Joest Racing to take over Mazda DPi in IMSA | FerrariChat

Joest Racing to take over Mazda DPi in IMSA

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by Gran Drewismo, Jul 18, 2017.

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  1. Gran Drewismo

    Gran Drewismo F1 Rookie

    Jan 24, 2005
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    Mazda Just Hired the Team Responsible for Audi's Le Mans Wins

    SpeedSource out, Joest in. You could always count on the Mazda team to break down. Hopefully they will emerge as a legitimate contender.

    I actually didn't realize Mazda was using an outside outfit for their Prototype team. SpeedSource's website, Twitter, and Facebook page are gone.
     
  2. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
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    Penske vs Joest is going to be epic.

    I just hope IMSA/Jim France play fair with BoP.
     
  3. Devilsolsi

    Devilsolsi F1 Veteran
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    Can they move from the Riley chassis?

    Can't wait for Daytona next year!
     
  4. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    not sure if they *can*, but doesn't sound like they're going to anyway.
     
  5. David Lind

    David Lind Formula 3

    Nov 19, 2008
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    Great news for IMSA, and particularly timely after the crashfest @ Mosport & the Visit Florida team losing its funding. I sincerely hope that the latter can find new sources of sponsorship, because they are a great bunch of guys who love racing for its own sake.
     
  6. Gran Drewismo

    Gran Drewismo F1 Rookie

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    Is the loss of funding official yet? I can't find anything saying so but I know it was all but certain about a month ago.
     
  7. CornersWell

    CornersWell F1 Rookie

    Nov 24, 2004
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    Can't wait to see Reinhold and the boys back in action on this side of the pond!

    CW
     
  8. jgonzalesm6

    jgonzalesm6 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Mazda Team Joest to begin testing in August

    The Mazda RT24-Ps, which have been withdrawn from the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, will begin 2018 testing “within the next 30-40 days”, as Joest and Multimatic aim to improve raceability and reliability.

    2018 driver lineup to be revealed in the fall

    Although testing will begin with Bomarito, Nunez, Miller and Long, Doonan stated that any changes would likely be made by the time of the IMSA season finale at Petit Le Mans in October.

    “We believe in the group of drivers that have represented us in the prototype program to date,” he said. “As Ralf shared, we hope to be on track testing within the next 30 or 40 days. Our current driver lineup will be part of that testing program.

    https://www.motorsport.com/imsa/news/mazda-team-joest-to-begin-testing-in-august-932567/
     
  9. BartonWorkman

    BartonWorkman F1 Veteran
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    This is a great development for sports car racing in the U.S.

    It will be fantastic to see Joest back again teaming with Mazda.

    This may well be the biggest story for IMSA this year as the Penske announcement was
    the worst kept secret all year, the Joest/Mazda announcement was certainly unexpected
    although we knew that they were in attendance at Daytona.

    Joest is a great crew of personnel, they were always a pleasure to work with.

    BHW
     
  10. RWatters

    RWatters Formula 3

    Feb 21, 2006
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    I get that Speedsource wasn't performing, but for them to completely disappear off of the face of the planet after this announcement is a bit shocking. Was there financial trouble there as well or something?
     
  11. Gran Drewismo

    Gran Drewismo F1 Rookie

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    I was surprised by this as well. My arm chair quarterback guess is that perhaps their entire operation depended on the Mazda program and without it they had to fold? Even then that seems abrupt.
     
  12. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    they probably had to scrub any affiliation with Mazda from their internet presence so easier to delete websites/social accounts than try to pick everything apart.

    Sylvan is a smart guy with a substantial operation in South Florida, I'm sure he'll find a new program for 2018.
     
  13. Gran Drewismo

    Gran Drewismo F1 Rookie

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    I hope so. This feels to me like when Bentley dropped Dyson in PWC. They of course survived.
     
  14. David Lind

    David Lind Formula 3

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    Drewismo, the Florida legislature declined future funding for the program, which I am led to believe was around $1.5 per year.
     
  15. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    yes, the received a 30 day cancellation in June, which means the program ends sometime this month.

    not sure if that means the team will stop racing, or keep racing without Visit Florida livery, or if the contract still includes a certain number of races.

    the contract was closer to $3mm/year.
     
  16. the_stig

    the_stig F1 Rookie

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    AutoWeek reports that the cars are already in Germany to be improved by Joest returning in August to begin testing. So presumably they went from CTMP straight to an airport.
     
  17. David Lind

    David Lind Formula 3

    Nov 19, 2008
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    The Mazdas went to the airport & were loaded onto a plane? So for the first time this season they are flying!
     
  18. David Lind

    David Lind Formula 3

    Nov 19, 2008
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    David Lind

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