March 1, 2013 (IRVINE, Calif.) Mazda is ramping up the 2013 professional racing season with their usual hectic month of March, starting with races on March 1st in Austin, Texas, before two busy weekends in Florida. For Mazda, racing is not just a single series, but the majority of all sports car and open wheel road-racing classes in North America. 2013 highlights on the professional level will include:

GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series (GRAND-AM)
The GRAND-AM Championship will be the first professional series other than Formula 1 to headline at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The SpeedSource Engineering team will have a pair of SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel powered Mazda6s competing in the new for 2013 GX class on Saturday, March 2nd.

GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC)
Supporting GRAND-AM in Austin will be the fiercely competitive ‘Conti’ series. At least a half dozen Mazdas from Freedom Autosport, i-Moto Racing, and CJ Wilson Racing will be challenging for the ST Class win in Austin.

American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS)
The final ALMS season will kick-off with the 61st Mobil-1 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 16th. Dyson Racing will be returning to the series with their Mazda MZR-R-powered Lola. This is the same car that scored the ALMS LMP1 class win at the 2012 Sebring race.

SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup (MX-5 Cup)
The seventh season of MX-5 Cup competition will begin at Sebring. Joining the MX-5 Cup Championship for the second year will be a MAZDASPEED Challenge class for racers from the Skip Barber Racing School.

Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires (Pro Mazda)
The Cooper Tires Pro Mazda Championship takes off where the Star Mazda Championship ended in 2012, as the linchpin in the Mazda Road to Indy (MRTI). The rotary-powered Pro Mazda racers will complete a double-header at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on March 1st/2nd before heading to the streets of St. Petersburg on March 23rd/24th.

Cooper Tires USF2000 National Championship Powered By Mazda (USF2000)
The USF2000 Championship kicks off their season at Sebring on March 14th/15th, before joining up with the other MRTI series in St. Petersburg.

Cooper Tires IMSA Prototype Lites Powered By Mazda (IMSA Lites)
The IMSA Lites Championship kicks off their season at Sebring on March 14th/15th with a double-header.