An impeccable final pit stop timing was behind Era Motorsport’s leap to LMP2-winning contention at the 12 Hours of Sebring owing to the efforts of race engineers Scott Besst and Nico Brisseau.
Connor Zilisch, Dwight Merriman, and Ryan Dalziel claimed victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, having won the 24 Hours of Daytona at the end of January.
Most notably, the team jumped into contention for the win in the final hour of the race, as their rivals spent more time at the sharper end of the LMP2 field earlier on.
“It’s an honor for the team to trust me, give me the chance to go out there and show them what I have at the end,” Zilisch said having taken the #18 to the chequered flag.
“Scott [Besst] and Nico [Brisseau] were on it with the strategy calls all day.”
Earlier in the 10th race hour, GTP leader Frederic Makowiecki [#6 Porsche Penske] suffered a left-rear puncture in front of the #18 as it went off-circuit.
Part of the resulting debris blocked off the #18’s radiators which led to Era Motorsport pitting early to clear the blockage after their engine begun overheating, falling from P1 to 10th in the process.
Two of the 12 caution periods took place in the final hour as the latter featured a pass-around procedure to keep the LMP2 protagonists together.
The final pit stop call in LMP2 required decisive timing which resulted in their leap from eighth position to the class lead before Zilisch avidly fended off his lead.
“It was really tough to pass out there,” Zilisch explained.
“It was kind of just whoever could get track position, get to the lead, was going to end up winning.
“At about an hour to go, we were all running in a train. I think I was seventh.
“I knew I wasn’t going to pass them, so I just started saving fuel, was going to wait for the last pit stop.
“I saved enough to get back. I took the lead when I came back out.”
Team-owner Kyle Tilley added: “… The strategy from Scott [Besst] and Nico [Brisseau] was faultless. It was such cool fun to be part of that strategy call, to watch it come to life.”
“But in all seriousness, this is Dwight’s last year for the LMP2 car – at least in the US – so this looks great for us to any prospective bronzes [who] want to go racing to have rocked up and shown that Era Motorsport is one of the best teams in the world for LMP2… “
