Watch Scots racers step up in the US and at home

RYAN Dalziel helped power Era Motorsport to a great LMP2 second place at Laguna Seca – and left California leading the IMSA Sportscar Championship class standings.

The Airdrie racer joined Dwight Merriman in their Oreca and produced a flawless display. Merriman started from sixth and kept his opening stint very smooth, working his way up to second before handing over to Dalziel.

With an hour and 40 minutes left, the Scot also stayed out of trouble for a sprint in the final half hour, finishing second behind Louis Deletraz.

He said: “Today was a really good result. Coming into the event, we had an opportunity to leave here with driver point leads and we accomplished that.

“It was a tough race, with only one yellow flag. The car was really good, the crew nailed their pit stops and Dwight had a brilliant stint, so it was a good points day.”

Glasgow star Stevan McAleer was in the GTD class with Alex Premat in the Korthoff Mercedes-AMG and they came home in fifth place.

McAleer was on double duty in California and defied food poisoning to charge from 13th to second in the Pilot Challenge, building on Premat’s start in the RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman.

He said: “What a hard fight – I love this GT4 racing in the Pilot Challenge. There wasn’t a single car I caught that was easy to pass. I was feeling terrible all day but coming from 13th to second in the closing stages was as fun as could be.”

Further down the field, Robin Liddell, from Edinburgh, and Frank DePew came home 15th in the Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

Back in the UK, Fife’s Dean Macdonald was in the Garage 59 assault on the GT World Challenge Europe series with Miguel Ramos at Brands Hatch.

The young Kelty star helped them to fourth and then third place finishes in