There’s an old car saying that goes “win on Sunday, sell on Monday”. Mazda has always been dedicated to racing, more so than companies 10 times their size; this weekend at Daytona however, they’ll be putting their money where their mouth is with an oil burner. That’s right, the Mazdas in the Grand-Am class at the 24 Hours of Daytona won’t be rotary coupes; this year everyone will be looking at the taillights of a Mazda 6 with a new Skyactiv diesel. And just like the old saying, much of that engine will be sold here (not on Monday, but soon).
The new cars will use much of the technology in the consumer Skyactiv diesel 2.2L engine that is coming to the states shortly in the 6 and later in the CX5. Mazda will be fielding three cars at Daytona, and there will be no missing them. The #25 Freedom Autosport car will be painted bright green with a giant eagle’s head graphic, the #00 Visit Florida Racing/SpeedSource/Yellow Dragon car will be yellow and orange, and the #70 SpeedSource car will be red and black.
The 24 Hours of Daytona starts January 26th at noon PST. If you want to see the future of racing and Mazda, you won’t want to miss this!!!