The 2017 Le Mans race was another nail-biting experience with an LMP2 racer almost taking the overall win, but not having Audi there – which has pulled out from endurance racing – still needs getting used to. With that, the name Team Joest also took a beating. After all, this is a team that has earned legendary status with 16 victories at Le Mans.

A few wins at the Rolex 24 too; plus ten wins at Sebring. Six at the Petit Le Mans. And others. You get the point.

So it is not surprising that Mazda Motorsports has shifted their attention to Team Joest in order to help the Japanese firm get back into the sharp end of endurance racing. The team will be called Mazda Team Joest and will run the Mazda RT24-P race car.

The new team’s immediate agenda is competing in the North American IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship under the Daytona Prototype international (Dpi) rules. The team will be making their race debut at the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

Mazda Team Joest will begin testing the Mazda RT24-P soon. It is powered by an Advanced Engine Research (AER)-made turbocharged, 4-cylinder 2.0-litre (MZ-2.0T) engine that makes approximately 600hp.

The RT24-P has already seen action in the 2017 IMSA season, run by Mazda Motorsports with SpeedSource Engineering; which by the way is a cooperation which has ended following this latest development.

Further refinement of the chassis will be done by Multimatic Motorsports from Ontario, Canada, in tandem with Joest during testing and simulation work. Driving duties at this stage is in the hands of the current four Mazda prototype drivers (Jonathan Bomarito, Tristan Nunez, Tom Long, and Joel Miller). However, the actual drivers for the 2018 season has yet to be determined.

In order to give full focus to the new team, Germany-based Team Joest will establish a North American HQ for the race team in the Atlanta area. On Mazda’s part, they will stop the current Mazda Prototype team in this season’s three remaining IMSA races.