Era Motorsport hires Braun as strategist

The LMP2 team, which will be making its IMSA debut in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with owner/driver Kyle Tilley, Dwight Merriman, Ryan Lewis and Nicolas Minassian, has hired the veteran Braun as it seeks to convert from historic racing to frontline sportscars.

Braun became an engineering consultant in 1990, and has since engineered IndyCars, sports cars, Top Fuel dragsters, and NASCAR cars.

According to Era’s release, Braun has been a part of eight sports car championship titles, two wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, eight Twelve Hours of Sebring triumphs, and four victories at Petit Le Mans.

“I am really looking forward to joining Era Motorsport for my 32nd Rolex 24 at Daytona,” said Braun. “It feels like joining a bunch of friends, as I have worked with over half the people on the team at various times, and raced against the other half of the people at some point in my career. 

“When Kyle asked me to lend a hand, it took me about five seconds to say yes. With a strong engineering team, management group, and driver line-up, it was an easy decision. It will take some time for this new group of talented people to jell and understand each other, and I hope I can help in that process.”  

Tilley himself commented: “Adding Jeff to our already strong senior management and engineering line up is the icing on the cake. Looking at it from a driver’s standpoint, the opportunity to work with someone as renowned as Jeff doesn't come around often; to say I'm excited is an understatement.

“The combination of Jeff as a atrategist and Scott Besst as our race engineer has to be one of the strongest combinations on the grid!"