Second straight win in 2024 for Era Motorsport
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #18 Era Motorsport.
The LMP2 race of the 2024 12 Hours of Sebring - punctuated by 12 Full Course Yellows - saw 11 different leaders (out of 13 entries) with 4 teams leading 79% of the 330 laps covered: TDS Racing #11 lead during 94 laps, United Autosports #2 during 70 laps, Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports #52 during 56 laps and Era Motorsport #18 during 41 laps.
Second straight win in 2024 for Era Motorsport
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #18 Era Motorsport.
For the second race in a row, Era Motorsport wins the new round of both IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup with Connor Zilisch, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel.
The first half of the race didn’t start well for #18 running over debris, causing the car to overheat and puncturing a tire.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #18 Era Motorsport.
Connor Zilisch hopped into the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07 with 90 minutes remaining. Together with his teammates, they had lead 24 laps being 8th of class with one hour to go. When the race restarted from a full-course caution with 35 minutes to go Zilisch was running in fourth place but the three cars ahead of him all made splash-and-go pit stops in the next two laps, when Era’s team made the bet that the #18 had enough fuel to make it to the finish, pushing Zilisch into the lead for the last 17 laps.
The 17-year-old Connor Zilisch resisted to Felipe Fraga in the #74 Riley ORECA and Mikkel Jensen in the #11 TDS Oreca to celebrate a second victory in a row of the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class together with Era’s full-season drivers, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel (with Christian Rasmussen at Daytona). It is Dalziel 15th career IMSA win and second at Sebring.
“It’s an honor for the team to trust me and give me the chance to show them what I have at the end,” Zilisch said. “It was really tough to pass out there and it was kind of whoever could get track position, get to the lead, was going to end up winning. … Pretty unreal to get two wins in my first two WeatherTech starts.”
“We still knew we had the pace in the car, we definitely didn’t give up,” Dalziel said. “We knew that we had the potential to get to the win based on the fuel time but how many times in racing do these things work out perfectly?
“Then once we got in the lead, you look at the list of drivers that were behind Connor on that restart – the talent and the guys with experience – and the kid just kept his head cool and brought it home. A good day for Era, a good day for Dwight and I, good points for the championship.” Source: IMSA
TDS Racing second
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #11 TDS Racing
Despite covering the most lap in the lead of LMP2 class, #11 TDS Racing ORECA shared by Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea crossed checkered flag 1.127 seconds behind the winning Era Motorsport Oreca.
United Autosports USA 3rd
The #22 crew of Daniel Goldburg, Paul di Resta and Bijoy Garg secured United Autosports’ first podium of the 2024 WeatherTech IMSA SportsCar Championship in the 72nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Daniel Goldburg started in P2 and the trio led 21 laps of the 83 covered during the first quarter of the race, entering the fourth hour in the lead.
With 20 minutes on the clock, the #2 crew dramatically fell from P3 to P10 after heavy contact during one of numerous restarts. Meanwhile, the #22 moved up to P3 with two minutes to go, crossing the line just five seconds behind the leading LMP2 car and securing a place on the #Sebring12 podium.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #22 United Autorposrts USA.
Daniel Goldburg: “Third place is a great result – it feels even better after Daytona, which ended rather disastrously for us. Personally, I have felt great all week … I’ve been building with each session and I was really calm going into the race. I’m really happy with the result – this is setting the tone for the season, this is how I want us to perform. Paul [di Resta] was flying at the end … unfortunately there was only 20 minutes after the final Full Course Yellow, but we’ve got a lot of good stuff going!”
Paul di Resta: “It’s always good to be on the podium. It’s been a hard race – with ups and downs, but we were very strong at the end … just a bit out of position. Overall, I’m satisfied – off the back of Daytona, bearing in mind the lack of experience we got together in that race, we had a lot to work on in Sebring. I’m looking forward to the next race, which is quite a long time away … there is lots of work to do in the ELMS and WEC beforehand. But it’s good for the team, you can see it lifts spirits … and it’s good to be racing in Sebring again. Most importantly when you’ve had a weekend in immense heat, with effort from every single member of the team, a podium makes it a lot easier to pack up.”
Bijoy Garg: “At the start of the race, we were in a very good position. Daniel got through the start without any crashes or incidents, and I was very happy when I got into the car. The restarts were quite fun – I really enjoyed the battles on track with the Golds and the Platinums. At the end of the race, things could have gone our way a little more … but third is a good result. I’m really happy.”
Ligier JS P217 fourth
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #33 Sean Crech Motorsport Ligier.
The only Ligier in the field lacks 2.626 to be on the podium finishing fourth with L. Willsey, J. Barbosa and J. Edgar in #33 Sean Crech Motorsport Ligier JS P217..
Riley fifth
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. Riley #74 Oreca
G. Robinson, F. Frag and J.Burdon ended fifth with Riley #74 Oreca 0.538 behind the Ligier.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024.
LMP2 Race Official Results
Source: IMSA
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