Mazda Team Joest wrapped up a successful season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a brave performance at the final race, the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Georgia. The second half of the 10-hour marathon saw the No.77 Mazda RT24-P, driven by Timo Bernhard, Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez, establish itself in the lead.

Jarvis was out in front until the final caution of the race, with 40 minutes left. But a mechanical failure after the restart saw the Englishman fall back and ultimately finish in sixth. The No.55 Mazda RT24-P, driven by Jonathan Bomarito, Olivier Pla and Harry Tincknell, was retired in the fifth hour with a mechanical failure. A frustrated Jarvis said afterwards: “It was really ours to win and it’s pretty difficult to take that we didn’t.” But it couldn’t take the shine off what was a successful 2019 for Mazda Team Joest, which recorded three victories over the course of the season.

The breakthrough win came at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen in New York, when Bomarito, Pla and Tincknell led home Bernhard, Jarvis and Nunez in second. Jarvis and Nunez then stood on top of the podium at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, before Bomarito and Tincknell took the honours at the IMSA Road Race Showcase at Road America in Wisconsin. Former director of Mazda Motorsports John Doonan summed up a tremendous 2019 by saying: “I am immensely proud of every person on the staff and the work they put in to elevate this programme in 2019.”