MILLVILLE, NJ (July 7, 2026) – On the heels of his best finish of the season, Max Stallone – driving for Wheels America Racing in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin with support from PT Autosport – heads to another new racetrack this week: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Taking the checkered flag for the second of two Mazda MX-5 races at Mid-Ohio last month in fourth position, the 19-year-old Austin, Texas native looks to carry that momentum forward at a fast and flowing track he saw for the first time earlier this week: however, like most young drivers, Stallone initially learned CTMP’s layout via the simulator – though he recognizes that the sim has its limitations. “The sensation of speed isn’t there, which can hurt you more at a track like CTMP,” said Stallone. “I use virtual reality because it makes you feel a bit like you’re in the car, which is a bit more realistic, but the MX-5 on iRacing is still reasonably realistic. What does help for me is to run cars that are a few steps up, like a GT4 or GT3 car on the CTMP layout, or even an Indy car – that way, I can corner faster and get kind of used to carrying a lot of speed through those high commitment, high speed corners, and learn how to really throw the car into corners hard and trust that it will stick. Because in real life, everything feels faster, so a GT3 on the sim probably feels about the same speed as an MX-5 Cup car in real life.” With all the sim time behind him, Stallone and Wheels America Racing were ready to learn the track for real, racing at CTMP last weekend in the Enduro Elite doubleheader – a chance to