Mazda Motorsports announced on Friday in Detroit that it will be supplying racing versions of its Skyactiv-D clean diesel engines to teams that will be competing in the Grand-Am Racing Series' new GX class for advanced/clean technologies. The new class of racing in the Grand-Am Series, which was announced earlier this week, will begin in 2013 at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
The company said in a release that the engines are being developed jointly by Mazda Motor Corporation, Mazda North American Operations and SpeedSource Engineering. Dyno testing has already begun and on-track testing is scheduled for late 2012.
The car model that will use the engine will be announced after the 2012 Grand-Am season, which concludes with the race Sept. 29 at Lime Rock.
"This opens a new chapter in racing for us," said Jay Amestoy, vice president of Mazda Motorsports, Mazda North American Operations (MNAO). "We've won with rotary technology, and now we're looking to again put our customers in the winner's circle with what we believe will be the most advanced and cleanest production-based powerplant the sport has ever seen."
The engines will be stock-block Mazda Skyactiv-D 2.2-liter diesel four-cylinder, dual-stage turbocharged powerplants.
John Doonan, MNAO's director of Mazda Motorsports said that those new engines are expected to "deliver outstanding performance and fuel economy coupled with the kind of quality, durability and reliability needed to produce great street cars and win endurance races."
Mazda has competed in Grand-Am's GT class since 2007.
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