From Disaster to Triumph: My Unforgettable Spec MX-5 Debut at Road America

New Workflow

After moving to Phoenix a week ago, this would be my first experience flying across the country for a race, and traveling without my parents. Due to a thunderstorm causing a 2-hour delay, I landed in Wisconsin at 2:30 AM. Just 5 hours later I would be in the car getting ready for Practice 1.

A New Team

This was my first race with Advanced Autosports and I couldn’t have been more excited. After a successful test together in June at Autobahn Country Club, I decided to run with them in Spec MX-5 for the 2025 season. Our goal this weekend was to establish how competitive the car was and see how we worked together over a race weekend.

Brilliant Start

It’s very rare in motorsport to get a car perfectly dialed in, especially during your very first session on track. Straight from Lap 1, I was happy with the car and knew this weekend would be special.

Learning Experience

Due to Road America being one of the fastest circuits in the world, getting a tow in qualifying would be key to putting in a good lap time. However, I failed to position myself on track properly, and not only didn’t get a tow, but I was also stuck in traffic. As a result, my prep lap was my fastest time. I was 1.9 seconds off of pole position.

My Greatest Save

I had a strong start to the race and stayed behind my new teammate Michael Borden who was leading. It was great to have him as a reference to see where I could learn. But on lap 5, my left rear wheel hub failed going through The Kink at 113 MPH. The hub separated from the upright, the left driveshaft broke, and I brought the car to a stop on 3 wheels. If there was 1 place where you wouldn’t want a critical part to fail, it was right there on the highest-speed turn on the track. Keeping the car out of the wall was a miracle.

Tough Reality

The incident caused significant damage to the left rear corner of the car and we realized that we did not have the required parts to fix the car in time. With shops closed on Sunday, we knew it would take a second miracle this weekend to make it back on track. We missed the second qualifying session and prepared to head back home.

A Miracle

After exhausting all resources, we finally found the part we needed. New to the series, I first-hand witnessed the great sportsmanship in this series: fellow competitor Cam Ebben loaned us a spare upright and the team was able to rebuild the car. We were back in the race now!

40 Overtakes in 35 Minutes

Because I had missed qualifying, not only would I have to start at the back of the Spec MX-5 class, but I would have to start at the back of the entire race group. This meant I was starting P45 behind all of the Spec Miatas and the first run group of other mixed-class cars. The race would be a game of how many cars I could pass in the 35-minute race. This brought back memories from when I would do this challenge on the PlayStation in Gran Turismo Sport.

I ended up passing 40 cars over the 35-minute race finishing P5 overall and P3 in Spec MX-5. That was a fun challenge!

A Lot To Take In

This weekend  I experienced so many emotions, from feeling excited by our pace on Friday, to grateful on Saturday after keeping the car out of the wall, to hopeless Sunday morning after missing qualifying, to being amazed after the end of the race on Sunday. My first Spec MX-5 race was quite an adventure!

An Exciting Future

This is just the beginning of a new adventure. We achieved all of our goals learning about the car and I can’t wait for what the future will bring next with Advanced Autosports!