A pair of new faces in Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin are not just battling for the Rookie of the Year honors – and the big scholarship money that comes with it – but looking like real threats for the overall championship as well.

Ethan Goulart is one of those new faces. With his victory in the most recent race at Mid-Ohio (above), driving the No. 29 Saito Motorsport Group MX-5, he’s not only propelled himself into the rookie fight with Noah Harmon, but with a little bit of consistency in the final six races, he could easily be contending for the overall championship.

Eight months ago, Goulart was in a different fight with Harmon, trying to claim the SCCA Spec Miata National Championship in the Runoffs at Road America. Starting on pole with no less than his father, four-time SCCA National Champion Elivan Goulart, alongside him, the race turned into a battle between the younger Goulart and Harmon. When the checkers flew, Goulart ended up the youngest SCCA National Champion in history at 15 years and 174 days old, and this in one of the most competitive amateur road racing classes.

Fast forward to June 2025, and Goulart is racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a track he hasn’t seen before – and with rain falling, too. With the help and advice of others, including his father casting a keen eye on the previous races during the IMSA weekend, and his own careful observation during the warm-up lap, Goulart found the grip, made the winning move and took his first win in MX-5 Cup.

“It was definitely really cool,” he says of that breakthrough victory. “Being a rookie just made it 10 times more gratifying. It was good in the moment, right? And now we’re on to the next weekend at [Canadian Tire Motorsport Park]. But I can’t thank the whole team enough, the Saito Motorsport team and SCDA track days. This past year-and-a-half has been really good for me: being the youngest National Champion in the SCCA Runoffs in Spec Miata, having a first MX-5 Cup win this year, plus having my podium debut at Daytona, too, is all really cool.”

Rain may be the great equalizer, but in a series of equal cars at a repaved track, the playing field was about as level as it could be.

“I don’t think it could have gotten more equal,” says Goulart, “because nobody has really driven on that track in the rain since the repave. But I actually hadn’t even been to Mid-Ohio before. That was my first time and I’m still fairly new to these cars as well, so I think that just made us even more of the underdog. But we were able to get the job done.”

And he got it done in conditions that were tricky and ever changing.

“The way the track dried and developed, it was so drastic,” he explains. “The way the puddles were developing…some spots would dry very quickly as the laps went on, and some would stay wet, and then some would actually even move to different spots as the water streamed. So, it was definitely the wettest in the beginning of the race, but what made it so tricky was on-and-off rain. You’d get 10, 15 minutes of dry, and then it would just start raining again. That’s what made it so tricky trying to read the track.”

After reading the changing conditions to perfection, Ethan Goulart celebrated a first MX-5 Cup win at Mid-Ohio.

The win, after some rough races, has him in the thick of the rookie fight with Harmon. But while Goulart certainly covets the Rookie of the Year title and the award that comes with it, he’s looking for even more, and sees himself in a good position to achieve it.

“I have my eye on Rookie of the Year, but I also have my eye on winning the overall championship,” he declares. “I don’t think any true racing driver shows up to race a full season without having their eye on a championship. So that’s my main goal.”

Like many ascending pro racers – and endurance sports car racing is his aspiration – Goulart started on the Mazda Motorsports ladder. While part of choosing MX-5 Cup just makes sense to continue on that path, he says the well-built, evenly-matched cars and great people were a big part of it as well. But, ultimately, he knows it’s a great proving ground.

“Mazda Motorsports has always put on a great ladder program with grassroots racing, and it really gets your name out there in the IMSA paddock,” he says. “This is like the pinnacle of Mazda’s ladder, right? It’s just so competitive; you have probably at least 10,15 guys who could win at any race. So if you win one of those races, you’re getting your name out there. And this was one of the things that we thought was best this stage of my career, right now, to help me progress to the next level.”

With a victory in MX-5 Cup, he’s certainly getting his name out there. Now he’s looking to get it engraved in the record book with a championship.

• All Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin races are streamed live on RACER.com and archived on The RACER Channel on YouTube. The 2025 action continues with rounds 9 & 10 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Ont., on Saturday, July 12, and Sunday, July 13. Plus, find all the latest series news at mx-5cup.com.

(GMM) Former F1 team boss Cyril Abiteboul (pictured) has played down wild rumors linking Hyundai with Formula 1.

Once boss of Renault’s works Formula 1 team, Frenchman Abiteboul now heads Hyundai Motorsport.

And the Korean carmaker caused a huge stir in the motorsport world on Friday with a social media post featuring a Formula 1 car with “What If?” on the rear wing.

“Get ready for the ride,” read part of the caption on the post, which was later deleted.

The rumor mill, however, was already in top gear, with some linking the post with recent statements made by Otmar Szafnauer about a potential bid for F1’s vacant twelfth team entry spot.

Speaking at Rally Greece, with Abiteboul overseeing Hyundai’s world rally team, the 47-year-old insisted: “I think there was a clumsy post from the marketing team in Korea.

“They wanted to create a buzz, and it worked,” Abiteboul told France’s Auto Hebdo.

“It has since been removed, which shows there is nothing behind it. There is no F1 project. We already have a lot to do with our two programs. We remain focused on that.”

