Kiwi teenager Bailey Cruse battled the elements in the season-opener of the Mazda MX-5 Cup on Daytona International Speedway’s road course, finishing a respectable 20th amongst a record-setting 36-car field.
Cruse is racing the entire MX-5 Cup season with JTR Motorsports Engineering, and qualified in the mid-field, lining up 15th.
In unseasonable Florida conditions, cold temperatures and light rain saw officials declare the race wet, the entire field beginning the 45-minute outing on wet tyres.
A stall for Westin Workman on the formation lap brought saw the start delayed, and once the lights went green, Cruse settled into the mid-field, sitting amongst a fierce battle that saw bump-drafting around Daytona’s iconic speedway, and four-wide battles through the infield road section.
With the track still relatively dry, pole-sitter Nate Cicero took a gamble early and stopped from the lead group to switch to slick tyres, a strategy decision which would come undone over the following laps as the rain intensified.
Up front, Tyler Gonzalez had climbed from 14th to take the lead, pulling to a healthy advantage over the field along with Gresham Wagner.
A mechanical for Wagner, however, forced him into pit lane to retire mid-race, and without assistance in the lead, Gonzalez was quickly caught.
In the difficult conditions as darkness descended, Cruse remained in the mid-field, running as high as 12th, before dropping back to 15th mid-race and running in a three-car group who sat eight seconds off the lead but 10 seconds clear of the trailing pack.
The rain intenfied entering the final 15 minutes, which brought drama. Farhan Siddiqi and Cody Powell collided, forcing the former out with a shredded left front, while Sally McNulty also spun out.
Cruse remained in his group of three until the closing stages, some 10 seconds off the leading pack and with the large trailing group eating at their advantage.
A fire on Christian Hodneland’s car, the result of an engine failure, forced race control to bring out a full-course yellow in the final minutes, racing not resuming and finishing behind the Safety Car.
Moments earlier, Cruse had dropped to 20th, and the intervention preventing him from an opportunity to recover the positions he had lost from a minor off.
Gonzalez held on for the win ahead of Bryce Cornet and Bryce Cornet.
The Mazda MX-5 Cup returns for one further race tomorrow, beginning at 4.15 am NZST, with Cruse lining up in seventh.
Coverage will be live and free on IMSA’s YouTube channel.
Header Image: Bailey Cruse Racing
