Earlier, it was reported that Mazda has been developing a diesel engine for the North American market and now, according to reports, the same diesel engine would play the key role in Grand-Am creating a new class for the 2013 series. Mazda has made clear that the company will provide the new Skyactiv-D for the 2013 season. These race engines will be using a stock 2.2-liter turbo-diesel, which we saw in its production version. However, Mazda assures the Skyactiv-D is lighter than the current 2.2-liter MZR-CD diesel and also provides up to 20 percent better fuel economy.

“It was serendipitous. We were looking for a way to showcase forward-looking technologies in a well-integrated way, and when Mazda inquired about entering its diesel, we realized we had enough interest to do this,” said Dave Spitzer —managing director of Series Development at Grand-Am. Rules for the GX class are not yet finalized and are likely to allow for the exploration of clean diesels, alternative fuels, and even hybrid powertrains.

The production version of the GX class is expected to be launched at the 2013 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Grand AM GX class is just for advanced and clean drivetrain technologies. The new stock-block engines are being developed by Mazda Motor Corporation, Mazda North American Operations and SpeedSource Engineering, where the latter will be assembling the engines with technical assistance from Mazda in Japan and North America. It seems Mazda, instead of fielding any of the teams, will act as a supplier for interested teams providing a home for the turbo-diesel till the 2012 Grand-Am racing season concludes.

via Car and Driver