By RACER Staff | December 6, 2024 3:53 PM ET
The Mazda Heritage Collection will wrap up its 2024 competition season this weekend at the Mission Foods HSR Sebring Classic 12 Hour in Florida. Mazda Motorsports is set to bring a trio of cars and drivers for the event, including newly crowned Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin champion, Gresham Wagner.
The cars of the Mazda Heritage Collection have not been driven in anger since the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in August (pictured above), but the team at Flis Performance have been hard at work making sure they are race ready. The three cars remain the same as Monterey, but the drivers have changed.
In the GTP class are the 1989 Mazda 767B driven by Andrew Carbonell and the 1992 Mazda RX-792P driven by Tom Long. In the GTO class, behind the wheel of the 1991 Mazda RX-7 GTO, however, is Wagner, the latest Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Champion. He’ll be taking part in his first-ever historic racing event.
“It’s not often you get an opportunity to drive one of the cars you see in so many posters, movies, and video games while you were growing up, so I’m really excited to see what the RX-7 GTO is all about and put on a show for all of the Mazda and endurance racing fans that still connect with the history of the car,” Wagner said. “I’m really thankful to Mazda Motorsports and Flis Performance for putting on this program and giving me such a unique chance to be part of it.
“I’ve never done any vintage racing, but it’s a really neat opportunity to see a lot of the standout cars from the history of the sport we all love. The cars are our lasting ties to those eras and memories, and it’s pretty awesome to have a manufacturer like Mazda still actively supporting and showcasing some of the most successful cars from such an iconic time in sports car racing.”
A unique element of the HSR event at Sebring is the display of historic war planes, which is fitting, seeing as how the racetrack started life as a WWII airfield and a regional airport continues to operate nearby.
The GTP and GTO classes are grouped together, which means all three of the Mazda Heritage Collection cars will be on track at the same time and race together. The first of two eight-lap sprint races is Friday at 1:20pm ET, the second on Saturday at 9:20am ET. A full entry list, schedule and link to timing and scoring can be found here.