STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Rookie Ethan Goulart (No. 29 Saito Motorsports Group) put on a rain racing master class at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for Round Eight of the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin on Sunday.
A three-wide pass on the final lap gave the 16-year-old his first race win in the series. The second-generation racer was joined on the podium by runner-up Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports) and Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) in third.
An overnight rain shower that continued into the morning ensured Michelin rain tires would be in use for Sunday’s race. The conditions also contributed to four full-course caution periods, making it impossible for the race leader to gap the field.
Initially that leader was polesitter Gresham Wagner (No. 81 Rafa Racing Team by MMR) who finished third in Saturday’s race. He faced several challengers, but it wasn’t until lap six that Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 BSI Racing) was able to wrestle the lead from Wagner.
Later, when Wagner slid wide in Turn Nine, Nicholson took the fight to Gonzalez. Looking for his first Mazda MX-5 Cup race win, Nicholson made his move with 15 minutes to go and began to pull away from the field. Naturally, as his lead grew to more than one second, a full-course yellow came out and erased his hard work.
Lining up behind Nicholson for the final restart was Goulart, who started 12th, but had clawed his way forward, relying on his prior experience racing in the rain at Mid-Ohio.
The final restart came with less than four minutes on the clock. Goulart’s first attempt to take the lead nearly dropped him from podium position as two-time champion Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) sped by.
On the final lap, Thomas tried the outside of Nicholson entering Turn Four, so Goulart took the inside. The three went through Turn Four side-by-side, but Goulart’s car had the grip and inched past Nicholson in Turn Five.
“I passed a bunch of people there earlier in the race, so I knew that line was going to work,” Goulart said. “As soon as I saw Nathan [Nicholson] and Jared [Thomas] touch a little bit down the back straight, and Nathan opened up the door on the inside, I’m like ‘This is my chance,’ and I made it work.”
With a mirror-full of Nicholson, Goulart held station to the finish, taking his first-ever Mazda MX-5 Cup win by 0.131-second.
“We’ve been having such bad luck this year,” Goulart said. “We started off on a great note at Daytona with the second place on my debut. And then ever since that, we’ve had mechanical issues, and some penalties have been given out. But the team needed this one. I needed this one. The Saito Motorsports Group, SCDA track days, Mazda Motorsports MX-5 was on rails today in the rain.”
The win will also contribute nicely to Goulart’s point total in the Rookie of the Year fight, the winner of which will receive $80,000 from Mazda at season’s end.
A pair of former Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout winners, Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) completed the top five.
Woody Heimann (No. 82 JTR Motorsports Engineering) made a triumphant return to MX-5 Cup racing at his home track. Not only did his ninth-place finish earn him the Takumi Award for drivers over 40, but he also won the Penske Shocking Performance Award for advancing 13 positions during the race.
His teammate Sally Mott (No. 15 JTR Motorsports Engineering) recovered from a spin early in the race to finish 14th and win the $2,000 prize for the highest finishing female driver.
