Goikhberg Earns Entry Into 2015 TUDOR Championship

Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered By Mazda Champion Wins Prize Package Worth $100,000

Mikhail Goikhberg has earned a prize package worth $100,000 from IMSA, including a full-season entry in the Prototype Challenge (PC) class of the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, as a reward for winning the Drivers’ Championship in the 2014 Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda series.

Goikhberg earned a full-season Premium Entrant Membership Package to take with him to the PC team of his choice next season, as well as free entries for all 10 rounds of the TUDOR Championship. He will drive for JDC-Miller MotorSports in 2015 in the team’s No. 85 ORECA FLM09. The package is a key component of a ladder system designed to cultivate, reward and promote talent from the IMSA Development Series into the TUDOR Championship.“I think it’s amazing what IMSA is doing for the champion,” Goikhberg said. “It’s truly a developmental series. It’s a great reward for the season that we had last year. But now it’s time to reset and really concentrate and look forward to 2015 and all the challenges that will come with racing in PC in the TUDOR Championship.”Goikhberg is the third consecutive Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda champion to successfully use the prize to advance his career into the TUDOR Championship. Sean Rayhall, the 2013 Prototype Lites champion, earned two victories and five podium finishes in his first year of competition in the TUDOR Championship PC class in 2014. Prototype Lites 2012 champion Tristan Nunez just completed his first season as a Mazda factory driver in the TUDOR Championship’s Prototype class after racing in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GX class and the GT Challenge class of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón in 2013.

“Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda has firmly established itself as an outstanding place for aspiring sports car racers to get on a fast track to the TUDOR Championship,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “In a very short period of time, Sean Rayhall and Tristan Nunez advanced from Prototype Lites and proved they belong as professional drivers at the highest level. I have no doubt that Mikhail Goikhberg will do the same in the 2015 season.”Goikhberg, from North Vancouver, British Columbia, won nine of 14 rounds this season while driving the No. 10 JDC MotorSports entry in the IMSA Development Series. He clinched his first championship with three rounds remaining in the season.The series veteran took command of the 2014 championship by winning five of the first six races and never relented. His title came after finishing third in the championship in 2013 and second in 2012.The TUDOR Championship PC class is the only spec class in the series. It features the Chevrolet-powered ORECA FLM09 race car, which has an open cockpit and technology such as carbon fiber chassis, carbon brakes and a sequential gearbox. This ultra-competitive class features some of the top teams and drivers in North American sports car racing and is the next step in IMSA competition for successful drivers in the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda.The 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season starts Jan. 22-25 with the Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway. Testing takes place Jan. 9-11 at DIS with The Roar Before the Rolex 24.