{"id":89313,"date":"2023-01-30T14:15:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T22:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=89313"},"modified":"2023-01-30T14:15:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T22:15:34","slug":"meyer-shank-racing-goes-back-to-back-winning-rolex-24-at-daytona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/meyer-shank-racing-goes-back-to-back-winning-rolex-24-at-daytona\/","title":{"rendered":"Meyer Shank Racing Goes Back-to-Back Winning Rolex 24 at Daytona"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Meyer Shank Racing drivers celebrate in Ruoff Victory Lane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is always a difficult race to win. A victorious group must have a great team, a great car and great luck. There\u2019s always going to be eventualities that can set back even the most competent entries. And with a new prototype class for this year\u2019s 61st race, it was completely unknown if the hybrid power plants fielded by Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche were up to the task at hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Couple with that the fact that each manufacturer\u2019s entry had a different type of engine: Acura stayed with the V-6 twin turbos it\u2019s employed in both IMSA\u2019s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES; BMW and Porsche are using V-8 turbos of diverse output while Cadillac is the sole manufacturer using a naturally aspirated V-8 engine. All are mated to a Williams\/Bosch hybrid system and, for 2023, IMSA is using renewable fuel.<\/p>\n

There were a ton of variables present for this year\u2019s race, but the group that made its way to Ruoff Victory Lane at the close of 24 hours of racing around Daytona International Speedway\u2019s 3.56-mile road course that uses parts of the Speedway\u2019s oval circuit was the same team that vanquished all comers in last year\u2019s 60th rendition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura ARX-06 finished 4.190 seconds ahead of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s Acura<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It took Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) ten years before earning an initial win in the 50th Rolex 24; another ten years passed before MSR took the 60th edition\u2019s victory of this midwinter twice-around-the-clock contest, but only one year transpired for this Acura team that gave Acura and its motorsports arm, Honda Performance Development a second straight win and initial bragging rights in the new, LMDh era of IMSA racing. The sanctioning organization decided to brand these prototypes as GTP cars, hearkening to an earlier time when manufacturer competition was its calling card, just as it is today.<\/p>\n

Mike Shank and Jim Meyer have built a great Ohio-based team and hired exceptional drivers, including four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Hello Castroneves, of Brazil, who earned his fourth Indy 500 victory driving for MSR. French 2019 INDYCAR series and Indy 500 champ Simon Pagenaud joined his INDYCAR teammate Castroneves. They were placed with full-season drivers Tom Blomqvist of England and American Colin Braun, the latter making his first start for MSR. This was the team\u2019s 16th IMSA victory and the third consecutive Rolex 24 for both Acura and Castroneves. The only other driver to win three straight 24-hour races here was Peter Gregg, who accomplished the feat in the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n

As always, luck played a significant part in the winner\u2019s success. \u201cOur car had a gearbox problem all night,\u201d Shank confessed. \u201cI mean, all night, and we could not fix it. We decided just to run it until it blew up. It didn\u2019t blow up,\u201d the former driver who adapted well to team ownership said. Since Jim Meyer joined the team in 2018, there\u2019s really been few downsides; in IMSA, they\u2019ve been at the sharp end of most grids and were on pole position for this 24-hour endurance contest, and they\u2019ve performed exceptionally with Acura power. On this day, MSR led 365 of the 783 laps contested over two 12-hour periods.<\/p>\n

Towards the close of the race, following a final, 14th caution period with only a half-hour remaining in this enduro, the MSR team was in contact with their closest rivals and fellow Acura ARX-06 campaigners Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport (WTR\/A). \u201cWe knew we had issues going on, but we had a really fast race car. So did Wayne the No. 10 car, We wanted to make sure we had something for the last hour you saw there, which was really difficult for our car because we had little things. If you watch the race, we were in the pit lane probably more than anybody,\u201d Shank said.<\/p>\n

