CONCORD, N.C. – Mazda Motorsports officials have confirmed that only one Mazda RT24-P will be in action when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season begins in January at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Since debuting the RT24-P for the 2017 season, Mazda has fielded a pair of entries in every IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event in the DPi class. The RT24-P has won four races, including IMSA’s return to action in July at Daytona Int’l Speedway amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mazda partnered with Team Joest to run the program in 2018 before transitioning to Multimatic, who took over the program following the end of the relationship with Joest.
In a statement, Mazda confirmed the reason for the switch from two cars to one is the decision to “focus on evaluating the LMDh category.” The single full-time car will be driven by Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell, with Jonathan Bomarito joining the team for endurance races.
“For the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Mazda will race a one-car team with primary drivers Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell,” read an official statement from Mazda.
“Jonathan Bomarito will be added for endurance races. Tristan Nunez will continue to work closely with Mazda as a brand ambassador and assist with vehicle dynamics.
“We thank all our fans and partners for their continued support for Mazda Motorsports, and we hope to finish this current season on top.”