By MazdaMotorsports.com - Jun 14, 2018, 8:23 AM ET

Global Mazda MX-5 Cup Miata shines at UTCC

Long Road Racing’s evolution of the Global Mazda MX-5 Cup car was taken to the highest level for this year’s Ultimate Track Car Challenge, adding a supercharger to a package that already included a SADEV sequential transmission and a hard top. But while Long Road tried to prepare for any eventuality, they couldn’t control the weather.

“It was little wet,” says Tom Long, who drove the MX-5 to a 2m22.2s lap around VIRginia International Raceway in challenging conditions. “[It was] a little bit of monsoon at times, but it made it a lot of fun because the conditions were constantly changing. We were really fortunate that the Global MX-5 Cup series has an extremely good rain tire so we were able to utilize the BFGoodrich rain, which made a world of difference versus some of our competitors that might not have as much rain grip. And we even surprised ourselves that during one of the sessions we ended up being the quickest car out there.”