Inside MX-5 Cup: Michelin Tires let the drivers concentrate on the racing now and in the future

Since Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin switched from sister tire company BFGoodrich to Michelin rubber for the 2024 season, track records have fallen at every circuit. However, when every racer has the same tires, making the car faster is hardly a concern. Rather, the aim is to provide a tire that delivers consistency and confidence for the driver.

“Lower lap times are a byproduct, not the goal,” states Joe Ignacio, IMSA Michelin Mazda MX-5 Cup Series Manager. “Our focus with the spec tire program is consistency. We want to give every driver on the grid the same platform, so the competition comes down to skill, strategy, and setup. If records fall along the way, that's a sign the tire is performing the way we designed it to."

By account of the drivers, that goal has been met. Two-time champion Jared Thomas, whose JTR Motorsports Engineering also runs several cars in the series, says that the consistency of the Michelin Pilot Sport Competition 20/61-17 racing slicks over a session or a race is good, which keeps drivers happy.

“They're pretty steady. Obviously, they fall off a bit from the qualifying on a brand-new tire to racing on one heat cycle, which is normal,” Thomas explains. “But throughout a race run, they stay relatively consistent throughout.”

MX-5 Cup rules require drivers to start the first race on the tires on which they qualified. For the second race of the weekend, they get a new set. The tires, though, have some different characteristics from their predecessors.

“It seems like this tire definitely likes the heavy-load race tracks, the really fast tracks for us, where we're really leaning on the tire. It does a really good job of providing grip at all the really high-load places like Road Atlanta Turn 1, Mosport Turn 1, Turn 2. Places where the car is really loaded up, the Michelins give you a lot of confidence to really lean on the car,” says Thomas.

Thomas's feelings on the steadiness of the tire over a run have been echoed by others, according to Ignacio. The comments from MX-5 Cup racers runs toward the happy side.

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, especially around consistency from the green flag to the checkered,” notes Ignacio. “Teams tell us they can trust the tire to be consistent throughout the race, which lets them focus their setup work on the car instead of managing tire variability.”

There is another bit of harmony with the adoption of the Michelin tire in MX-5 Cup. Those who move on to IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge or even compete in both series on the same weekend as Thomas has done in the past, will be racing on a tire very much like what they know.

“If you jump into any other cars on an IMSA weekend that are on a Michelin tire, it will feel very similar in a way that you bring it in, bring it up to temperature, and how it performs. That's a benefit to drivers that have aspirations to race elsewhere,” Thomas says.

That's attributable to the fact that the tire is part of the broader Michelin Pilot Sport family, says Ignacio. The same engineering principles and compound technology are used across the tires for TCR and GT4 cars in Michelin Pilot Challenge and the GT3 cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“Drivers moving between programs find a familiar feeling, meaning the experience a driver builds in MX-5 Cup translates directly if they move up the ladder,” he says.

The tires are one less variable that the drivers have to deal with as the 2026 championship fight comes to a head at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta next weekend.

All Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin races are streamed live on RACER.com and archived on The RACER Channel on YouTube. Catch them live on the RACER Network, too. Next up, it’s the season finale rounds 13 & 14 from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, October 1 and 2. Check out the full 2026 MX-5 Cup schedule, plus find all the latest series news, at mx-5cup.com.