Slide Rule: The Mazda CX-60 at Rally Hokkaido

The award-winning Mazda CX-60 SUV recently claimed its first motorsport trophy during a round of the 2025 All Japan Rally Championship.  

Plenty has been said about the role motor racing plays in new-car development. Mazda’s long competition history proves it’s true. The company’s most famous product hallmark, the rotary engine, is a perfect example.

In 1968, when Mazda was determined to show the world its rotary engine’s effectiveness, it needed an international stage. It chose Germany’s fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife and the brutal Marathon de la Route – an 84-hour endurance race – to make its point.

Mazda echoed that in 1991 when it became the first Japanese car manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans after it soared to victory in the 787B. It remains the first and only time a rotary-powered car has won the French endurance classic; its engine was so effective, the FIA, motorsport’s international governing body, enacted rules to favour 3.5-litre piston engines from the following year.

Closer to the showroom, the famous RX-7 sports car spent years shining on circuits from Belgium to Bathurst. In Australia, the rotary-powered RX-7 upset the Holden-Ford battle in 1983 when it powered Allan Moffat to the Australian Touring Car Championship. At Mount Panorama, the RX-7 dominated the annual 12-Hour endurance races with three consecutive wins (1992-1994) before adding a fourth in 1995 at the Eastern Creek 12-Hour.

Away from the tarmac, Mazda has also shown its motorsport mettle on the dirt, with the RX-7 and all-wheel drive 323 power sliding on special stages from the Acropolis to Australia.

In a joint project between motorsports specialists TCP MAGIC, TOYO TYRES and Mazda, the MAGIC TY MAZDA CX-60 was entered in the race’s XC2 Class, a category intended primarily for ‘cross-country’ (XC) SUVs and pick-ups. Modifications to this rally-spec CX-60 were minimal and confined to essential safety equipment along with minor changes to the suspension damping and powertrain cooling for its Skyactiv-D 3.3-litre turbo-diesel engine.

Mazda’s top-gun in-house development driver and experienced racer Kazuhiro Terakawa piloted the CX-60 and was joined by co-driver Miyoko Ishikawa, an engineer from Mazda’s 2nd Drivetrain Development Group.

The MAGIC TY MAZDA CX-60 in the XCR Sprint Cup was a valuable opportunity to showcase the CX-60's performance potential in a challenging environment it hadn’t previously tackled.

“The car is incredibly powerful,” Terakawa said. “Being FR-based, the handling is comfortable.”

It also proved to be fast. The MAGIC TY MAZDA CX-60 achieved five first-place finishes and six second-place finishes on the rally’s 12 special stages, which comprised a total competitive distance of 102 kilometres over the two days.

The race for victory was a tight battle, right until the end.

“I could feel Terakawa closing in, so I was pushing hard too,” said XCR Sprint Cup winner Akira Banba, who claimed his fourth consecutive victory at this rally, but only after battling hard to keep his highly developed HiLux ahead of the new Mazda CX-60, which almost secured victory in only its first competitive outing.

The final result saw the MAGIC TY MAZDA CX-60 claim second place in-class, one of 12 race finishers and just 36 seconds behind the winner after two days of fierce competition.

“I believe there are ways to make this car even faster,” Terakawa said of the CX-60, hinting at its reserves of potential

Rally Hokkaido demonstrated that the CX-60’s available performance and exceptional off-road capabilities aren’t confined to its brochure. With up to 187 kW of power and a peak torque of 550 Nm from just 1,500 rpm, the Skyactiv-D powered CX-60 is more than a comfortable five-seat SUV. Its 3.3-litre turbocharged six-cylinder diesel engine achieves its easy performance in conjunction with Mazda’s M Hybrid Boost 48V mild hybrid technology and delivers it via Mazda’s i-Activ all-wheel drive (AWD) system, which showed its effectiveness in the forests of Hokkaido last month.

In Australia, the Mazda CX-60 is available with four powertrain options and five model grades.