High School Sophomore Has Ride in Both Sebring Endurance Races
By Godwin Kelly
SEBRING, Fla. – Three years ago, Josh Pierson was racing go-karts. Now at the ripe old age of 16, the high school sophomore boasts premier rides in the world’s top sports car series.
After a stellar 2021 season in the open-wheel junior USF2000 Championship, the native of Wilsonville, Oregon tested an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) car with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports and was offered a ride in the No. 11 ORECA LMP2 07 for this season.
When motorsports magnate Zak Brown heard of Pierson’s impressive test at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in California, he asked the phenom to test a FIA World Endurance Championship LMP2 in Austria. Soon after, Pierson was invited to drive the No. 23 United Autosports ORECA for the 2022 WEC campaign.
This weekend at Sebring International Speedway, the teen is doubling up by driving Friday in WEC’s 1000 Miles of Sebring and Saturday in the WeatherTech Championship’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts.
Pierson made his WeatherTech Championship debut while still 15 years old in January at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, driving on a track he had never seen before January. The team posted a DNF after starter and clutch failures.
“We made it to the 22-hour mark,” Pierson said. “We learned a lot as a team. This was the first time that PR1 had run two cars. We had a lot of kinks to work out. It was like running two different teams. We just had a lot to learn.”
Soon after, Pierson whisked off to Abu Dhabi for back-to-back four-hour races as part of the Asian Le Mans Series. Paired with Paul Di Resta, Pierson drove three of the four hours in each race and the No. 23 United Autosports LMP2 lapped the field both times.
“I didn’t have anything to complain about that weekend,” Pierson said. “I got to know everyone at United, got to meet everyone working on my car and who know WEC very well. We had good pace. It was good races for us to do. It was a big confidence booster.”
Even though he’s driving LMP2 cars in both races this weekend, the IMSA and WEC cars are not identical. The WeatherTech Championship LMP2 has more downforce than its WEC cousin.
“They feel like completely different cars,” Pierson said. “The thing that will be interesting for me will be jumping back and forth from the WEC car to the IMSA car and having to adapt to those changes very quickly.”
As for running in both endurance races on consecutive days, Pierson said, “I’m not too worried about it. From the physical side of things, I’m pretty good right now. I’m not nervous about it. I tend to power through things that maybe some other guys can’t.”
Pierson’s father, Greg, said Josh started karting at age 2 when his older sister Jordan tried it out. Young Josh took to it naturally and, despite being exposed to other sports, his passion remained in racing.
“I told him years ago that as long as he was having fun and getting better, we would keep supporting it,” Greg Pierson said. “Now it’s 13 years later and he’s flying all over the world and racing with United Autosports and PR1. It’s been quite the adventure. I won’t pretend to understand how he got to this skill level. I just know that he loves it and I love watching him do it.”
The Piersons are taking the family aspect to the next and meaningful level with the PR1 Mathiasen entry. Josh watched as his grandfather has suffered the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s and wanted to do whatever he could to help.
“Josh has seen firsthand this decline,” Greg Pierson said. “He came to me and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to get a lot of attention (racing) this next year. Is there a way I can use some of this attention to help my grandpa somehow?’ So, I called the Alzheimer’s Association and they said this is a great idea. They made him what they call ‘End Alz’ athlete, which is pretty cool.
“It’s a pretty awesome list of athletes to be a part of, so we’ve got their hashtag (#ENDALZ) on the car and throughout the year he’s going to be doing spots for them. We want to use that attention as a platform. I’m proud of the kid.”
Pierson will team with co-drivers Steven Thomas and Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 11 PR1 Mathiasen LMP2 in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The race streams live on Peacock beginning at 10 a.m. ET, with TV coverage picking up on USA at 3:30 p.m. through the race finish.