Everyone’s favorite sports roadster gets its very own one-make racing series as Mazda MX-5 Cup makes its official debut at the SEMA show. The racing Miata will be the star of its own show next year in events stretching from Asia to the United States.

Mazda MX-5 Cup is a factory-approved race car based on the production model, but prepared by a single supplier in a read to race mode. So all MX-5 Cups that races anywhere in the world in one of the Global Cup series will be identical. A level playing field is what makes this series particularly interesting.

All Mazda MX-5 Cup race car will be powered by a 2.0 liter SKYACTIV-G four cylinder engine and boast competition-spec tires, suspension and safety modifications. Mazda hasn’t revealed how much power the engine produces, but the race car will certainly be lighter and tighter than the road car, so it’s going to be considerably faster and nicer to drive.

As for the structure of Mazda MX-5 Cup series, multiple races around the world will culminate at the end of 2016 with a Global Shootout at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey. Among other prizes, the series champion will receive a one-day test in Mazda’s top-level TUDOR United States SportsCar Championship SKYACTIV prototype racecar. We hope the racing MX-5 will inspire multiple powerful special edition cars for the road!