Mugello, Italy, April 9 — Era Motorsport is celebrating a successful introduction to the 2024 Peter Auto 2.0L Cup as Kyle Tilley and Oliver Bryant piloted the No. 60 “Queen of Diamonds” Porsche 911 to a pole position and a podium finish in the first round at the Peter Auto Mugello Classic.
The spec racing series saw 21 entries in its 2024 season opener, all taking to the beautiful and challenging Mugello Circuit for a 90-minute battle around the 3.259-mile circuit.
Starting on the pole, Kyle Tilley was first at the wheel of the Porsche, and spent his time battling it out on-track in the top three positions the entirety of his 45-minute stint.
After a pit cycle and a driver change, Oliver Bryant hopped in the car in ninth-place due to the pairings Elite driver penalty, (3m04 vs 2m40), but quickly found his way through the field making his way back into third place in just seven laps.
After 90 minutes and 36 laps, the checkered-flag waved, securing Tilley and Bryant’s overall podium, as well as first place in the Elite class!
“I’ve had an incredible time here in Tuscany at the Mugello Classic!” said Tilley. “From the moment we got here everything just seemed to come together.”
“The crew has put a massive amount of effort into making sure the car was on the money for the 2.0L Cup season opener, no mean feat considering it is probably the busiest time we’ve ever had at the UK shop right now.”
Two-time 2.0L Cup champion Oliver Bryant shared a similar sentiment after Sunday’s race, saying, “Pole and P3 is a great result for our first race in the 2.0L Cup. It’s a very competitive series and the team did a fantastic job learning the car. Kyle’s opening stint was good, the car didn’t miss a beat and we’re looking forward to Spa.”
The 2.0L cup wouldn’t be the only podium that an Era-run car would leave with at the Mugello Classic. The one-of-a-kind Chevron B27s competing in the Classic Endurance Racing II Grid managed a similarly impressive weekend.
Tilley drove the Cosworth 3.0L V8 powered prototype to another pole position on Saturday with a fastest overall qualifying time of 1:53.9 against a competitive field including other cars from the era with the same F1-derived powerplant.
An overheating issue after a long safety car period was costly, but despite this Tilley kept pushing, and landed second-place in the 2.0L+ Prototype class, and finished on the lead lap in fourth place.
“The Chevron is always a favorite, both for me and for the fans,” Tilley said. “It’s an absolute joy to drive.”
“We spent a lot of last year dealing with some minor teething issues as we learned the car as a team, but we’ve finally got it dialed in and reliable, ready for whatever gets thrown its way!”
Finally, for the first time, Era Motorsport was in charge of running a Porsche 993 GT2 in the rapidly-growing Endurance Racing Legends field.
Despite being the car’s first event, the crew and Tilley were able to slowly improve over the course of the event, and ended up being the second-fastest 993 on track by the end of the weekend.
“I think we were all pretty thrilled when a client brought this car to us,” said Tilley. “We all love Porsches, and this is one of the best ones ever built for endurance racing.”
“For its first event with Era Motorsport I’m thrilled with the results. We’ve only got more to learn and improve on from here to turn this into a race-winning car, and I have no-doubt it’ll happen.”
2024 Peter Auto 2.0L Cup Schedule
Mugello Classic - Mugello Circuit | April 5-7
Spa Classic - Spa-Francorchamps | May 17-19
Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or - Circuit Dijon-Prenois | June 7-9
Dix Mille Tours - Paul Ricard Circuit | August 30 - September 3
Estoril Classics - Estoril Circuit | October 4-6