Freedom Autosport’s ModSpace Mazda MX-5 Third at Road Atlanta - Speedway Digest

Friday’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season finale at Road Atlanta was anything but predictable for Freedom Autosport. An unexpected finish left two of the team’s Mazda MX-5s out of the running, while propelling the No. 25 ModSpace/Spartan Cargo Trailers Mazda MX-5 to a third-place finish.

This is the third podium of the year for Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer, who had two wins this year and closed the season fifth in the ST class championship with the No. 25 ModSpace Mazda.

Freedom Autosport Mazdas were rarely outside the top-three throughout the two-hour race. McCumbee moved into third early in the race, a spot later held by Britt Casey, Jr. in the No. 27 TRUMPF, Inc. Mazda MX-5. Casey’s co-driver Tom Long later took the lead. The No. 26 Semper Fi Fund Mazda MX-5 of Liam Dwyer and Andrew Carbonell also ran in the top-three during the race.

Disaster struck during the final caution. As the field prepared to take the green flag for a sprint to the finish, a competitor at the front of the line of ST cars braked hard, causing a chain reaction of impacts behind. Both the No. 26 and 27 Mazdas were caught up in it, ending the race for both with only two laps remaining. The shake-up allowed the No. 25 Mazda to move into third.

Fans can watch Freedom Autosport’s final podium finish of the 2017 season when FS1 airs the broadcast at 7:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, October 15.

Freedom Autosport Quotes
Chad McCumbee:
We had a car that was probably capable of battling for the lead all race long. In terms of long runs, I think we had the best car today. We developed a stumble in the engine about 30 minutes in, and ultimately that was our demise on battling for the win. I’m frustrated because I think we had a car capable of winning, but I’ll take a solid result to finish the year for ModSapce and Freedom Autosport.

Stevan McAleer:
The car has been good all season in terms of pace, but reliability has hurt us. We had a good car, just like we did last year, and we ended up in a similar situation where the car developed a misfire on a restart. Halfway through, the car started coming back in and we were hunting the lead group down before the final caution.

Britt Casey, Jr.:
We made huge improvements to our TRUMPF Mazda on the test day. The adjustments got smaller and smaller, and Tom and I had to get pickier and pickier with what we wanted to change! What happened at the end of the race was unfortunate, but the car was awesome.

Tom Long:
This was not the result we wanted to end the year for Freedom Autosport. The team did such an incredible job with our Mazda. We had a good car and were running strong. We were trying to do our best for TRUMPF, Mazda and Freedom Autosport, and we came up short. I don’t think everyone played very fair, and that was a big piece to the end of the race.

Andrew Carbonell:
Freedom Autosport has done such an incredible job of giving us the best cars we’ve ever had. Over the course of ten years, we’ve never been able to produce the lap times we have this year. Even so, it’s been an uphill battle. We can’t thank the team enough for staying motivated and not giving up. It’s a big testament to the team for staying strong mentally through the whole season.

Liam Dwyer:
We rolled off the trailer not very good for the test day, and the guys did a ton of work, so the car was tremendously better the next morning. The car just really came alive. The qualifying time was not indicative of how fast the car was for the race. I’m honored and blessed to be a part of Freedom Autosport and to have Andrew as a teammate and friend.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.