Funny, wasn't the R26B essentially banned the next year? Isn't that what deterred Mazda from re-entering?
a winner is you.
Otago, I suggest go look into the development of the Mazda Le Mans prototypes. It's actually quite interesting.
It wasn't a win 'by default'. They had a fast car, fast drivers, and for the first time, a RELIABLE car.
Those quad-rotors were known for launching anything and everything attached to said engine, into the surrounding bush.
When they fixed (mostly) that problem, it won.
Think: would they have banned it because it was a VERY SLOW car that won by default, considering the entry lists for the years prior and post it's victory?
NO.