MILLVILLE, NJ (November 12, 2025) – Max Stallone took the lessons learned at the 2024 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout to capture the top prize in last week’s Mazda MX-5 Shootout after leading every single session in which he ran and heading the speed charts on both days.
With a third-place finish in last year’s PT Autosport shootout, Stallone went on to earn five top 10 finishes in six GR Cup races this year before learning that he was at the limit of pro race starts to qualify for the 2025 Mazda MX-5 Shootout. Sidelining himself for the GR Cup season finale, he earned a spot in the MX-5 Shootout and went on to earn the top prize – a $150,000 scholarship to contest the 2026 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin – in dominant fashion.
The 19-year-old Austin, Texas native has been racing a modified Spec Miata since 2023, running several Champ Car endurance races (with a win at VIR in 2024) as well as NASA and SCCA events. But the Spec Miata has little in common with the MX-5 Cup car, which has more power, ABS, and traction control – “it probably has more in common with a GR Cup car than a Spec Miata,” said Stallone. The first time Stallone drove the MX-5 Cup car was day one of the Shootout. Nervous? Yes – and no.
“The PT Autosport shootout really helped me handle the pressure,” said Stallone. “A few people mentioned that to me, which I hadn’t even realized, that I wasn’t really bothered by everything that was happening. The stressful experience in the PT Autosport shootout, and then how competitive GR Cup is – I jumped right into that environment in the middle of the season, when everybody was already firing on all cylinders. I’m not saying that the MX-5 Shootout wasn’t pressure packed, but I’d been there before, so I managed it well.”
Just a few laps into his first stint at the MX-5 Shootout, Stallone was up to speed, finding that the car suited his driving style. Even so, he was not prepared to discover that he had set the quickest time.
“I was shocked,” said Stallone. “I thought there was no way on earth I’d be the quickest in my first session. I’d never driven the car and you’d expect that I would start a little slow and catch up to them, but it was the opposite: I started out fastest and the other drivers closed the gap to me throughout the three sessions but didn’t go quicker. Totally not how I expected it to go.”
As day two progressed and he continued to lead, Stallone was careful not to let his thoughts get out ahead of himself.
“I knew I’d been the fastest, but I knew I wasn’t that much better than the other drivers so if I didn’t stay in it, my name would tumble down the order, so I had to keep my mindset right. And from the PT Autosport shootout, I knew that speed alone wasn’t going to win me the scholarship.
“And that was where the PT Autosport experience helped hugely, because I was able to give a good concrete example of other opportunities I’ve created for myself. Mazda also wanted to see how we presented ourselves, our ability to interact and talk with them, to be a good representative of the brand.”
The only moment of fear Stallone experienced came during the afternoon of day two. Three drivers headed out for the final session, but the driver list did not include Stallone – who had no idea if he’d blown it.
“I knew it was close,” said Stallone. “I knew how talented everybody else was and I knew how there was more to the final decision than just lap time. So I admit, I was a little confused, not sure where I put a foot wrong to have not been selected for that final session.
I think that in the end, they appreciated that I didn’t flip out, that I just handled it well.”
And when series announcer/Shootout host Shea Adam called his name?
“So many emotions. I was just standing in the back because I wasn’t sure where I stood. When Shea called Ethan Lampe in second, that’s kind of when it hit me and my brain started to shift and it kind of pulled me out of the fog that I was in. It was a surreal feeling; I don’t think I’ve fully processed it yet. I don’t think I even got that excited, because I was struggling to wrap my head around all of it, so I just hugged my dad.
“I am so very thankful, just a ton of gratitude – to Mazda and MX-5 for this incredible opportunity, and to PT Autosport for helping to put me into this position. I’m looking forward to next season, to running in this insanely competitive series. I can’t wait for Daytona in January!”
For PT Autosport management, including team principal Jason Myers, Stallone’s win came as no surprise – though Myers did acknowledge the way fate had stepped in to align Stallone’s 2025 racing campaign.
“We couldn’t be more proud of Max,” said Myers. “We were extremely impressed with him at our Shootout last year, making the decision not to put him on the top step mainly because we wanted to see what he would do this coming year, hoping he would be ready to battle for the Shootout win in 2025. As fate would have it, that didn’t happen and he ran those six GR Cup races with us this year when we needed to fill that seat. As we watched him on track, we wondered if we’d erred in not declaring him the winner of our Shootout last year but if we had, he wouldn’t have been eligible for the Mazda Shootout, so everything happened the way it was supposed to – sometimes the universe has a plan! We know he will succeed, given his work ethic, which we really respect. We look forward to continuing our support of Max as he enters the IMSA Whelen MX-5 Cup for the 2026 season.”