Mazda's SKYACTIV Technology helped its all-new Clean Diesel-powered sports racing prototype go wheel-to-wheel with some of the world's fastest sports cars at Daytona International Speedway, as they tackled the grueling demands of this past weekend's 52nd Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The two Mazda SKYACTIV prototypes started the 2014 running of the endurance classic at 2:10 pm local time on Saturday afternoon. Collectively, over the course of the race, they covered 2,826 miles. The #07 car came within an hour of the finish before an oil-pump belt failure caused a loss of oil pressure. The #70 car covered over 1,300 miles before it was retired due to overheating caused by a clogged radiator.

The car is within 10 percent of the leaders on pace and has a 35-percent advantage in range due to the efficiency of the SKYACTIV-D engine. The car also has a high “clean factor,” using a renewable synthetic diesel fuel supplied by Dynamic Fuels. Mazda Motorsports engineers will now address the radiator and belt issues that sidelined their cars this weekend, and turn their attention to dialing in even more speed as the season progresses.

“Racing is difficult, and few races match the grueling pace of the Rolex 24,” said John Doonan, Director, Mazda Motorsports. “Given the limited time we've had to develop the new Mazda SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel prototype, we are very satisfied with the progress our team has achieved. That said, this is a multi-year development program and we won't be happy until we start winning.” Doonan added, “The job of motorsports is to push the limits of technology. Every mile completed makes us stronger and smarter. Between our two cars, we completed the equivalent of over a dozen sprint races in the past 24 hours.”