NAIAS 2013: Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D Race Car

Mazda unveiled its new racing car based on the 2014 Mazda6 sedan at the Detroit Motor Show. The car makes it racing debut at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, where it will compete in the new GRAND-AM GX class.

The most fascinating fact about this race car is that it is powered by Mazda’s all-new SKYACTIV-D clean diesel engine. It is based on the production engine, boosted and tuned by Mazda’s engineering partner, SpeedSource. They haven’t announced any performance numbers yet, but this engine could very well result in production of a high performance Mazda6 for the roads in the coming years.

The experiences Mazda will gain from its motorsport activities in the U.S. and UK, will eventually trickle down to their road cars.

Mazda6 teams and drivers lineup:

SpeedSource #70: Jonathan Bomarito, Marino Franchitti, James Hinchcliffe, Tom Long and Sylvain Tremblay. Tom Long joins the 2012 SpeedSource Rolex 24 GT driver line-up.

VISIT FLORIDA Racing/SpeedSource/Yellow Dragon #00: Joel Miller, Tristan Nunez, Spencer Pigot, Yojiro Terada, and Tristan Vautier. Terada is of course the veteran Mazda racer who has competed in more than two dozen 24 Hours of Le Mans races. The others are all racers who have won championships within the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Ladder and the Mazda Road to Indy.

Freedom Autosport #25: Andrew Carbonell, Tom Long, Rhett O’Doski, and Derek Whitis. Freedom Autosport has been a winning team in the Continental Tire Challenge with Mazda. They are moving up as a complete team.

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