IMSA 24 Hours at Daytona 2024
25/01/2024 – 28/01/2024
USA 🇺🇸
After 24 grueling hours and 767 high-stakes laps, Era Motorsport has made history once again with their second Rolex 24 at Daytona win last weekend in Daytona, Florida.
IndyCar Driver Christian Rasmussen, NASCAR racing prodigy Connor Zilisch, and team stalwarts Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman piloted the No. 18 Oreca 07 LMP2 car from 11th to first over the course of the race to win the team their second set of Rolexes to join the timepieces from 2021’s victory.
To accomplish this feat the sportscar-racing quartet took had to face the strongest field of LMP2 competitors they’ve seen in IMSA to date, including defending IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship winners PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, European heavy-hitters United Autosport, and 2023 Rolex 24 Runners-up Crowdstrike Racing.
Though slightly warmer than years past, the weather held out on Saturday for a nice and sunny race day where Merriman took the green flag to start the race.
Despite one minor incident in the first hour of the race, the Era Motorsport crew focused on keeping their nose clean and setting a consistent pace, which moved them all the way from 11th in class to fourth by the time the first quarter of the race was done.
Overnight and into the morning it was more of the same for the Era crew as Merriman, Rasmussen, Zilisch, and Dalziel pushed harder as time went on, finding themselves trading podium positions come sunrise.
With six hours remaining and the Era crew in second-place, the team tightened their belts and set their sights on the No. 04 Crowdstrike car that was in the lead.
The battle with the 04 continued right until the final hour of the race, where Rasmussen had powered his way into a commanding lead of 15 seconds, only for a caution a few minutes later to compress the field and create a tense battle in the closing half hour of the 62nd running of the iconic event which saw five P2s within 10 seconds of the lead.
With his sights set on a new watch, Rasmussen powered forward and put yet another gap between the competition and himself before taking the checkered flag for the win.