This adorable Mazda Demio racecar is here to say diesel's not dead

Thought diesel was dead? Or at the very least, dreadfully wounded with no one rushing to its aid? Well Mazda appears to be bounding over clutching a bandage. A bandage shaped like a titchy My First Racecar.

You’re looking at a Mazda Demio 1.5-litre Skyactiv-D – ‘a diesel Mazda 2’ in plain English – which has just completed a 94-lap race in Japan. And you though diesel racecars lived in the history books of Le Mans’ top tier.

It competed in the ST-Q class – “a non-championship category introduced for the purpose of showcasing experimental vehicles and new technology” – which yes, tells us it wasn’t ordinary diesel being pumped in via a greasy Esso pump.

The ickle Demio was powered with biodiesel, and a next-gen version of it no less. Mazda informs us it’s “made from sustainable raw materials such as microalgae fats and used cooking oil,” which don’t step on the toes of human food supply, an apparent issue with existing biodiesel fuels.

“As these fuels can also be used as alternatives to diesel fuel in existing vehicles and equipment without any modification, no additional fuel supply infrastructure is required," says Mazda. "Therefore, biodiesel fuels can be expected to play a prominent role as an excellent liquid fuel source in promoting carbon neutrality.”

In short, then, Mazda (though not Mazda alone) is strapping diesel to life support and confirming it has a place in cleaner cars of the future. If the first step is a road-legal diesel Demio hot hatch on adorably dinky alloys, we might just be able to get on board willingly, too…