Era Motorsport has got their four drivers signed for the 24 Hours of Daytona 2021.
Kyle Tilley and Dwight Merriman are back in the car together, while Ryan Dalziel and Paul-Loup Chatin join them for the 24 hours race.
The team will run in the LMP2 category with their ORECA 07 Gibson #18, which they used in the 2020 season as well.
The 2020 racing season came to an abrupt end in September, when Merriman crashed during the practice at Le Mans, so the team opted to sit out the rest of the year.
Ryan Dalziel raced some of the seasons for Starworks in LMP2, before there apparently were some disagreements between him and the paying driver in the car. Dalziel has huge experience in LMP2 cars, during the years that he raced for Extreme Speed Motorsport in both IMSA and the FIA WEC.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Barry Cantrell
Paul-Loup Chatin will have his American IMSA debut at Daytona, but has done several years in LMP2 cars. He has won two European Le Mans Series titles, and has most recently raced for IDEC Sport, where Nicolas Minassian is the team boss. Minassien was part of Era Motorsport at Daytona 2020, where the team finished third in the LMP2 category.
Minassien was the connection to Tilley and Merriman running at Le Mans too, since the two Americans had bought their way into one of the team’s two cars. Merriman crashed heavily during Free Practice two, so he only managed to do six and a half laps on the legendary track. Tilley raced on for the rest of the weekend alongside Jonathan Kennard and Patrick Pilet, with Pilet replacing Merriman.
The announcement today doesn’t mention anything about the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
The 24 hours at Daytona starts with ROAR Before the 24 on 22-24 January, with the race being run one week later
