IMSA: Enerson expanding horizons

RC Enerson was one of the sensations of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series, and while the teenage Floridian would love to continue in open-wheel, he's turned his attention to IMSA's Prototype class to start 2017.

Enerson made headlines for his raw speed and maturity during select appearances last year for Dale Coyne Racing, and while the 19-year-old was mentioned as a candidate for a few full-season IndyCar rides during the offseason, the open-wheel grid has been filled in record time. As a result, a turn to sports cars in IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team is where Enerson will start the season.

As part of a multi-driver rotation in the No. 52 Ligier JS P217-Gibson prototype, Enerson got his first taste of the car and IMSA competition during last week's Roar Before the 24 test at Daytona International Speedway. Having enjoyed his time in the rapid WEC-spec P2 run by the California-based team, Enerson has decided to sign on for the Jan. 28-29 Rolex 24 at Daytona season opener.

"It was tough last year in IndyCar; we had some really good showings and wanted to continue but things didn't fall our way," Enerson told RACER. "We would still like to continue in IndyCar and have always considered sports cars, but realized we need to be racing somewhere, so we thought we'd dip our toes into the Prototype class and broaden our horizons."

Sampling the Ligier JS P217 at Daytona lived up to Enerson's expectations.

"It's a lot of fun, and it's a totally different style of racing than I'm used to, but I really like it," he said. "There's so much to learn. It's a lot about learning more racecraft, how to get through traffic since we're the fastest class, and how to do that over 24 hours is a big deal. It's pretty crazy. It isn't just logging laps for 24 hours. It's about keeping your mental focus and it's a ton of fun."

Enerson hasn't given up hope on returning to IndyCar on a part-time basis, and is also open to doing more IMSA races if the Rolex 24 goes as planned.

"For right now, it's just a deal for the Rolex 24," he said. "I still have a lot to get used to like the closed cockpit, which is pretty small in terms of visibility, and getting a feel for what's around you. So we'll see how the race goes and how I like the car and the series in that environment; maybe we'll do just the endurance races, maybe more than just those, and we're also looking pretty hard in the IndyCar side, too. We want to be racing as much as we can, maybe in both series if that's possible."