Indeed, alongside its current world rally project, Hyundai is currently preparing a top-tier ‘hypercar’ prototype to contest the WEC and Le Mans from 2026.

When the Hyundai-to-F1 rumor spread around the Rally Greece paddock, Abiteboul also fielded questions from the international media.

“Perhaps in the long term,” he said when asked if the carmaker really might enter a Formula 1 team. “But not at all in the short term.

“Our only chance would be to enter the market in 2031. Take Audi as an example – they decided in 2021 to enter the market in 2026.

“Formula 1 is a different world,” Abiteboul added. “We can’t come as a sponsor as we have no interest in paying other people’s bills – that’s not our style.

“The other option would be to come in with our own technology.”

Interestingly, with Renault having announced the end of its works F1 engine project, recent rumors suggested that Abiteboul had gone shopping at Viry-Chatillon for motorsport engineers.

Hyundai has also been linked with Formula E.

“The Formula E technological roadmap is interesting,” Abiteboul admits. “However, I observe that it is a championship that is struggling to break through a glass ceiling in terms of audience and popularity among fans.

“We will continue to study this possibility,” he said.

Related Article:  F1 Rumor: Hyundai eyes buying F1 team

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — The debut of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge in Saturday night’s Cup Series race in Atlanta generated differing opinions and expectations from drivers.

After all, there’s a points race to attend to. Every team’s top priority is qualifying for the playoffs and trying to win the championship. Some drivers acknowledge they simply haven’t paid attention to the new race within the race.

Joey Logano says he sees no reason to view the new tournament as a distraction.

“If there’s something to win, you want to go win it,” Logano said Friday before winning the pole for Saturday night’s race in his Team Penske Ford.

Denny Hamlin is the No. 1 seed in the 32-driver In-Season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament. Chase Briscoe, who held off Hamlin for his first win for Joe Gibbs Racing last week at Pocono Raceway, is the No. 2 seed. A $1 million prize awaits the winner as part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT.

Briscoe said Friday he felt “definitely a sigh of relief, you know, just a weight off your shoulders” following last week’s win. He said that sense of relief was shortlived.

“I’m expected to win multiple races, not just one,” Briscoe said. “It’s a sense of relief, but also more pressure because now they know you can win.”

NASCAR hopes the tournament generates mid-season interest. The single-elimination format cuts the field to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and the final two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Many drivers expect their interest in the tournament will increase after Saturday night’s race.

“I think some of the drivers have been kind of dismissive over the bracket challenge,” said Brad Keselowski, who enters the race No. 30 in the points standings and in need of a win in Atlanta to earn a playoff spot in his RFK Racing Ford.

“I think it’ll become a lot more real, whether it be for the drivers or for the media or the fans, as it progresses into the later rounds over the next few weeks,” Keselowski said.

Added Ricky Stenhouse, who is 24th in the points race, of the new tournament: “It’s cool. I think after this weekend you’ll have a little better idea of what you have. Our main goal in Atlanta is winning and getting into the playoffs.”

Team Penske dominates qualifying

Team Penske claimed four of the top five qualifying positions and Ford claimed all of the top five spots.

Logano was first at 178.960 mph, tying Josh Berry, who drives for Wood Brothers but has a technical alliance with Team Penske. Ryan Blaney qualified third and Austin Cindric was one spot back for Team Penske, while Ryan Preece, in another Ford for RFK Racing, was fifth.

“It definitely helps at the start for sure,” Logano said. “Being at the front and controlling the race is the thing for sure.”

Drawing ‘Uncle’ Noah

Briscoe is facing No. 31 seed Noah Gragson in the first bracket. He says it’s a difficult matchup, in part because “he’s actually probably my best friend on the circuit … and my son’s favorite driver.”

Briscoe said his 3-year-old son, Brooks, thinks of Gragson “like that uncle that just you take your kid to, and he has Pop-Tarts and ice cream and everything else when he’s with them.”

Added Briscoe: “Hopefully I’ll win. If not I’ll never here the end of it from Noah or my son.”

Briscoe posted a photo on his X account of his son’s bracket. The photo shows the smiling Brooks holding a bracket with his father’s No. 19 winning every round of the tournament.

Racing for Rhealynn

Chase Elliott has a special paint scheme on his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that was designed by 11-year-old cancer patient Rhealynn Mills. Elliott chose Mills’ design to highlight his foundation’s efforts to raise money for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Elliott said the “Design to Drive” program has raised $500,000 for the children’s hospital.

“The only bad thing is I feel like we’ve crashed every time we’ve done it,” Elliott said, adding his sponsor, NAPA Auto Parts, deserved credit “for giving up the car” so the paint scheme could instead feature Mills’ design.

New name for Atlanta track

EchoPark Speedway is the new name for the track that was still known as Atlanta Motor Speedway in February when Christopher Bell won while leading only the final lap in overtime. It’s the home track for Elliott, from Dawsonville, Georgia, and he acknowledged seeing the name change and the new green paint “was different for me. I think it’s fine.”

Odds and ends

Ryan Blaney is the favorite (+800) to win the race, per BetMGM Sportsbook. Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, each at +1000, were next.