Meyer Shank Hits Back at Doubters Following IMSA Win at Mosport

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After its season-opening victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January was all but vacated by IMSA, the panache and cutting-edge confidence of the Acura team led by Mike Shank seemed to disappear.

Its heavy-duty points penalty for racing with low tire pressures knocked Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian out of WeatherTech Championship contention. It was an added gut punch to have been turned in by Honda Performance Development to IMSA for software improprieties discovered in the weeks after the race.

Once the penalties were announced in March, co-owner Mike Shank took ample criticism for casting a cloud over the first GTP race featuring the new generation of hybrid prototypes, which is intended to revitalize IMSA. Following the team’s victory from the pole at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada for drivers Tom Blomqvis and Colin Braun on Sunday using both pace and strategy, Shank hit back.

“This was a little bit of redemption,” said Shank, who fired his chief engineer once IMSA found an illegal bypass of its telemetry for monitoring minimum pressure in the Michelin tires, regulated for all teams.

“A lot of nasty things were said about my team, my partner, my family,” continued Shank. ”It’s not warranted after January. This (victory) is all for them, the doubters.”

The second-place finish at Mosport left the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport looking for its first GTP victory of the season. It was the runner-up at Daytona, but IMSA elected to not change the finishing order after the belated discovery of the winners racing with tire pressures below the mandated minimum.

Mosport was not kind to Cadillac. Its point-leading Action Express Racing team got caught out by caution periods and ran offline late in the event while contesting position, soon to be followed by the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R of Chip Ganassi Racing. The latter suffered a second major crash in as many months bringing out a caution with just under five minutes remaining.

Renger van der Zande was nudged off entering Turn 8 by the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8. The driver, who had a huge crash at Spa, again walked away, this time following a head-on collision with a tire barrier at nearly racing speed. Augusto Farfus was penalized by IMSA for avoidable contact with a drive through penalty.

Blomqvist, Braun Win Again

Michael Shank’s drivers Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun proved they could win again on board their Acura ARX-06 after getting some help with the typical style of the Shank team—by gambling. Mosport’s daunting high-speed dash through glacially formed hills uses up a lot of fuel and energy, but the team paid no heed. It rolled the dice with only victory in mind given its points position.