Connor Zilisch Scores His Third Consecutive Top-Four Finish; Rookie Ben Maier Brings it Home 17th for His Third Straight Top-20

Overview

Date: May 27, 2023

Event: Memorial Day Classic (Round 4 of 12)

Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli

Division: Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series

Location: Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut

Layout: 1.48-mile, seven-turn road course

Format: 68 laps or 75 minutes

Weather: Sunny, low 70s

Race Winner: Thomas Merrill of Mike Cope Race Cars

Silver Hare Racing:

  • Connor Zilisch – Started 5th, Finished 4th (Running, completed 66/66 laps)
  • Ben Maier – Started 22nd, Finished 17th (Running, completed 66/66 laps)

Connor Zilisch, Driver, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro:

“It was a pretty good day for us here at Lime Rock. We qualified fifth yesterday, felt we had a pretty good car. We struggled throughout practice a little bit but the guys worked really hard to get us a little more speed coming into the race, and I feel we had that. It was really, really difficult to pass. It seemed like the top-five all felt even there in the middle stages and the end of the race, so it was getting tough to pass. There are not a lot of places to pass here in any other car, let alone one of these TA2 cars where you’re struggling with finding front downforce when you’re following people. It made it extra difficult, but we kept it clean and had a few good restarts and ended up ultimately getting ourselves one spot – we restarted fifth, fell back to sixth on the last restart, then got two spots after that on the last lap. Execution-wise, I’d say we did a pretty good job with what we had. We learned some things and we’ll be able to go to Detroit and move forward knowing some things to work on. Nothing major to work on, just fine-tuning from now on. I feel like I’ve got a good group of people around me, so it’s just up to me to make the most of it.”

Ben Maier, Driver, No. 75 Gel Blaster/Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro:

“It was looking pretty promising at the start. I was making my way forward, passing people, and it was looking like I was going to end up about 12th. There was just a bunch of debris and cars all over the place halfway through the race, it started getting crazy. I hit somebody and my exhaust pipe broke loose. It wasn’t the best thing that could’ve happened, but it was definitely another good learning experience. This track is very unique, so we’ll just take what we learned today and move on to next week at Detroit.”

Maurice Hull, Co-Owner, Silver Hare Racing:

“I was very proud of our team. We had two extremely well-prepared cars. We didn’t have any issues. Our two young drivers drove admirably through a lot of traffic, a lot of stuff going on around them. We had a great points day with Connor finishing just outside the podium. He was there, it’s just hard to pass here. A great job. And Ben brought it home, another top-20 for him and he did a great job with it because there was a lot of traffic where he was running, so I was really proud of how he handled himself. I’m really proud of this crew for their preparation and the professional way that they operate.”

Next Up

Rounds five and six of the 2023 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series takes Silver Hare Racing to the downtown streets of the Motor City next weekend (June 2-4) for a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader that’s part of this year’s IndyCar Series Detroit Grand Prix. The weekend on the 1.7-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit begins Friday, June 2, with a pair of TA2 practice sessions at 9:50 a.m. and 1 p.m. EDT, respectively. Qualifying is set for 8:15 a.m. Saturday, June 3, followed by TA2 Race No. 1 at 10:35 a.m. TA2 Race No. 2 on Sunday, June 4, is set for an 11 a.m. start. Both races will be 60 minutes in length and will be live streamed via the Trans Am Series and SpeedTourTV channels on YouTube, with a delayed re-broadcast on MAVTV set for 8 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 8.

-Silver Hare Racing-