BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (July 13, 2025) – The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin has endured several rain races so far this season, but for the first time, weather brought the race to an early conclusion. The beneficiary of this abrupt conclusion was Gresham Wagner (No. 81 RAFA Racing Team by MMR), who finally earned his first MX-5 Cup race win of 2025.
Dark clouds lingered in the distance as the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup field took the green flag Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP).
Championship leader Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports) had a great start and moved into second, behind polesitter Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing) on the first lap.
Cicero held the lead until just before the first full-course caution when Nicholson and Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 BSI Racing) got by. The good news is that when the race restarted, he had his teammate Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) ahead of him.
The teammates knew exactly how to work with each other and freight-trained by Gonzalez and Nicholson on the back straight. When the field next flashed by the flagstand, it was Fletcher in the lead, followed by Cicero.
Nicholson held strong and wrestled the runner-up spot from Cicero, but no sooner had he done that, when another car carrying the MMR logo arrived on the scene: Gresham Wagner (No. 81 RAFA Racing Team by MMR).
As the skies grew darker, all drivers were keenly aware that the race could be stopped at any moment and the intensity ratcheted up.
Wagner made his move on the back straight as the race clock ticked under 10 minutes to go. Several cars followed Wagner around Nicholson, which dropped the championship point leader down the order to fifth.
Gonzalez, Saturday’s race winner, gave Wagner the push he needed to take the lead, but then began his attack for the lead. Unfortunately for him, Fletcher and Cicero were working together again and took over second and third.
Cicero briefly took the lead from Wagner, but was struggling with a wounded car and Wagner was back in the lead just in time for lightning to strike and the full-course yellow to come out. The race was then red flagged to allow corner workers to seek shelter. The field pulled onto pit lane just as torrential rain began to flood the paddock.
“Before the restart, I got the message, that there's some stuff rolling in,” Wagner said. “You know there’s a possibility that it could go red at any point. You try to just get track position and make the most of it. You can see the gray clouds rolling, and we could feel the cooler air in the car. Fortunately, we made it down to, you know, about the last five or six minutes, which is pretty much full-push anyway. I just happened to be up there when I needed to be.”
“I think I just really like to lead races,” Wagner added. “A lot of people try their own unique strategy, coming down towards the end or in the middle of the race, and I'm always trying to lead every lap as much as I can. I think that's why it just ends up working out for me.”
Though a two-time series champion, a crash in Round 2 at Daytona damaged Wagner’s car beyond repair and seemed to be the end of the line for him. His coaching for RAFA Racing Team continued and when a seat opened up at Mid-Ohio, he was back behind the wheel.
“(Winning a race is) a nice surprise, because after Daytona, I didn't think I'd be racing again,” Wagner said. “Obviously, it's got no consequences for me in the championship, but it's nice to just finally get win number 14 and get off of unlucky 13. I'm also super happy to give RAFA Racing team their first win in the series and the whole Sanders motorsports crew that works with MMR.”
It was essentially a MMR podium sweep, with Wagner’s MMR supported car followed by full-season MMR teammates Fletcher and Cicero. A massive turn-around from Saturday’s race when Fletcher had a mechanical issue that took him out of the race.
“I think as a team, collectively, we’re probably the strongest one in the paddock,” Fletcher said. “You know, everyone here is one big family, and I can't thank these guys enough. I mean, they thrashed all night, till about midnight. I think it was a good day yesterday for us, maybe not finishing results, but as a team, I think we got a little stronger.
“I think we showed that today. We cleared the podium and got hard charger. The team's super strong. All the cars are super-fast, and I'm just happy to get some points back after an unfortunate race yesterday.”
The Penske Shocking Performance Award hard charger Fletcher refers to is teammate Justin Adakonis (No. 23 McCumbee McAleer Racing). The rookie’s engine failed in Saturday’s race. Switching to a new one for Sunday’s race meant he had to start at the back of the field. Even with an abbreviated race, Adakonis was able to pick up 10 positions and finish 14th.
“It's really tough to start in the back in this field, especially a track like this, where it's so draft dependent,” Adakonis said. “As soon as you catch that lead pack, everyone's driving 110 percent so it's super hard to move up. I got lucky with the rain coming at the end there. I think we could have got a few more spots, but, you know, overall, was really fun, really proud of these MMR guys for getting this car back running.”
Third-finish Cicero also got lucky with the red flag coming when it did.
“I got to lead, but we had an issue with a car, and lost two spots,” Cicero said. “I was able to hold on to third and that yellow came at the perfect time for me, because I would have just kept going backwards. I think our sway bar and link broke, which just means I had no rear end and couldn't drive off the corners. The rain came at maybe a lap too late for a win, but I'll call it the perfect time for the podium sweep!”
Nicholson ultimately finished fourth and maintained his championship points lead, inching him that much closer to the big year-end $250,000 prize from Mazda.
Newcomer Marcello Paniccia (No. 19 Saito Autosports Group) made quite the impression in his series debut. The rookie scored a top-10 finish in Saturday’s race and was fifth in Sunday’s race.
Gonzalez finished sixth.
Sally Mott (No. 15 JTR Motorsports Engineering) overcame her struggles in Saturday’s race and finished 12th to earn the top finishing female award.
Alex Bachoura was 16th and took home his second Takumi Award of the weekend for the highest placed driver over the age of 40.
MX-5 Cup will be back in action for Rounds 11 and 12 at VIRginia International Raceway, August 22 – 24.
Both CTMP races and all prior MX-5 Cup races are available to rewatch anytime on the RACER and IMSA YouTube channels.