Good brakes can lead to good breaks at COTA

After a best-ever finish on the streets of Long Beach, the Mazda Prototype team will attempt to improve on that third-place tally this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Advance Auto Parts SportsCar Showdown is a two-hour, 40-minute endurance test on the 3.4-mile course outside of Austin, Texas. The race can be seen on a tape-delayed basis Saturday night at 7 p.m. EDT on FS1. Live coverage of the race can be found on IMSARadio.com, produced by Radio Le Mans, as the green flag will fall at 2:25 p.m. CDT. Outside of the U.S., fans can watch live at IMSA.tv.

Both Mazda Prototypes ran in the top-three for the first half of the Long Beach race, in part due to improved handling and braking performance. After the Southern California race, the team completed two days of testing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. to further develop the entire package. Braking is a key element to do well on the 20-turn COTA Grand Prix circuit.