16-year-old Josh Pierson reaped instant reward by switching to sportscars, becoming the youngest WEC race winner and the youngest driver to take part at Le Mans. His success could lead to more teenage drivers knocking on the door of WEC teams
While there has been no shortage of young talents pouring into endurance racing in recent years, most of the time the switch is made once every avenue in single-seater racing has been exhausted; either through a lack of performance, a lack of finance, or both.
“I had the offer from United for WEC and I had an Indy Pro 2000 offer, but for me it was kind of a no-brainer which one to go for,” says Pierson, who placed fourth in USF2000 last year. “WEC has some media presence and Indy Pro 2000 doesn't really, and I wanted to get my name out there. Pierson caught the racing bug at an early age from his entrepreneur father Greg, an amateur sportscar racer. The Portland, Oregon native admits that his whole life up to this point has largely involved “racing, or watching Formula 1 or IndyCar”. Even school is taking something of a back seat for now: since the onset of COVID, he has been taking his school classes online, and doesn’t expect to get his high school diploma until 2025.
Then came Sebring, which was where Pierson really announced himself to the sportscar racing world. Overcoming the challenges of the idiosyncratic Florida airfield track, he, Jarvis and di Resta - filling in for Lynn, who was focussed on his IMSA efforts for Chip Ganassi Racing that weekend - took the victory, making Pierson the youngest-ever WEC race winner at just 16 years and 32 days.
“I remember the first time out of pit lane was very surreal,” he recalls. “It’s your first time heading out on a track that you've grown up watching. I remember the feeling, especially in USF2000 and getting to drive a lot of the street tracks that IndyCars would run on and tracks that I've only really watched, so there's always a special feeling to that.
“I've definitely learned a lot this year in both categories,” Pierson reflects. “IMSA has been more of a struggle. I really did that just to get the experience of racing against all the pro guys and kind of test myself in a way, forcing myself to have to be that guy in the car that has to get in and perform and take the car to where it needs to be. And I had decent showings in those races. The results weren't there, but I had pace, and especially at Mid-Ohio I was really strong.
“I don't think I would do the full IMSA season like I did this year again. If I did it again, I would probably only do the long-format [Endurance Cup] races as the silver. But I'd love to do those.”