Era Motorsport has announced that Nick Boulle and IndyCar Series race winner Christian Rasmussen will drive the team’s #18 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2 in this Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Boulle and Rasmussen will replace regular Era Motorsport drivers Naveen Rao and Ferdinand Habsburg for this weekend’s race: It’ll mark Boulle’s first IMSA LMP2 start since last year’s six-hour endurance race at Indy, and Rasmussen’s first race with Era since he won the 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“I have been out of an LMP2 car and competition for a year, so it may take me a bit to warm up, but I’m super excited by the challenge we have coming up this weekend,” said Boulle, the 2024 IMSA Jim Trueman Award winner. “I’m particularly looking forward to getting to work with Era Motorsport. I know (team owner) Kyle Tilley puts together a great car and the team has clearly executed well in the past, so this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.
“This coming together for Indianapolis Motor Speedway could not have worked out better. It’s an iconic circuit that also happens to be one of my favorite tracks.”
2023 Indy NXT series champion Rasmussen won the 2024 Daytona 24 Hours as a key contributor in a line-up that also featured Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, and a then 17-year-old Connor Zilisch, now the top driving prospect in the NASCAR Cup Series. He scored two more podium finishes with Era in 2023: Third at Sebring, and second at Watkins Glen.
In contrast, Rasmussen – who scored his first IndyCar win last year at the Milwaukee Mile – has never finished better than seventh on a road or street course in three seasons.
“I’m excited to be back with my friends at Era for Battle on the Bricks,” he said. “I have a lot of great memories with this team, especially winning the Rolex 24 together in 2024. I’m also really looking forward to working with Nick. I think we have a strong lineup, and I’m confident we’ll be able to fight right at the front.”
The change at Era is one of only a few changes on this week’s entry list. The other change was announced last week, with Laurin Heinrich replacing Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, and Nico Müller replacing Heinrich in the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche.
Images © Jack Webster / Dailysportscar.com
