RotaryNews caught up with Mazda Motorsport Marketing guy Mr. John Doonan for an update on the Mazda ALMS program. He had some very interesting things to say. Read ahead for the complete story, straight from the horses mouth!


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The Mazda ALMS P2 program is back underway for 2006 with B-K Motorsports out of Wisconsin. Over the winter the team focused on new personnel from highly successful programs to take the program to the next level both professionally and on the results sheet.

Marcus Haselgrove, formerly of the Le Mans winning Champion Audi program assumed the responsibility of Team Manager and Technical Directo of the program. Marcus brings a wealth of experience with him including stints in F1, a strong background in Data Acquisition with MOTEC, and engineering overall. He has been a major addition to the program.

Andrew Armistead also joined the B-K operation. Andrew assumed the role of Crew Chief. He brings a wealth of championship experience as well. He came from Realtime Racing and the successful Acura program they have run in SCCA World Challenge. While at Realtime he implemented the Nissan Sentra program that Realtime successfully campaigned. Andrew, too, is a major addition to the team and the program.

Recent article in RACER Magazine was the message we are portraying with this program. We are excited about the addition of Porsche and now...(as of the New York Auto Show)...ACURA to the fray. Having these manufacturer's joining the series validates our involvement and raises the bar professionally for all of us in the P2 class and ALMS as a whole.

Our goal has been to celebrate the traditions of the Mazda racing past and look to grow and continue to carve a path for Mazda's racing future. Jamie Bach and Guy Cosmo have been tremendous in helping us get the program underway. They have been consistent and stayed out of trouble weekend-in and weekend-out. For Sebring, obviously, they had a new teammate in Raphael Matos. Raphael did a tremendous job and could potentially be back in the car for an event like Petit Le Mans, but no decisions have been made yet. Jamie and Guy are the primary drivers for the 2006 effort.

Relative to the car, motor, and chassis. The team will continue to campaign the R20B powered Courage. The chassis has been reliable and the motors have been consistent. We had a terrific run going at Sebring...running as high as 7th overall and 3rd in class at hour 10. Unfortunately, we broke a shift linkage. The team changed it in 42 minutes and we were back out...running 19th overall and 4th in class. Starting the last stint...shortly after that 42 minute stop...an air bubble formed in the cooling system of the motor and it overheated. Disappointing for sure, but we learned some things and we will keep doing that throughout.

IMSA has been tremendous about wanting to assist us (Mazda) in continuing to improve competitiveness. Therefore, we are looking at new chassis options and adding one more spinning thing in the motor. I will keep RN.COM abreast of these developments as I know more, but let's just say we are making good headway with these developments.

Our next race is Houston on the street circuit May 12 and then off to Mid-Ohio, the site of Mazda's first ever ALMS victory, last year.