Reigning 24 Hours of Daytona winner Connor Zilisch reminisced with Motorsport Week about his adventurous past year of motorsport and upcoming IMSA GTD Pro debut.
The American teenager has put himself as one of the most capable young drivers in motorsport after winning the Daytona 24H and the 12 Hours of Sebring on his first attempts last year in the competitive LMP2 category.
After gaining the world’s attention as the second-youngest Daytona winner on-debut ever, he also became the second-youngest NASCAR Xfinity Series winner on his debut at Watkins Glen soon after he turned 18.
Zilisch stood on 23 podiums across eight different series in 2024 including on the top step at least once in each discipline across stock car, sportscar and MX-5 Cup machinery.
He joined Trackhouse Racing last year as a driver and Red Bull in their roster of athletes.
Trackhouse struck a deal with TF Sport for an entry in the upcoming Daytona 24H featuring a highly stacked driver line-up amongst 60 other entries.
“That was really unique and different and I think that’s what I enjoyed about it,” he reflected on his fruitful 2024 racing season.
“It’s just how every week when I went to the track, it was a new experience and all of those experiences make you a better race car driver.
“So the more different situations I can put myself in, the better.
“… It’s just getting to learn so much throughout the year and work with so many different teams and so many different drivers.
“It wasn’t easy at times and there were times that I had to dig deep and put my head down and really focus to make things work, but you know that’s really what I enjoyed about it… It showed throughout the season just how much growth I had… “
Connor Zilisch’s toughest weekend of them all
Performing a balancing act in different series is no easy feat for any racing driver, let alone an upcoming talent such as Zilisch.
In doing so, however, he acclimatised to various situations and built an impressive resume of experience from 2024 alone.
“The toughest weekend for me was running the NASCAR [UNOH 200] race at Bristol on Thursday [19th September 2024], and then I flew straight from there to Indianapolis for the LMP2 race.
“And I was really worn out when it came to practice day. I didn’t even want to practice, I was so tired.
“But you know, just to go out there and be with my team and show support to all the teams that I raised for and ‘give them my all’ was the coolest part about it.
“And it was rewarding to get on the podium that weekend in Indianapolis… that was really cool.”
After securing 19th in the Truck Series race, the IMSA Battle on the Bricks race meeting ensued – a six-hour endurance race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course including all four of the IMSA SportsCar Championship classes.
A sudden downpour characterised the first half of the race, initially bringing chaos before standing water began to form on the start-finish and pit road, triggering a caution to improve the driving conditions.
Zilisch and his #18 Era Motorsport team-mates Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman finished third after 215 laps completed. Even at the following Petit Le Mans season finale, the #18 car repeated a third-placed finish at the end of the 10-hour race.
Preparation for driving a GT3 car at Daytona
A drive in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports means that Zilisch will not compete in a full IMSA season so he has taken the opportunity to at least enter the 63rd running of the Daytona 24 Hours.
He will get behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R which made its world racing debut at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in last year’s event and is a contrast to the Oreca 07 LMP2 prototype racer.
Zilisch continued his learning process since driving the DXDT Corvette at last November’s IMSA-sanctioned test.
“I’ve had some sim experience with Chevrolet, on iRacing, and then just talking to people who have kind of raced a GT3 car before and getting their feedback on how different it is from the LMP2 car.
“Obviously it has traction control, it’s got less downforce, less power.
“…It’s gonna be different being in a GT car and having to let everybody – by instead of being a prototype and passing the GT cars – but I’ll figure it out quickly.
“It’s going to be a bit of a difference for me but I’m excited to take on the challenge and just get to experience the differences.
“I’ve got a really great team around me that I feel is going to be able to help me a lot, especially my team-mates.
“So much experience between those three guys that I’m racing with. I think that’s going to be a big help coming into the race weekend.”
An accomplished driver crew in the #91 Corvette
The #91 Corvette line-up is comprised of hard-earned accolades and a wealth of valuable experience which can provoke Trackhouse Racing by TF Sport’s winning chances against 14 other GTD Pro class entries.
Fellow Trackhouse Racing NASCAR driver and triple Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) will join his former team-mate and triple Supercars champion – and Penske IndyCar driver – Scott McLaughlin with two-time WEC GTE-Am Le Mans winner Ben Keating completing the crew.
“I’ve been around SVG quite a bit to see his talent and how good he is.
“And it’s been really cool to be teammates with him on the NASCAR side because we kind of share the same background of not really racing on ovals much and getting thrown into NASCAR.
“And it’s been really cool to watch him grow and learn from him as well, just because of how talented he is on road courses.
“… I’ve gone back and watched some of his Supercar races in my spare time, just because of how interesting they are and that’s not something I’ve ever watched in the past.
“Scott [McLaughlin] – making the transition from Supercar to IndyCar – he’s been super talented as well and has shown a lot of great moments in IndyCar.
“… Getting to be teammates with him is going to be really cool [and] to get to witness the two of those guys firsthand. They grew up friends obviously racing in Supercars together.
“And then Ben Keating obviously has so much experience in all sportscars. Just getting to be teammates with him and hear from him and his wisdom is going to be really cool.”
Connor Zilisch bringing ‘youth’ to the team
“Obviously I feel like I’ll be fast. I feel like I’ve been reasonably quick everywhere I’ve gone.
“I don’t think the pace will be too much of an issue for me, but minimising mistakes is always my big focus when it comes to these endurance races.
“… just being there to uplift the team, and be a youth factor, and making the team feel young and bringing confidence to the team [is important].
“I don’t feel like I can add much experience-wise just because I don’t have that much experience.
“As long as I do my job and keep the car on the racetrack and don’t get any scratches on it, I feel like that’ll be my job done.
“We’re a one-race team, we’re only doing one-race throughout the season, so it’s gonna be hard to jump in and compete against these guys who have been doing it for years and are gonna race the full season.
“We’re gonna have to be quick on our feet and going to have to make adjustments quickly and learn quick because we’ve never raced with any of us before.”
GTD Pro features line-ups of fully-fledged, professional racing drivers from the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes-AMG, Ford, BMW, Lexus, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Corvette’s own two full-season factory cars.
With Trackhouse Racing by TF Sport solely entering Daytona, the pressure will be on to make it to the final few hours of the race owing to TF Sport’s technical support and experience in the FIA World Endurance Championship with the Corvette package.
An anticipated sprint at the end, staying mature as a young driver
“I think the biggest thing that you plan around is you want to have the best guys in at the end,” said Zilisch.
“Basically all you got to do is just get through it and stay on the lead lap and I think that’s going to be our goal going into it.”
Zilisch experienced a variety of highs and lows during his 2024 racing campaign, as any other driver has, thus explained how he processed these moments as a teenage athlete transitioning into a young adult.
“There’s times where I have to remember that I’m a kid and when it comes to being professional, I have to know the difference and I think that’s one of the things that I’ve learned at a young age – is you have to know when to be a professional adult and when you can be a kid.
“It’s hard to separate the two at times, but I try… and just remember that I am 18 at times because this sport can be very stressful at the professional level and I don’t want to put that on myself at a young age.
“You just have to remember that you’re doing this out of the enjoyment of it and it’s just a career on the side.
“It’s tough at times to remember that but I think that’s what has allowed me to become a mature adult and handle these situations well.”
READ MORE: Connor Zilisch: The MX-5 Cup teenager turned 24 Hours of Daytona winner
