DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael Shank ended last year’s sports car season by winning the most prestigious endurance race in North America and then the IMSA championship.
In between, he expanded his IndyCar program and pursued a conscientious plan to build Meyer Shank Racing into an elite motorsport organization.
Now he’s poised to lead Acura into a new era of sports cars as IMSA opens its season on Saturday with the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the twice 24-hour endurance race that will debut the first hybrid engines used in North American motorsport. The top GTP class has switched to hybrids this year and Shank is one of two Acura factory teams.
MSR will be looking to defend last year’s victory from pole after Tom Blomqvist’s qualifying run – which Shank celebrated as enthusiastically as he did at last year’s IMSA Championship. Shank, who has two Rolex 24 wins, an Indy 500 win and last year’s IMSA Championship, said the pole-winning run “brings me more joy than I have in a long time.”
Why?
“Because what happened in the past doesn’t matter to me or anyone else who pays us. What matters now is what happens here,” Shank said, adding that Honda Performance President David Salters simply told him Shank’s job at the Acura is “to drive as hard as possible and leave everything out for qualifying, and we did. ”
The No. 60 is clearly prepared and the line-up of Bloomqvist, Colin Braun and endurance riders Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud completed four consecutive practice sessions and won poles. Castroneves, who turns 48 in May, is chasing both a third straight Rolex win and a record fifth Indianapolis 500 with MSR.
Castroneves won his first Rolex in 2021 with Wayne Taylor Racing, Shank’s top competition in IMSA because both teams want to be Acura’s top factory program. Both would also like to expand to two cars and Acura currently operates two cars split between MSR and Wayne Taylor Racing.
But Shank said the move to hybrid forged a strong relationship between the two teams, and now that Taylor has worked with Andretti Autosport, Shank believes his own IndyCar alliance with Andretti will benefit.
The overall organizational climb – Shank won his first Rolex 24 in 2012 and his second a decade later – has since attracted strong partners in the form of co-owner Jim Meyer, investor Liberty Media and strong funding from AutoNation and Sirius. However, as an underdog team, he still has a complex.
“It’s probably because of my OCD and my issues, but I’ve always felt like we’re undervalued and disrespected,” Shank said. “I’ve always fought for respect and people look at me like I’m crazy. But I’m telling you, for some reason, there’s always an underlying thing with me.
“I switched to Meyer Shank Racing from Michael Shank Racing, Liberty Media is a big part of my life. These guys at Liberty expect us to win and not lose money. And the same goes for Jim Meyer. There is a pressure, a core pressure from the ownership group and I take it very seriously.”
Pagenaud, who has just completed his first IndyCar season with MSR, praised his boss’s enthusiastic approach. Pagenaud had a disappointing debut season with a podium and finished 15th overall. Castroneves finished 18th overall, leading Pagenaud in seventh and eighth at Indy.
Shank said the team didn’t give Pagenaud what he needed to be successful last season but made gains before the end of the year. Now Pagenaud believes he can boast a top-five season in IndyCar this year, and the Rolex lineup is confident they can make it to back-to-back 24-hour wins.
“I feel like the team, HPD and Acura have done a really good job of making the car better and better at every test we’ve had. It’s incredibly impressive how much more drivable and driver-friendly the car is,” said Braun in his first season at MSR. “It’s so much about the team and the work and effort that these guys have put in. This Meyer Shank Racing group has worked really, really hard to get these big wins and I think it shows in our performance.”
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