Ahead of his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut during last month’s 24 Hours of Daytona, 17-year-old Connor Zilisch spoke to Motorsport Week about his new, exciting endeavour into endurance racing.
As one of the youngest competitors in the history of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the American teenager instantly became the second-youngest Daytona 24 winner in January, having achieved it with the Era Motorsport LMP2 team.
A strong start to his maiden campaign in the endurance racing discipline has made him one of the notable talents in the LMP2 category.
Before his triumphant debut, however, he discussed his thoughts at length including his expectations, impressions and – most significantly – his complete reaction after the Daytona 24 class victory.
The IMSA MX-5 Cup regular first drove with Era Motorsport during a private test at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in December, after the IMSA-sanctioned test.
“I’ve always wanted to run in the [WeatherTech SportsCar] Endurance Championship,” he said.
“You know, if I had an opportunity prior to this to go run [IMSA] Pilot Challenge or something in a GT4 car, I probably might have done that.
“But to be able to jump straight to the endurance championship is really exciting for me.
“I didn’t really expect to get the opportunity.
“It was kind of a last-minute deal… it was basically a shootout with me and three other silver drivers so you know to get the opportunity is really cool but you know it wasn’t really expected even though it’s where I wanted to go.
“It’s a big jump to go from MX-5 Cup to an LMP2 car!”
It will be just one of his many 2024 commitments, with the IMSA MX-5 Cup, Trans-Am, and his recent pursuit in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Truck Series with Trackhouse Racing.
He described the team atmosphere at Era Motorsport, as his teammates for Daytona were Ryan Dalziel, Dwight Merriman, and Christian Rasmussen – and he will contest the remaining four Endurance Cup races with Dalziel and Merriman.
“Era Motorsport has been very family-oriented. I feel like I’ve fit in really well, and got up to speed really fast with everyone.
“All my teammates are really helpful, which is big when you’re a new driver to the series and new driver to the car.
“It helps a lot being a new driver and having those kinds of teammates that are willing to help and help make you better.
“And then the team itself, it’s very positive and we all get along well.
“And that’s one thing that makes endurance racing and even just weekends at the track a lot easier is being around people you enjoy being around.”
The 24 Hours of Daytona was Zilisch’s first race in the Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 car, which has been widely renowned for its usage by customers across the global sportscar scene.
He expanded on why he chose LMP2: “For me, I feel like it’s just a good learning tool.
“I’ve never really driven anything with a lot of downforce.
“I race a bunch of NASCAR stuff as well, and obviously that doesn’t have anywhere near as much downforce or grip that an LMP2 car has.
“Just broadening my skillset and driving different cars is a big thing for me as I’m learning.
“I’m still really young and have a long career ahead of me… I feel like stepping into something that will make me uncomfortable is going to help me in the long run.
“That’s part of the mindset I’m taking into this season – learning as much as I can, trying to be a sponge and soak everything up.”
His motorsport career – since karting from age 5 – has all been about sprint racing, and so he drew comparison to the approach for long-distance racing, such as a 24-hour race.
“[In] sprint racing, you’re a lot less patient. You don’t have as much time to make moves.
“That’s one of the big things for me that I have to focus on, is not overstepping, not overdoing myself and just making sure that I keep the car clean and bring it back how I found it.”
The 2024 IMSA Endurance Cup calendar is comprised of five rounds within the overall 11-race schedule.
The second-longest race, namely the famed 12 Hours of Sebring, follows the Daytona 24 and the Endurance Cup continues with the Six Hours of the Glen, followed by another six-hour event with the Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, and concludes with the traditional Petit Le Mans season finale.
“I think Watkins Glen is one of my favourite tracks,” said Zilisch.
“I’ve had a lot of success there. I’ve been there last year in the NASCAR series and I’ve done well in the MX-5 Cup series there, done well in the TA2 [class] Trans-Am series there.
“It’s one of the places I have a lot of experience at and I’m not going to have a lot of learning to do.
“Obviously I have to learn the track in the [LMP2] car… I feel like Watkins Glen is going to be one of my more successful tracks, even though it’s going to be way different in an LMP2 car [with] all the high-speed corners there.
“And also Road Atlanta. I’ve won Trans Am races there [and] won both MX-5 Cup races there last year.”
Zilisch began his endurance racing chapter on a high note after winning on his debut, although the car in the hands of Merriman struggled to perform in qualifying – in 11th out of 13 LMP2s – and so after a difficult race start in which he spun into the Le Mans chicane, his teammates set about a comeback in the opening few hours of the race.
Most notably during an early morning stint with the teenager at the wheel, as well as during his final double stint before Rasmussen took the car to the finish, he found himself fighting with the team’s closest rivals for the lead.
At first, he duelled with #04 Crowdstrike Racing’s Malthe Jakobsen, a 20-year-old Dane who recently became a Peugeot Hypercar reserve driver.
Zilisch recalled his outgoing experience in the MX-5 Cup championship, an IMSA-run support series, in which he raced across the previous two days.
“We were racing side-by-side, banging doors on the straight.
“That made me feel like I was in a Miata again, so there’s definitely racing skills that I felt I used in the race. Driving-wise, it’s very different.
“… It did help to have that side-by-side experience in the MX-5, and that will help me everywhere I go.”
During the first half of the double-stint outing in the race, he first battled with Crowdstrike’s Toby Sowery, followed by Jakobsen in the second half – and it was a thrilling spectacle between the two race-winning contenders.
“It felt like something that was natural to me,” reflected Zilisch.
“I didn’t have to force anything. I did have to defend from Malthe because he had a stint fresher tyres that I did [because Jakobsen received a fresh set when he got in], so it made it easier on him and he was definitely faster than me.
“I just had to keep him behind me for the last few laps of my stint, and make it easier on my team, hand it over in the lead still [to Rasmussen].
The benefit of saving his tyre life in the first half of his final double stint enabled him to fight with Jakobsen, and made sense to push given his set was going to be changed when he pitted.
Ultimately, Era Motorsport earned their second LMP2 class victory at the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona, and Zilisch stood with his teammates on the podium, each receiving their engraved winners’ Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watches.
“It was surreal! I never really expected to have the chance to even race in that race growing up as a kid, let alone win it on my first try at 17-years-old.
“It made it really special to win it in your first attempt, and make headlines as one of the youngest to win the race…it didn’t even feel real after the race; It felt like a dream.
“That’s what we all strive for when we’re growing up and we all look to win those milestone races: The 24 Hours of Daytona, Le Mans.
“Looking to NASCAR [and] the Daytona 500. There’s a bunch of races that we all grow up wanting to win.
“To check one of those of that early in my career was really cool.”
Besides his humorous story of getting his watch fitted – as the jewellers stood in shock having not believed it was real beforehand – the experience of participating in the race would excite any teenager.
Nevertheless, Zilisch became the second-youngest Daytona 24 winner in history at 17 years and 191 days, with Michael De Quadasa holding the record since 2007 at 17 years and 63 days, and IndyCar star Pato O’Ward in third at 17 years and 239 days.
“Starting out [racing] for me when I was four or five, it was mostly just a hobby.
“I never really expected to make a career out of it, but I quickly built a passion for motorsports and what I was doing.
“The passion I have for it pushes me to be the best that I can, at whatever I do and whatever I race.
“Every car I get the chance to drive, I want to make the most out of it and make the most out of every opportunity!”
