{"id":286557,"date":"2025-11-16T10:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T10:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/286557\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T10:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T10:27:07","slug":"despite-nascar-title-heartbreak-connor-zilisch-shows-hes-back-on-pace-in-encouraging-gtp-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/286557\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite NASCAR Title Heartbreak, Connor Zilisch Shows He\u2019s Back On Pace in Encouraging GTP Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connor Zilisch wasted no time getting back behind the wheel after the heartbreak of the Xfinity Series finale. The 19-year-old driver, ready for his first full-time NASCAR Cup Series season and a Rolex 24 appearance in January, logged 33 laps in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac during Saturday morning\u2019s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway. It was his first time in a race car since the crushing loss at Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Zilisch is also under consideration to join the team\u2019s lineup as a fourth driver for the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opener. His adaptability has already turned heads across motorsports, but this outing was another step toward cementing his reputation as a crossover talent.<\/p>\n

Originally, Zilisch<\/a> was to make his debut in the Dallara-chassied LMDh car during the FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain.<\/p>\n

But his title slip at Phoenix not only cost him the Xfinity crown but also denied him enough points to secure the FIA A license required for the WEC test. In the span of a week, he lost a championship and a desired seat, two punches that would rattle even the most seasoned drivers.<\/p>\n

Still, Zilisch didn\u2019t stick with the disappointment for long. The young star, who captured the Rolex 24 and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in an Era Motorsport LMP2 entry earlier in 2024, believes Daytona is the perfect stage to turn the page, viewing the opportunity as a challenge rather than a consolation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This wouldn\u2019t be his first Daytona dance. Earlier this year, Zilisch competed in the Florida endurance classic with the Trackhouse by TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in GTD Pro. While missing the WEC rookie test stung, he admitted the outpouring of support from the racing community softened the blow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me feel a little bit better about what happened in Phoenix. Obviously, it didn\u2019t go the way we wanted it to, and I didn\u2019t win the championship, which ended up not giving me enough FIA license points to go do the test in Bahrain \u2026 but it was nice to see a bunch of people backing me up and giving me some motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll all work out, and although it was a little upsetting that I didn\u2019t get to go over there and drive with JOTA, it\u2019s all part of it,\u201d he reflected<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With his Daytona test, he is preparing himself for multiple runs, a NASCAR full-time Cup debut, 24 hours at Daytona, and getting out of his Xfinity loss zone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Zilisch wasted no time getting back behind the wheel after the heartbreak of the Xfinity Series finale.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,9398,2884,634,8354,7576,43326,130040,82,36954],"class_list":["post-286557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-connor-zilisch","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-phoenix-raceway","tag-rolex-24-at-daytona","tag-sports","tag-trackhouse-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}