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout.
“Oh god, I love this series,” McGee said. “It’s a very important series to me. I’m the only guy in the world to go directly from video games, right into pro racing in the MX-5 Cup series. So this series has always had a really special place in my heart. It’s also got some of the best young talent in the world here because of what Mazda does to support everyone–you can win quite a bit of money here! So, everybody’s fighting hard, and to win or get a podium here you have to be really cooking to get it done. We fought really hard. I fell back to like, eighth or something. I raced back up to second, hung on, hung on to my teammate Jared and I thought about challenging him, but I figured we wouldn’t upset the boss man, and we’d finish one-two. It’s great to be on the podium for the first time in this series.”