Foley Completes Freedom Autosport Lineup for Daytona

Mazda Global MX-5 Cup driver Robby Foley will join Britt Casey, Jr. in the No. 27 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 for Friday’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season opener at Daytona.

Foley’s addition rounds out the full Daytona lineup for Freedom, which includes the No. 25 ModSpace Mazda of Stevan McAleer and Chad McCumbee and the No. 26 Semper Fi Fund Mazda of Andrew Carbonell and Liam Dwyer.

Daytona will be Foley’s debut in the Continental Tire Challenge, but he is already an accomplished Mazda racer. The 20-year-old was a Mazda Scholarship driver in 2016, and his season in the Mazda Global MX-5 Cup Series included three wins.

Foley was also a race winner at the inaugural Mazda Global MX-5 Cup Invitational at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

“I’m leaning on the people around me,” Foley said of learning both the series and Daytona.

“I’m good friends with all of the Freedom drivers already, so I’m asking a lot of questions and trying to take in as much as possible. Mazda does a good job of preparing drivers like me for these kinds of opportunities.”

Casey added: “Robby’s racing background is on the Mazda Ladder, and he has quite the resume when it comes to MX-5 racing, so it’s great to have him as a part of Freedom.

“He’s where I was a couple years ago, being new to the team and series, so I’m looking forward to helping him get adjusted.”

Foley hails from Randolph, N.J., and he is currently studying mechanical engineering at Auburn University in Alabama.

He was a football and baseball player in high school, but a severe leg injury in 2010 that included torn muscles, broken bones and nerve damage turned his goals back to his childhood passion: motorsports.

Now, Foley races with the help of an Ossur brace that helps stabilize his ankle.