After a tearful loss within the NASCAR Xfinity Collection championship race, plans to position Connor Zilisch within the upcoming World Endurance Championship (WEC) rookie check at Bahrain Worldwide Circuit have been tabled.
By ending second within the championship within the one-race finale, Zilisch doesn’t possess the ACCUS (Vehicle Competitors Committee for america) license factors wanted to participate within the rookie check. He wanted to win the title to achieve that mark, however misplaced the result in Jesse Love with 24 laps to go at Phoenix Raceway. The rookie driver had received ten races general, together with a historic summer season stretch the place he received seven out of eight occasions.
Following a report by Dailysportscar.com, Motorsport.com was capable of independently verify with a consultant from Cadillac that Zilisch was conscious of this going into the Phoenix title-decider.
Zilisch calls it a “second shot within the coronary heart”
Talking on the NASCAR banquet on Tuesday morning, Zilisch commented on the information. “You want an FIA A license to run a Hypercar in WEC,” he advised Motorsport.com’s Matt Weaver. “I used to be purported to go to Bahrain to do a check, however due to the factors system — you get 10 factors to win the Xfinity Collection championship and eight for second. I wanted ten factors to get to the 14 wanted, and since I did not win the championship, I did not have a sufficient factors.”
Zilisch additionally mentioned there is no interesting the choice, because the license system is ready in stone. “We have seen it with Colton Herta attempting to get a superlicense. There is no manner round it. It is sort of simply the best way it’s. I do not assume there’s actually something I may do. I simply needed to go win on Saturday, and since I did not, I do not get to go run that.
“It is sort of only a second shot within the coronary heart after the weekend. I knew it entering into. It isn’t prefer it caught me abruptly, nevertheless it does not make it any simpler, shedding.”
Zilisch was not on the provisional WEC entry listing submitted by Cadillac, however IMSA stars Jack Aitken and Ricky Taylor will pilot the Cadillac Hertz Workforce JOTA Hypercar within the upcoming check.
Zilisch isn’t any stranger to sports activities automotive racing, incomes an LMP2 class victory within the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona when he was simply 17 years outdated. Quickly after, he additionally received the Sebring 12 Hours, each with Period Motorsport. Moreover, he secured a podium end in Petit Le Mans that very same yr. This yr, he competed within the Daytona 24 with Trackhouse Racing, driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R entry within the GTD Professional class.
Zilisch will nonetheless make an look on the IMSA check at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, as he’s eligible to drive a GTP automotive as a result of variation in necessities between the IMSA and FIA license programs. He mentioned if ‘all goes properly,’ then we may see him in a GTP automotive for the 2026 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
The total entry listing for upcoming WEC rookie check, scheduled for November ninth, could be discovered HERE.
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