Mazda Team Joest Returns To Daytona With A Ton Of Momentum

Mazda Motorsports

With an incredibly swift lap time in the books (unofficially) in DPi at the Roar Before the 24, Mazda Team Joest heads back to Daytona this weekend determined to achieve the top spot on the podium.

Driving the bright white, Idemitsu-livery’d No. 77 Mazda RT24-P, Olivier Pla unofficially broke the course record at the Roar Before the 24 a few weeks back by less than a tenth of a second. The official course record was set by his teammate, Oliver Jarvis, during qualifying for the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Pla and Jarvis will take turns behind the wheel of the #77 car, along with 6-year Mazda Motorsports veteran Tristan Nunez. 

The dream team doesn’t end there, however. The team’s other, more well-known red #55 Mazda RT24-P will be driven by Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay is the 2012 IndyCar Series champion (among a ton of other accolades), and has signed on for Mazda Team Joest’s endurance efforts this year.

“We had a very productive test at the Roar Before the 24, leading up to this weekend’s race,” Ryan Hunter-Reay said of the team’s efforts so far. “We are all aware that this will be a very difficult race. The competition is extremely tight, so we’re just going to focus on being methodical and executing stint by stint. Our aim is to be in the fight for the sprint race in the last few hours.”

Co-driver Jonathan Bomarito has previous class victories at the Rolex 24, winning in the GT class ten years ago driving a Mazda RX-8. Briton Harry Tincknell has an extensive CV as well, racing with Mazda the past 2 seasons, as well as climbing onto the podium for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK and Jota Sport quite a bit in the past 5 years. 

This is sure to be an exciting kick-off for Mazda Team Joest in 2020!