Carter Wins $100k Scholarship, So Can You

Michael Carter is the 2018 winner of the Mazda Road To 24 Shootout. The Georgia Institute of Technology student was a finalist in the Shootout, thanks to a strong season in Spec Miata. Carter competed this past weekend with Matthew Dirks, Hannah Grisham and Loni Unser in this competition for a scholarship supporting a 2019 drive in the Battery Tender Global MX-5 Cup sponsored by BF Goodrich. Details of the competition are below in a press release from Mazda.

You can win a scholarship that covers many of the costs of the Battery Tender Global MX-5 Cup, too. Just run and win the Spec MX-5 Challenge in 2019. The Spec MX-5 Challenge is a national series whose winner receives a scholarship covering the major costs of Global MX-5 Cup in 2020. Over $100k in prize money will be awarded to the podium finishers for the season, with the deciding event for 2019 held at Road Atlanta among 14 qualifiers. Mazda also selects a candidate from the Spec MX-5 field to invite to the Mazda Road To 24 Shootout, so the Challenge gives you four possible ways to move toward Global MX-5 Cup. More details about the Spec MX-5 Challenge can be found at SpecMX-5.com.

Michael Carter Wins Mazda Road To 24 Shootout

Spec Miata racer will make Global MX-5 Cup debut in 2019

IRVINE, Calif. (December 7, 2018) – After an all-day evaluation of four young drivers at the Bondurant Main Track at Wild Horse Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Arizona, eighteen-year-old Michael Carter from Savannah, Georgia was selected as the winner of the 2018 Mazda Road to 24 Shootout.

With the $100,000 Mazda Motorsports scholarship awarded to Carter, he will compete in the 2019 Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich. Carter, a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, took part in the Shootout along with Matthew Dirks, Hannah Grisham and Loni Unser.

“What a journey this has been,” said Carter. “The reason I started racing a Mazda was because of the Mazda Road to 24 Shootout. It was our one single goal all along and to finally accomplish that is surreal. The process begins next week of getting ready for next season, for the series test at Barber, and to put together a good season in the Global MX-5 Cup.”

To earn his invitation to the Mazda Road to 24 Shootout, Carter put together an impressive 2018 season in SCCA racing as he finished second in the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour Points Championship, won the Spec Miata Challenge and won in Spec Miata at the American Road Race of Champions.

“Each year, it is exciting to see the next batch of talent that is in the pipeline,” said John Doonan, Director, Mazda Motorsports. “I heard something from Michael and his father that really hit a chord with me which was that they built a Spec Miata with the sole purpose of going up the Mazda Road to 24 ladder. That really speaks to the challenger spirit at Mazda, to why we have the Shootout, and to the family that we have at Mazda. Michael is the driver today who walks away with the scholarship, but we had four families come together here who have all gone racing together. For all of us at Mazda, it’s very rewarding to give these families a chance to go racing together. We look forward to watching Michael take the next step in his career in next season’s Global MX-5 Cup.”