{"id":76665,"date":"2024-10-04T23:00:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T23:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racer.com\/?p=368193"},"modified":"2024-10-04T23:00:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T23:00:16","slug":"vir-ta2-race-a-homecoming-for-silver-hare-racing-owners-and-driver-zilisch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/vir-ta2-race-a-homecoming-for-silver-hare-racing-owners-and-driver-zilisch\/","title":{"rendered":"VIR TA2 race a homecoming for Silver Hare Racing owners and driver Zilisch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Silver Hare Racing, VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) is home for many reasons. In addition to being the closest track to the team\u2019s High Point, N.C. race shop, team owners Maurice and Laura Hull (pictured above)<\/em> own and operate Waukegan Farms, which is located just six miles southeast of VIR in Semora, N.C. But more than that, VIR is the heart of Silver Hare Racing. It\u2019s where Laura, who grew up 30 miles south of the track in Union Ridge, N.C., met Maurice, setting in motion the events that led to the creation of the successful multi-car CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series team. Laura worked as the PR and marketing director at VIR from 2002-04, and met Maurice, who was racing sports cars and vintage cars at the track. Introduced through a mutual friend in 2002, the two have been together ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think about VIR, I would have to say there\u2019s no place like home, especially racing at home,\u201d said Laura Hull. \u201cEvery year at this time, we really want to extend our warmest welcome to the racing community by saying, \u2018Welcome to our home.\u2019 We couldn\u2019t be more excited for this weekend. Not only is it such a unique track and a beautiful part of the country, my personal experience at VIR was completely life changing. Between my work experience there and my love for racing, it\u2019s where I truly met the love of my life, not to sound clich\u00e9. It was in the paddock there that Maurice and I were introduced by a mutual friend way back in 2002, and meeting him completely changed my life. It led to the creation of Silver Hare Racing, which Maurice and I are so terribly proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only is VIR a home track for the team, but it\u2019s also a very special track for Connor Zilisch, who is back in the Trans Am Series this weekend for the first time since his season-opening TA2 win at Sebring International Raceway in February. Zilisch made his Trans Am debut at VIR with Nitro Motorsports in 2021, earning the pole in his first weekend in a TA2 car. Last year, Zilisch made history, sweeping the weekend and becoming the first driver to win both a TA and TA2 race in a single weekend, driving to GYM WEED Winners Circle in his first-career TA start.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>\u201cObviously, VIR is special to me because that\u2019s where it all started for me with Silver Hare Racing,\u201d said Zilisch. \u201cI had my first test with them back in 2021. Then going there and winning in the TA2 race last year and winning the TA race on the same weekend, becoming the first person to sweep a weekend, it makes it a special track for me and one that I really enjoy, too.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s one of my favorite tracks in the country, and I always have a good time when I race there. It\u2019s historically been a really good track for me as well, so I\u2019m looking forward to getting back there and racing with everybody and getting back with the Trans Am Series. Obviously, things have changed since I last was there with the series, so I\u2019m looking forward to getting there and seeing how the series has grown and I\u2019m ready to make the most of this opportunity at a track that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of the Trans Am paddock, Zilisch has been forging a name for himself in all forms of motorsports. He started the year with an LMP2 win in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and followed that up with a victory in the same class in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. He has earned five ARCA Menards Series wins, and earned a pole and top-five finish in his NASCAR Truck Series debut at Circuit of The Americas. Zilisch has a multi-year development contract with Trackhouse Racing and Chevrolet, has joined the Red Bull family of athletes, and most recently made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, where he scored both the pole and the race win at Watkins Glen International in his first career start.<\/p>\n

This weekend, Zilisch will have the additional challenge of competing in Saturday\u2019s race without practice or qualifying, as he will be driving in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday night. The team is also welcoming three partners from the region to Zilisch\u2019s No. 57 Camaro: Bankers Insurance Group, Guy M Turner Company and Clark Outdoor, in addition to receiving support from Chevrolet Driver Development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited for this weekend back at VIR. I\u2019ve got the NASCAR Truck Series race at Talladega on Friday and it\u2019s going to be a busy day on Saturday getting back up to VIR to run the TA2 race,\u201d said Zilisch. \u201cWe tested a little bit at VIR and felt really comfortable with the car. We\u2019re just building off the speed we had there last year; we were really fast and it was probably one of our best races last year.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s really special to race at VIR, being the home race for Silver Hare Racing, and it\u2019s the closest race on the schedule to my house, as well, so it\u2019s also a home race for me and that makes it even more important and more special to go out and perform. Obviously, this is only my second race with Silver Hare Racing this year in the TA2 series, and it\u2019d be cool to go two-for-two. It means a lot to race with this team and get back with all the guys that I kind of started my professional career with. I\u2019m going to try and do everything I can to apply everything I\u2019ve learned this year in all the other series I\u2019ve been blessed to be able to race in and make the most of this opportunity.<\/p>\n

“It means a lot to be able to race with Silver Hare Racing again and be back with Maurice and Laura Hull, Gil Martin and Jeff Holley, and everybody who I\u2019ve learned from over the years. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off last time. We won the race at Sebring and just want to build on that success and the success we had the last half of last season. I\u2019m looking forward to it and I\u2019m ready for the opportunity and ready to make the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zilisch will be competing with Silver Hare Racing teammate Jake Drew (No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro), who has had an impressive first season in Trans Am. Drew has earned three podium finishes and six top-five finishes so far, and he is currently in a tight race for the Young Gun award. Boris Said Jr. will also be flying the Silver Hare banner in the No. 75 HendrickCars.com\/Silver Hare Chevrolet Camaro.<\/p>\n

The green flag will wave for the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race at VIR on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 12:40 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast live on MAVTV as well as on the Trans Am Series YouTube channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Silver Hare Racing, VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) is home for many reasons. In addition to being the closest track to the team\u2019s High Point, N.C. race shop, team owners Maurice and Laura Hull (pictured above) own and operate Waukegan Farms, which is located just six miles southeast of VIR in Semora, N.C. But more …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","has-thumb","has-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}