Era Withdraws from Remainder of Season

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Era Motorsport has withdrawn from the remainder of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season due to a back injury for Dwight Merriman in last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Merriman and team owner/driver Kyle Tilley currently sit second in the LMP2 points standings, although have vowed to return in 2021.

“While we’re disappointed to not finish out our first season in sports car racing, this was the right call,” said Tilley.

“This has been a chaotic year to say the least, and it has taken a lot of work for any race team to keep running during this time. We managed to do that, but following the Le Mans crash, it’s time for us to regroup, let Dwight finish recovering, and start building our program for next year.”

Merriman sustained multiple injuries in an accident in Free Practice at Le Mans last month in Era’s IDEC Sport-run Oreca. Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet was brought in as a last-minute sub, with the team finishing 11th in class.

Sportscar365 understands the team has leased out two of its Oreca 07 Gibsons to Eurasia Motorsport to be utilized in the time between now and the start of the 2021 season.

“This isn’t one of those ‘We’ll be back’ announcements where the team doesn’t return,” said Tilley. “We have the necessary players and pieces, and now we are going to put our heads down and build next year.”

Era’s withdrawal could leave only a single LMP2 car for this month’s penultimate round of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, as only the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca remains as a full-season entrant.

Four LMP2s are entered for next weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, bolstered by the return for Tower Motorsport by Starworks and Performance Tech Motorsports and a second PR1/Mathiasen entry to be run under the Inter Europol banner.

All three of the returnees are currently not slated to head to Laguna Seca.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John