After a tearful loss in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship race, plans to place Connor Zilisch in the upcoming World Endurance Championship (WEC) rookie test at Bahrain International Circuit have been tabled.
By finishing second in the championship in the one-race finale, Zilisch does not possess the ACCUS (Automobile Competition Committee for the United States) license points needed to take part in the rookie test. He needed to win the title to reach that mark, but lost the lead to Jesse Love with 24 laps to go at Phoenix Raceway. The rookie driver had won ten races overall, including a historic summer stretch where he won seven out of eight events.
Following a report by Dailysportscar.com, Motorsport.com was able to independently confirm with a representative from Cadillac that Zilisch was aware of this going into the Phoenix title-decider.
Zilisch calls it a “second shot in the heart”
Speaking at the NASCAR banquet on Tuesday morning, Zilisch commented on the news. “You need an FIA A license to run a Hypercar in WEC,” he told Motorsport.com’s Matt Weaver. “I was supposed to go to Bahrain to do a test, but because of the points system — you get 10 points to win the Xfinity Series championship and eight for second. I needed ten points to get to the 14 needed, and because I didn’t win the championship, (so) I didn’t have a enough points.”
Zilisch also said there’s no appealing the decision, as the license system is set in stone. “We’ve seen it with Colton Herta trying to get a superlicense. There’s no way around it. It’s kind of just the way it is. I don’t think there’s really anything I could do. I just had to go win on Saturday and because I didn’t, I don’t get to go run that.
“It’s kind of just a second shot in the heart after the weekend. I knew it going in. It’s not like it caught me by surprise, but it doesn’t make it any easier, losing.”
Zilisch was not on the provisional WEC entry list submitted by Cadillac, but IMSA stars Jack Aitken and Ricky Taylor will pilot the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Hypercar in the upcoming test.
Zilisch is no stranger to sports car racing, earning an LMP2 class victory in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona when he was just 17 years old. Soon after, he also won the Sebring 12 Hours, both with Era Motorsport. Additionally, he secured a podium finish in Petit Le Mans that same year. This year, he competed in the Daytona 24 with Trackhouse Racing, driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R entry in the GTD Pro class.
Zilisch will still make an appearance at the IMSA test at Daytona International Speedway, as he is eligible to drive a GTP car due to the variation in requirements between the IMSA and FIA license systems. He said if ‘all goes well,’ then we could see him in a GTP car for the 2026 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
The full entry list for upcoming WEC rookie test, scheduled for November 9th, can be found HERE.
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