🇺🇸 Maximilian Opalski

Maximilian Opalski is a semi-professional driver, FIA Silver graded, competing in solo, single-driver racing across multiclass American club and regional championships. His main car has been the Mazda MX-5 Miata in Spec Miata trim, and he has also raced a Ford Mustang Dark Horse R in the DH class of Mustang Challenge for his own team, Max Opalski Racing. He currently drives for Automatic Racing in the Zenith Racing Series.[1]

His longest-running program has been NASA's Spec Miata class from 2021 to 2025, where he took seven wins and nineteen podiums across 34 starts. He also spent two seasons in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin for Copeland Motorsports, and raced SCCA Majors across the EP, SM and STL classes, picking up two wins and two podiums there. His record includes an earlier stint in SKUSA karting and a pair of SCCA Regional starts in the SM class. He is currently in his first season of the Zenith Racing Series with Automatic Racing, sitting eleventh in the standings with a podium from the five rounds run so far.[2]

The drivers he meets most often give a sense of where he sits: Jeremy Fletcher, a semi-professional who won the 2025 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin ND2 title, is a closely matched regular opponent, while Sam Paley, also FIA Silver graded with experience across MX-5 Cup, Mustang Challenge and US F4, is someone he usually finishes behind. Against much stronger opposition, he has one finish ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, a Formula 1 driver and Platinum-graded, and one ahead of Noel Leon, an established professional and 2023 Euroformula Open champion. His main team has also fielded Paul Aron, an established professional, among its other drivers.