WEEKEND SWEEP & CHAMPIONSHIP!

Always Pushing For More

Despite having both strong pace and good results at Buttonwillow last month, I was not happy with how I left some time on the table in qualifying and generally felt behind all weekend. I wanted to ensure that we gave it our all as a team this weekend to end on a high. Plus coming off the Spec MX-5 Shootout win, two weeks earlier, this weekend would have an added pressure on my shoulders.

A New Approach

For the majority of the season, I had focused on long run pace during Friday’s practice sessions. Although my race pace has been a strong point of mine all season, I knew that I needed to ensure my qualifying pace was equally strong due to Chuckwalla being difficult to overtake at. Using a brand new run plan strategy I got up to pace faster than ever and felt way more confident in my ability by the end of the day.

Back On Pole

For the first time since April, I put the car back on pole position. Even though I wasn’t 100% happy with my lap, I managed to get pole by over a full second. Friday’s strategy was beginning to pay off.

Staying In Control

Race 1 was relatively uneventful as I started from pole and built a strong lead early on. However, that lead would soon shrink as I began to catch the Spec 944 cars who were faster in the straights but slower in the corners. Even though I was lapping significantly faster than them, I simply could not get by as I was faster in all the parts of the track where it was impossible to pass. As a result my big lead disappeared. I then missed a downshift and fell to second. However, knowing how strong my raw pace was I quickly climbed back to the lead on the next lap.

Victory #1

Managing traffic I secured my first win of the weekend and sixth of the year. Now to win the championship all I had to do was finish Sunday’s race.

Staying Strong

Finishing P1 in Practice 2 showed that my pace on Saturday was no fluke. I carried that strong pace into the Qualifying Race which I subsequently won. This put me on pole for Race 2.

A Brief Reflection

With a long four-hour break between the Qualifying Race and Race 2, I had some time to take in how important this next race would be. While my mind was primarily focused on just finishing the race to become champion, I began to feel the sense of importance rising. Not only was it my last race of an incredible 2024 season, but it was my last race in Spec Miata for Hicks Motorsports with NASA SoCal. Together two years ago we began this journey as I was just finishing my final year in karting. At the time I had almost no experience in a car and was uncertain what the future would hold for me. Little did I realize how many important puzzle pieces would come together to propel me forward in these two years. With so many old and new faces watching, I knew we had to end this on a high.

Looks Are Deceiving

On paper it looks like I drove away with the lead starting from pole in Race 2, however, the race had many more layers to it. I began to build a nice comfortable lead starting from pole, in the middle of the race the safety car came out bunching the field back together. With a confusing end to the safety car period, the race restarted one lap earlier than I expected which initially caught me out. Going into Turn 1 I went almost four wide which spelled for potential disaster. I managed to out-brake everyone and retain the lead. Now the race became about traffic management and simply making it to the end. It came down to the last corner of the last lap, but I  retained the lead and claimed my seventh win of the season with a grand slam, but most importantly WE ARE CHAMPIONS!

Champions At Last

To end with a grand slam and become champion was simply amazing, there’s no other way to describe it. This weekend went even better than I imagined and was the perfect fairy tale ending. I knew that the added pressure of coming off the Spec MX-5 Shootout win this weekend was going to be ultra important and we performed. This championship would not have been possible without the hard work of everyone at Hicks Motorsports, my parents and #TeamStiglette. Now it’s time to focus fully on an exciting 2025 season as a Mazda Factory Driver in Spec MX-5!

📸 Donna Wittlin Studio, Rami Garcia, Robert Glaze