Cadillac Racing Unveils Liveries of Three IMSA GTP Entries for 2026
January 14, 2026
JANUARY 22, 2026
After LMP2 Win and GTD PRO Run, Zilisch Arrives in Top Class for First Time
By Holly Cain
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s safe to say it did not take much convincing for longtime Action Express Racing Team Manager Gary Nelson and the Cadillac Whelen team to consider putting Connor Zilisch in its Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) car for this week’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“A few months ago we were all having dinner in Connecticut after a go-karting event and me and Connor were just talking about racing,” Zilisch’s Rolex 24 teammate, renowned sports car driver Earl Bamber recalled with a smile.
“I knew he’d won this race already and he was like, ‘is there any chance to do something with the Cadillac? I’d love to give it a go. Who do I talk to?’
A couple conversations with Nelson and the IMSA-sanctioned November Test later. … and Zilisch’s name was placed alongside those of three other former Rolex winners – New Zealander Bamber, British/Korean driver Jack Aitken and Dane Frederik Vesti above the driver’s door of the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R which will contend in the 11-car GTP class for the overall victory this weekend.
“I like him a lot,” the veteran Bamber said of the easy-decision to have Zilisch join the team.
“He’s won so many big races already and at that age he could be very big-headed and arrogant and he’s not. He’s not. For instance, I was asking him about all the oval wins he had last year and he just said, ‘most of those wins are because of the team not me.’
“For a kid that age to have that level of maturity and humbleness, you just know he’s going to make it. Most kids would be like, ‘I’m the greatest race car driver there is and he’s quite the opposite, very humble.’
And it shows.
Zilisch’s perpetual smile and easygoing manner walking around the garage at Daytona International Speedway this week is genuine and refreshing – much like the 19-year-old’s trajectory in big-time racing.
But don’t mistake the awe-shucks and politeness vibe Zilisch gives off. He is purposeful and highly motivated and already well-regarded as an extraordinary generational racing talent. And competing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona two years ago is exactly where his career trajectory truly launched.
It was his very first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start when a then 17-year-old Zilisch claimed a Rolex timepiece, co-driving to a Rolex 24 victory in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class with Era Motorsport. He had a good excuse for missing school, as he told his class at the time he was busy checking time in another way and getting a watch.
He then followed that up immediately with a victory in the next legendary endurance race on the schedule, the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Zilisch was two-for-two in IMSA’s grandest races. And he wasn’t even old enough to vote yet.
“I don’t think anybody’s ever taken the exact same path as me before, but I like that, and I appreciate everything I’ve done in the past, and the opportunities I’ve gotten and the races I’ve gotten to drive in,” Zilisch said.
“It’s something I’m very grateful for and if I could go back and change something, I don’t know if there’s anything I’d want to change. I’ve really enjoyed the path that I’ve taken and the opportunities I’ve got and how hard I’ve had to work for each opportunity.”
The next big opportunity is moving into NASCAR’s highest ranks, competing for top 2026 rookie honors in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he will team at Trackhouse Racing – owned by former IMSA competitor Justin Marks – with another former Rolex 24 star, New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen and championship contender Ross Chastain (who visited Zilisch at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test and toured the Cadillac transporter). Zilisch, Van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin and Ben Keating shared the No. 91 Trackhouse by TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R at the 2025 Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Last year, with a pair of sports car racing’s most treasured trophies already in his possession, an 18-year-old Zilisch transitioned to stock cars fulltime competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the championship JR Motorsports organization – owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer and another former Rolex 24 competitor Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley.
As with his IMSA debut, Zilisch had immediate success. He won a series best 10 races, set a record with 18 consecutive top-10 finishes and ended the season championship runner-up – the overwhelming Rookie of the Year.
“I just think he’s a superstar in general,” former Rolex 24 overall race winner A.J. Allmendinger said of Zilisch.
This weekend the two will go head-to-head for the overall victory with Allmendinger – the 2012 Rolex 24 winner – driving the No. 60 Acura AR6-06 for Meyer Shank Racing in the same GTP Class. In February, the two NASCAR drivers will start their 2026 fulltime campaign going head-to-head again in the Daytona 500.
“Maybe on the world-side of it because NASCAR is more North American-based, his name isn’t quite recognized yet, but in general, it will be,” Allmendinger said of Zilisch.
“You got a guy like that – we’ve already seen him win this race in LMP2 – and then go to Sebring and win, no doubt he’s super quick and I always just think anytime you’ve got guys like that who want to be in the race, we need to have them in the race.”
And Zilisch absolutely wants to be here, in fact, he hopes to compete every year in the Rolex 24 no matter where his “day” job takes him. It is that special to him.
“2026 is a year of making it to the top and getting to race in the highest level of all the series I’m racing in and that’s super exciting for me,” Zilisch said. “I’ve always wanted to race for the overall win at the Daytona 24 Hours and to be doing it with Cadillac and Action Express and an awesome group of teammates. There’s a lot of cool parts to this that came together and are making this event really special for me.”
“It’s been cool for me to kinda make my name and maybe people have higher expectations for me now,” he added. “But for me, I just focus on going out and doing my job and most of all having fun and enjoying it.
“At the end of the day I’m living my dream out and getting to do what I love every weekend and that’s the coolest part for me.’’
