MSR still in IMSA in 2024 ? - Michael Shank : « We don't know yet »

The proven cheating of which Meyer Shank Racing was found guilty at the last 24 Hours of Daytona has somewhat tarnished relations between the Pataskala (Ohio) team and its partner Acura. There are now major doubts as to whether the #60 ARX-06 will compete in IMSA next year.

At a press conference held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to make official the replacement of Helio Castroneves by Tom Blomqvist in IndyCar, team boss Michael Shank agreed to answer a few questions about IMSA.

After admitting that if his team were to take part in the 62nd edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castroneves would certainly be part of the crew, he had to answer a question about his plans for the North American endurance series next year.

"We're still working on that", he said. "They're up in the air right now. Those guys, through our tough January, have battled back and they're in the championship again, which is unbelievable. You put those points back on the board and they've checked out on the championship. We don't know yet, is the answer. We'll know probably in four to five weeks. This is my 20th year as a team in the Rolex. We've won it three times. We've had much success. It was kind of the start of all this. We're doing everything we can to stay on.I don't know what the odds are. They float. It goes from 50/50 to 80% right now. It's coming down to the last minute, which I don't like a lot. That's the way it is right now." 

Does it pin on a manufacturer? "That's a good question. In my life, Jim and I yelled at each other over this for a while now, the team that Jim and I have created on that side has won everything, is extremely competitive, fought back from a 200-point deficit, has a chance at the championship again. In my mind, they're at the pinnacle level of sports car racing. That's where they deserve to be. You can imagine where I think we need to be."

If Acura is not inclined to continue, it will have to find a fallback solution... but what could it be?