MX-5 America: Double top-15 for Sally Mott, Charlotte Traynor makes progress at Road Atlanta
- LIAM REDFORD
- 7 hours ago
- 8 min read
Sally Mott wrapped up a superb season in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup as she twice finished inside the top-12 at Road Atlanta. The JTR Motorsports Engineering driver claimed both female driver awards in the season finale as she consistently raced in the leading group of cars.
Sally Mott wrapped up a superb season in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup as she twice finished inside the top-15 at Road Atlanta. The JTR Motorsports Engineering driver claimed both female driver awards in the season finale as she consistently raced in the leading group of cars. After finishing race one in 12th position, Mott rounded out her season with another 12th place finish and therefore ended the season in 12th place in the overall standings.
Charlotte Traynor returned to the competitive one-make series and made significant progress across the event despite missing both free practice sessions. Driving for Parker DeLong Racing, Traynor built up her confidence at Road Atlanta and completed the weekend with an 18th place result in race two as she displayed her racecraft on a last lap restart to secure her second top-20 finish of the season.
After a thrilling season of close-fought racing, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup arrived at Road Atlanta for the season finale. Sally Mott entered the event as the highest-placed female driver sitting 13th in the overall championship standings and the JTR Motorsports Engineering driver added to her tally of female driver prizes last time out at Virginia International Raceway. Mott came within one position of matching her season’s best finish in the first race, before an unfortunate series of incidents led to a retirement in race two.
In just her second meeting in the championship, Charlotte Traynor took significant strides forward in the previous event. Traynor raced superbly across the weekend to secure her first bonus prize in race two at Virginia International Raceway and now the rookie driver was targeting further success as she returned to the championship for the season finale.
On-track action at Road Atlanta began on Wednesday as the drivers participated in a pair of free practice sessions. Due to health issues, Traynor was unable to turn any laps and the Parker DeLong Racing driver was targeting a comeback for the remainder of the event.
Mott gained valuable mileage across the two sessions, with the first session made more challenging by the circuit remaining damp away from the racing line. The JTR Motorsports Engineering driver ended free practice one in 20th position overall, just over a second away from the quickest time. In the second session, Mott improved by three tenths of a second and as a result, her fastest lap of a 1:37.538 placed her in 18th position.
Qualifying was held on Thursday morning and Traynor joined Mott on track for a short fifteen-minute session. As session got underway, the car of Matt Novak came to a halt at turn one and therefore qualifying was red flagged before any representative times were set.
Following a short neutralisation period, the session resumed and the drivers worked hard to search for the all-important slipstream. Just a handful of laps were completed before a series of incidents resulted in a second red flag period with Jared Thomas stopped out on the circuit. Although the session resumed for a little under two minutes, this was insufficient time for any drivers to complete any further flying laps. Therefore, the qualifying results were broadly unrepresentative with Mott setting the 17th fastest lap while Traynor qualified her Parker DeLong Racing machine in 23rd.
Due to a number of post-qualifying penalties following a busy incident-filled session, the grid positions for race one were revised further. As a result, Mott was promoted to 13th position while Traynor lined up from the tenth row of the grid in 19th spot.
As the lights went out for the first forty-five-minute race on Thursday afternoon, both Mott and Traynor did a nice job to negotiate a busy opening lap without incident. Mott held her 13th position while Traynor lost two positions to complete lap one in 21st. The race was then neutralised at the end of lap two following an incident involving Damon Ockey and Rocco Pasquarella. With the AAG Racing machine of Pasquarella requiring recovery, it was a lengthy period behind the safety car with Traynor benefiting from the incident as she regained a spot inside the top-20.
The race resumed on lap seven with Mott shuffled back to 16th position, however the top-16 drivers began breaking away with Sally poised to move forward should an opportunity arise. It was also a challenging restart for Traynor who was overtaken by recovering drivers Jared Thomas and Westin Workman on lap eight, before she fell to 25th position at the end of lap nine.
Traynor then had a small off-track moment at turn three and this dropped her to 29th position. The Parker DeLong Racing driver was now looking for a full course yellow period in order to regain touch with the group ahead. Nonetheless, with her limited mileage prior to Thursday’s action, Traynor could now gain confidence in the car while improving her lap times. She did just that on lap 11 as she overtook Ethan Goulart, while setting a new personal best time which rivalled those directly ahead.
As the battles inside the top-15 continued, Mott challenged Grant West and the duo swapped positions before West pulled clear on lap 12. Mott was now working hard to remain with the leading group and after Thomas and Workman caught Sally, she was able to latch onto the recovering pair. This enabled her to set fast lap times and remain in contention for a strong finish as the race passed the halfway point.
