Zilisch was booked to fly to Bahrain for the rookie test on November 9 but had those plans scratched after losing the title race at Phoenix.
He lost to Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love in the winner-takes-all final, which meant Zilisch did not have enough ACCUS (Automobile Competition Committee for the United States) licence points.
The JR Motorsports driver won 10 races this year in the Xfinity Series – the most of any driver.
He needed 14 points to qualify for an FIA A licence. Winning the title would have got him that, but second meant he fell short of the threshold.
“It’s kind of just a second shot in the heart after the weekend,” said Zilisch.
“I knew it going in. It’s not like it caught me by surprise, but it doesn’t make it any easier, losing.”
Zilisch likened the issue to Colton Herta’s repeated attempts to crack Formula 1, which have been blocked by the FIA Super Licence.
“There’s no way around it. It’s kind of just the way it is,” said Zilisch.
“I don’t think there’s really anything I could do. I just had to go win on Saturday and because I didn’t, I don’t get to go run that.”
At just 19 years old, Zilisch is already an accomplished sports car racer, having won the LMP2 class on his Daytona 24 debut and the Sebring 12 Hour.
Not all is lost for Zilisch, however. He is poised to test with Cadillac at Daytona in a few weeks.
Zilisch would likely have tested with Team Jota at Bahrain, but will get his hands on the Action Express Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R prototype soon enough.
“It would have been cool to get to go over there, but you have to have an FIA A licence to run a Hypercar in WEC – whether it’s a test or not – and I needed to win the championship to have enough points to do that,” said Zilisch.
“I didn’t win the championship, so no Bahrain. I had flights and everything. I was ready to go. I’ll be sitting at home now.
“When I found out, I was definitely a little frustrated with it because it’s silly. When I lost, I was more dejected I lost the championship and that was just another reason to be upset.
“Whatever. Can’t control it. Can’t change it. No reason to get upset about it.”
Zilisch foreshadowed a start with Cadillac at Daytona in 2026.
That would mark his competitive LMDh debut after LMP2 and GTD Pro starts in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
“I can still do IMSA,” he said.
“I’ll just have a little less testing time before I get to Daytona in two weeks. Hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll be able to go do the 24 in the top class.”
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