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The No. 10 Acura ARX-06 worked with the winners to make sure Acura secured the win<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second Acura team, WTR\/Andretti was second to the checkered flags, a scant 4.190 seconds behind Blomqvist at the checkered flags, with Chip Ganassi Racing\u2019s No. 01 yellow and black Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-LMDh prototype came home third and fourth with the No. 02 blue and black machine. The top four cars were separated by 11.176 seconds! Despite losing three laps in the night hours, this team fought back for its fifth consecutive podium and ninth top two since 2013.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Pagenaud\u2019s triple stint towards the end of the race that helped his teammates stay on course and it was a boon for the team. Shank told the Frenchman, \u201cI think that is the best thing I\u2019ve ever seen you do, certainly with us, on either side of the aisle. He drove – once we got new tires on – he did a triple stint there right at the end, and if you look at his average numbers, I think he\u2019s third overall quickest driver from the race. He just put in qualifiers for I don\u2019t know how many laps in a row and I love that! Simon is so mental about everything, that he will take that to Palm Springs next week and will do two days with the Indy car!\u201d<\/p>\n

Braun, who earned his first overall win, is the team\u2019s newest driver and has been known to get a bit ahead of himself in the past. He had some aggressive moments during the race but kept his head down and performed as needed. \u201cI guess, for me, I didn\u2019t think it was crazily aggressive.\u201d As for Blomqvist, who came to the team from the German DTM series, placed the No. 60 ARX-06 on pole position during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 a week earlier and then drove it to the checkered flags. He thanked the team \u201cfor putting the faith in me for both of those parts. My life was made easier with the car I had under me today and all week, really, this car has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The No. 55 Ligier won LMP2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The No. 17 took LMP3 honors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The LMP2 category winners of this race were the No. 55 ORECA\/Gibson of James Allen, Fred Poordad, Francesco Pizzi and Giammaria Bruni, all taking their first victories in this race. LMP3 went to the No. 17 AWA Duqueine, the team\u2019s first victory in this race, while drivers Thomas Merrill, Wayne Boyd, Anthony Mantella and Nico Varrone each earned their victories in this tough event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cooper MacNeil closed his driving career in style, winning GTD PRO in his 13th try<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the two sports car classes, GTD PRO and GTD had emotional winners, particularly in the GTD PRO division, where WeatherTech Racing\u2019s Cooper MacNeil earned his first victory in the race in his 13th and final try, racing the No. 79 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the win. MacNeil has planned to exit his driving career and devote more time and energy to the family business. He shared the white WeatherTech Mercedes with Mark Engel, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon. The Heart of Racing took their No. 27Aston Martin to an historic first win in the pro\/am GTD class, the reigning GTD champions Roman De Angelis, Ian James, Darren Turner and Marco Sorensen made it to the checkered flags before the GTD PRO winners with Aston Martin, which took its initial Rolex 24 at Daytona victory since arriving at this track in 1964!<\/p>\n

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The No. 27 Aston Martin GT3 GTD entry finished ahead of the GTD PRO winner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was the prototypes who took most the attention and why not? A new class, four manufacturers and the unknowns of racing a new car for 24 hours made the plot ever more intriguing. While the Cadillac entries managed well, Penske Porsche had issues that held it back from early in the going and BMW, which only started its program just 18 months ago, suffered battery issues early on that required changing the complete hybrid system. The BMWs were sixth and ninth in the nine-car field, while Penske Porsche were seventh and ninth.<\/p>\n

IMSA\u2019s 36 hours of Florida resumes next month with the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, a race weekend it shares with the World Endurance Championship\u2019s Hypercars.<\/p>\n

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The Rolex 24 at Daytona is always a difficult race to win. A victorious group must have a great team, a great car and great luck.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":89315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3470,5029,22],"tags":[6636,9174,4836,1579,361,395,9532,648,450],"class_list":["post-89313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-racing","category-event-coverage","tag-acura","tag-aston-martin","tag-bmw","tag-cadillac","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-imsa","tag-mercedes-amg","tag-porsche","tag-rolex-24-at-daytona"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/60-overall-winners-min-e1675116914112.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-nex","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89313"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89326,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89313\/revisions\/89326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}