Inside MX-5 Cup: Tyler Gonzalez seeks consistency and a bit of luck

Tyler Gonzalez has been at this long enough to know that it’s too early to start thinking about a championship. But it’s hard not to notice that the only two drivers to win a Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup race so far this season, after two double-header rounds, are two-time champion Jared Thomas… and Gonzalez.

Gonzalez took the first victory of the season at Daytona International Speedway and the fourth race of the year on the streets of St. Petersburg with a late-race pass for the lead. In between, he was caught up in the big wreck in Race 2 at Daytona and struggled in the first contest at St. Pete.

While Thomas has so far escaped any bad luck, Gonzales has endured a double-dose. But Gonzalez recognizes that he’s not the only one to have had some misfortune so far this season.

“Everybody, but a couple of people, have already had a bad weekend, so I know it’s not unachievable,” explains Gonzalez of his championship hopes, before going on to describe the positives that might lead him to the goal.

“BSI has given me a good car. It’s been really refreshing to start this year off with them. They’ve got everything together pretty well, and the car’s obviously been fast. Daytona went well, other than that big wreck for everybody, which was unfortunate. And St. Pete, honestly, we struggled a little bit with speed … I think something was up with the car after that wreck. But I know we’ll get it figured out for Barber.”

Gonzalez, who got his start racing cars with Spec Miata in 2019, is in his first full season of MX-5 Cup, after partial seasons in 2022 and ’23. He won the Toyota GR Cup in 2023, and since he made the switch from karts, the 20-year-old has raced, well, just about anything he can get his hands on: SRO TC America, GT4 America, and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, with a few other things thrown in, and posted victories in many of those series.

In 2025, he’s looking at full seasons of Michelin Pilot Challenge in the TCR category, GT4 America and MX-5 Cup. With Michelin Pilot Challenge and MX-5 Cup, both IMSA-sanctioned series, often competing on the same weekends, it makes for a very busy couple of days. But he’s honed the ability to easily switch between the rear-wheel-drive MX-5 with limited power and no downforce to the more powerful, more aero-assisted, front-wheel-drive TCR car.

“It’s nothing new to me, that’s for sure,” he says. “I’ve been running TCR for a while as well, and it’s always been Mazda and TCR on the same weekend. So, I’m pretty comfortable with it. I guess I’ve developed a skill to just flip in between the two modes. So, yeah, it’s not too bad.”

In GT4 America, his co-driver is someone whose racing style he should know well, having raced against him in MX-5 Cup: two-time champion Gresham Wagner in the RAFA Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2. Knowing how Wagner has honed his skills in MX-5 Cup, he says there’s no one else he’d like to have in the car with him.

Gonzalez says MX-5 Cup is one of the best places for a young driver to learn, thanks to the momentum nature of the car, and the racecraft required to do well.

“There’s truly no tougher racing out there, and I just really enjoy it. At the same time, it’s almost like relaxing, like I’m doing double duty with TCR most of those weekends. And it’s fun just to get in that car. Feels like home – just hop in it, run a good, hard race, and hopefully come out on top,” he says after saying the excitement of MX-5 Cup racing is what keeps him coming back.

At the same time, he notes that the close racing makes putting together a season-long championship a real challenge. As demonstrated by the accident at Daytona, things can happen that are out of a racer’s control.

“Honestly, consistency and luck,” he says of what it will take to win the championship. “You could do everything right in a race, and you just get dropped from the draft, or a mistake by another driver just takes you out of it. So, you’ve just got to stay up front, do everything in your power to qualify well, put yourself in the position you need to be in, and just not wreck. That’s pretty much it.”

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 double-header action continues with rounds 5 & 6 at Barber Motorsports Park, Ala., on Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4. Plus, find all the latest series news at mx-5cup.com.