Mazda Team Joest sends message of support for absent crew chief

Stefan Grimm

Mazda Team Joest recorded its best qualifying performance to date with third and fourth places for its RT24-P DPi entries at Mid-Ohio, and with one of its key team members absent from the event due to illness, the group gathered Saturday night to send a message to Stefan “Grimmi” Grimm.

The German crew chief, whose tenure with the Joest program dates back to the 2000s, was celebrated with a banner created by Mazda’s Drew Bergwall. Brought together in the team’s hospitality unit overlooking Turn 11, Grimmi was on their minds as the two-car outfit goes for victory on IMSA’s debut at Mid-Ohio with the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“He chose a bad race to be sick, but he should be OK for the next race [at Detroit],” Mazda Team Joest technical director Ralf Juttner told RACER. “Without Grimmi, we do our best in qualifying, so we will have a think about this…” he said with a laugh.

Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan added: “Grimmi’s a new member of the Mazda family, and it doesn’t feel right being here without him. I hope he sees all the support from the rest of his family and he’s back with us ASAP.”