On lap 18, contact at the head of the field saw Marcello Paniccia spin and with West picking up damage in a separate incident, Mott was now into 16th position. Traynor also benefited from misfortune ahead and with Vaughn Mishko spinning at turn one, Charlotte was up to 26th with Mishko rejoining just behind. Parker DeLong then pitted with damage to the front of his car and following his retirement, Mott was inside the top-15 with Traynor up to 25th.
As she continued to gain confidence in the car, Traynor’s lap times were improving and on lap 22 she set a personal best time. This was crucial in her battle with Mishko who was closing in on Traynor as a battle for position began to emerge. On lap 24, Mott fell behind Helio Meza, however Sally than ran her fastest lap as she looked to finish the race on a high.
On the final lap of the race, contact between Nathan Nicholson and Tyler Gonzalez saw Gonzalez spun at high-speed with his BSI Racing machine hitting the barriers. This enabled Mott to take the chequered flag in 15th position, however with Nicholson and Workman assessed post-race penalties, Sally moved up into 12th in the final classification. Although Mishko overtook Traynor on the final lap, she also benefited from penalties awarded to those ahead of her and therefore the Parker DeLong Racing driver finished race one in 23rd position.
The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup season finale was held on Friday morning with the grid positions based upon the fastest laps set in race one following the disrupted qualifying session. This meant that Mott lined up from 20th position, while Traynor started from 27th on the grid. The race initially began behind the safety car with an extra formation lap added due to the cold track temperatures at Road Atlanta.
Mott made a great start as the green flag was displayed as she gained two positions on lap one to move into 18th. Traynor was still finding her feet in the early stages and although she fell to 30th position, her car was clean and she was focussing forward on gaining back positions. On lap three, both Gresham Wagner and Bobby Gossett spun through the esses and this promoted Mott into 16th and Traynor moved up to 28th.
Due to some of the cars checking up to avoid the incident, this enabled the leading group of 16 drivers to break away from the rest of the field. Starting his recovery drive, Gossett overtook Traynor on lap four, however Charlotte settled in behind and soon ran her fastest lap of the entire event.
On lap seven, Matt Novak spun out of the leading group which elevated Mott to 15th as she again showed excellent speed while contending for a strong finish. At turn seven, contact between Alex Bachoura and Zach Hollingshead resulted in both cars slowing off the corner with Traynor doing a nice job to pass both delayed machines and claim 27th position.
The racing at the head of the field remained intense and after a slight misjudgement of line from Westin Workman coming down the esses, this triggered a chain reaction of events. Workman’s car hit the inside wall and after the car suffered steering damage, it came back across the track into the path of Nate Cicero. As Cicero slowed, Mott made contact with the rear of his machine and as a result, her JTR Motorsports Engineering car had picked up damage.
Due to the cars of Workman and Cicero requiring recovery, the race entered a full course yellow period with Mott now up to 13th position as she remained on the circuit, while Traynor was into 25th. Behind the safety car, race leader Nathan Nicholson suffered a technical issue and with his car coming to a halt out of turn one, both Mott and Traynor gained a further position.
When the race restarted, both female drivers were on the move as Mott ended lap 14 in 11th position, while Traynor was now into 22nd following a spin for Vaughn Mishko and a technical issue for debutant Will Robinson. The leading 12 drivers then began to break away from the field and this was good for Mott who was continuing to race at the head of the field despite the earlier damage.
After Traynor was overtaken by a recovering Bachoura, she then became embroiled in a fantastic battle with Damon Ockey. On lap 19, a crash for Julian Da Costa and a separate issue for Ethan Jacobs resulted in the race entering another full course yellow period. Mott did well to pick her way through this incident as she now occupied a position inside the top-10 in tenth. Traynor was in 21st position and still had a chance to move forward as the race entered its final stages.
Following good work from the marshals, the season finale ended with a one-lap shootout and the positions throughout the field were closely contested. Now in a close pack of drivers, it was difficult for Mott to reach her potential with the damage to her car and she was shuffled back to take the chequered flag in 13th position, before later being promoted to 12th. Traynor displayed superb racecraft as she crossed the line in 18th position, setting a huge personal best time on the final tour.
It was a successful final round of the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup for both Mott and Traynor who achieved good finishes at a demanding circuit. Mott claimed both female driver awards and confirmed her place as the highest-finishing female driver as she ended the championship in 12th position.
Although the regular season has now come to a close, a non-championship race will be held at Martinsville Speedway on Thursday 23rd October as a final showpiece for the competitive one-make series.