Bomarito ready for Zoom Zoom
Bomarito ready for Zoom Zoom
Having spent the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship campaign immersed in a rugged title fight, ultimately, decided in favor of his then No. 93 SRT Viper team and co-driver Kuno Wittmer, Jonathan Bomarito has come home to Mazda for the 2015 TUDOR Championship season.
Known as “JBom” by friends and teammates, Bomarito, now 33 years of age, is a native of Monterey with long and strong ties to Mazda. A Stars of Tomorrow Karting champion, he showed considerable speed and was a consistent winner in the Mazda-powered Formula Atlantic series before joining the Mazda sports car partner SpeedSource team headed by Sylvain Tremblay in 2009.
He has three wins, including a class win at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2010 aboard a Mazda RX-8 in the GT class.
“I feel as though I’m coming home to be back with Mazda,” said Bomarito. That sentiment is matched by John Doonan, Director of Motorsports for Mazda North American Operations who says, “Jonathan is respected and loved by the team as well as Mazda fans. We’re happy to have him back in the family.”
After having spent three years helping to develop a championship contender at Viper, Bomarito finds himself in the midst of another, albeit more exotic, development program at Mazda where a SkyActiv turbo diesel-powered Prototype team is steadily progressing up the speed charts.
Last year, Bomarito and Wittmer teamed for six podium finishes including GTLM class wins at Indianapolis and Circuit of The Americas. In 2015, Bomarito is now paired with Tristan Nunez in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda Prototype with teammates Joel Miller and Tom Long aboard the No. 07. Bomarito and all of his teammates persistently continue the relentless drive that makes ultimate success most satisfying.
Here at Mazda’s home track, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the team will look to take advantage of its fuel economy to open up strategic options as it seeks to move closer to the success that Mazda traditionally enjoys.
While the Mazda development continues, rival teams like Ford EcoBoost’s Chip Ganassi Racing with Californians Scott Pruett and Joey Hand and the Honda Prototype from Michael Shank Racing with Ozz Negri and John Pew aren’t standing still.
Neither are the Corvette DPs of Long Beach winners Jordan and Ricky Taylor of Wayne Taylor Racing and the VisitFlorida.com Racing team with Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante.
The defending TUDOR Champions from Action Express also provide a double–barreled statement with champions Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi aboard the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP with new teammates Dane Cameron and Eric Curran co-driving the No. 31 Whelen Corvette DP. The “AX” men look to move the goal posts every race.
Competition however is something that Mazda understands to its core. With a program that ranges from the MX-5 Cup to the Mazda Road to 24 and the Mazda Road to Indy, there are more Mazdas racing on any given weekend than any other brand.
Mazda calls it “Zoom-Zoom” and it is more than simple marketing line, it is part of the corporate culture. When the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion takes place here in August, many of the Mazda managers and executives will be racing themselves.
That passion and commitment identifies and develops talent like Jonathan Bomarito and draws them home to add to the next chapter in Mazda history.
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