After winning the LMP2 class in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Era Motorsport has committed to running the entire 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Kyle Tilley and Dwight Merriman driving the No. 18 Oreca. Ryan Dalziel will join them for the three remaining North American Endurance Cup events.
Era Motorsport’s Rolex win came in just their second attempt at the Rolex 24.
“I’m thrilled to be able to announce our full-season effort,” said team owner and driver Tilley in a release. “Our season last year was cut short, but it looks like we’ll certainly be making up for the lost track time in 2021.
“We had a strong run in last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, which was our first IMSA race as a team. This year, we won, which felt like an incredible feat considering how competitive the field was this year. It still hasn’t settled in yet.
“We had decided before the race that we’d enter the full season, and starting the season off with winning the biggest race of the year is just further motivation to run the entire schedule.”
Last year, Tilley and Era Motorsports competed in four IMSA events in a class that at times had only a handful of cars entered.
This year, the Rolex 24 featured 10 entries and Era Motorsport’s class victory was good enough for sixth overall. The competitiveness of this division could also be seen in the fact that the second place car in class finished on the same lap as the winner.
Additionally, Era Motorsport will compete in the Asian Le Mans Series with Tilley and Merriman. They will be joined there by Andreas Laskaratos. That series kicks off this weekend, February 13, at the Dubai Autodrome in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The next race on the IMSA schedule is the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 20, which is part of the four-race endurance championship mini-series that is part of the overall calendar.
Super excited to announce I’ll be continuing on with @EraMotorsport in the @IMSA endurance races. Thank you guys for having the faith in me. Let’s go win @sebringraceway #sebring12 https://t.co/v1fkOi8rqD
— Ryan Dalziel (@ryan_dalziel) February 9, 2021