Bomarito Confirmed at Mazda
Good news for SRT Viper refugee Jonathan Bomarito was confirmation that he is set to return to the Mazda SpeedSource team for the 2015 IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
From 2010 through 2012, Bomarito amassed 13 podium finishes and four victories with Mazda. His previous Mazda stint included the 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class winning team and the 2010 Grand American Road Racing Series Rookie-of-the-Year award.
Bomarito will be one of the four full-time drivers in the Mazda prototypes. SpeedSource owner/driver Sylvain Tremblay will focus more on team management, but will remain a third driver for the four endurance races; Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Road Atlanta. Bomarito will partner with Tom Long, Joel Miller and Tristan Nunez. The final pairings to be determined during pre-season testing. Ben Devlin continues with the team for the four endurance races.
Jonathan Bomarito:
“I feel as though I’m coming home to be back with Mazda. It excites me to see what the future holds with SpeedSource and Mazda in the prototype class. This program has been about development, and I’m honored to come on board to add to this collaboration and watch it continue to grow. It’s a great feeling to be back in the #70 car with Sylvain Tremblay. It all started for us when we won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in 2010. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the 2015 race season.”
Sylvain Tremblay: SpeedSource Owner/Engineer/Driver:
“The racer in me only wants to drive. But the team owner knows that developing a program like the SKYACTIV-D Mazda Prototype requires every person to operate at their highest level. We’re thrilled to have Jonathan back with SpeedSource. I’m happy that I will remain as his co-driver as we both want at least another couple of Rolex watches.”
John Doonan, Director of Motorsports, Mazda North American Operations:
“With Jonathan challenging for a GT championship this past season, we held off on making this announcement, but we had this wrapped up two months ago. Jonathan will be a great addition to the team as we continue our engineering development of the Mazda Prototype. Jonathan is respected and loved by the team as well as Mazda fans. We’re happy to have him back in the family.”
Bryce Miller Shifts Focus to NAEC And Management Role
Bryce Miller will shift from fulltime Paul Miller Racing driver to endurance-race specialist in 2015 opening the door for an all-new driver lineup for the team’s winning #48 Audi R8 LMS program next season.
Miller will restrict his race programme to the North American Endurance Championship in order to have more time to focus on his management role in the Paul Miller Auto Group.
“I am certainly not retiring from racing but our growth at the Paul Miller Auto Group, and my desire to learn more about our ‘other family business’ makes it the right time to make this move” Bryce Miller said. “Knowing that I will still compete in endurance races in our Audi will make it easier but it will still seem a little strange when the first sprint races come after Daytona and Sebring and I will be watching on television at home.”
“This change will certainly bring a new dynamic to the team and, frankly, will probably be a little strange at first for both me and Bryce, but he will still fill a key role in endurance races as he has for so many years,” Paul Miller said. “Our next step is to find a full-season replacement for Bryce, which sure won’t be easy, but it is something we want to wrap up as soon as possible.”
After finishing second in the IMSA Tudor Championship GTD-class driver and team championships and runners up too in the driver and team standings in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup there’s no change planned from the Audi R8 LMS.
“We really enjoy the association and support from Audi and the R8 LMS is a wonderful race car,” Paul Miller said. “Having Christopher Haase on the team was a huge part of our success and we would love to have him or an Audi driver of the same considerable talent back in 2015. Pairing that driver up with Bryce’s replacement will be a main piece of the puzzle and we look forward to announcing our full program soon.”
