The long shadow of air pressure manipulation could cost Meyer Shank Racing its factory contract with Acura – team owners prefer to point to sporting matters
In English, it’s called the “elephant in the room” – a rather obvious fact that no one wants to spell out. At Meyer Shank Racing (MSR), the question since the revelation in early March has been what impact the tyre pressure manipulation will have on the team’s future at the 2023 Daytona 24 Hours.
The damage to the team’s image is considerable, especially as competitors have already asked the obvious question about what actually happened to the tyre pressures in the 2022 MSR championship season. And how Honda Performance Development (HPD), to whom the team publicly apologised in a statement, would react to its own reputational damage.
The answer came back in May when Wayne Taylor Racing announced a two-car commitment for the 2024 IMSA season with its new partner Andretti Autosport. Acura has always been represented by two factory-supported cars in IMSA since its factory entry in 2018.
It’s also noticeable that HPD, who usually acknowledge every IMSA win with a press release, didn’t do so for Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist’s triumph at the Mosport race in Canada.
2024 season in limbo
Team owner Michael “Mike” Shank admits on the sidelines of the Road America race, “We’re still working [on the 2024 season]. It’s coming down to the last minute, which I don’t really like. But that’s the way it is right now. I don’t know what the chances are [of getting a grid spot]. It varies between 50 and 80 per cent. “
Should Acura fail to expand its factory commitment to three cars, MSR would only be left with the step of becoming a customer team. Porsche is currently the only manufacturer actively offering LMDh customer cars for the GTP class. Cadillac has done so at least in the past during DPi times.
But is involvement as a private team even possible? Shank lets it slip between the lines that a factory commitment is really the only option: “Good question. I’ve already talked to [co-owner] Jim Meyer about that.”
“The team we’ve built has won it all, is very competitive, fought back from a 200-point deficit and now has a shot at the title again. From my point of view, [the team members] are at the top of sportscar racing and deserve to be there. So you can imagine where we think we should be. “
Focus on title fight
This is the story Shank prefers to tell: how the team fought its way back after the initial setback. After deducting 200 points, Blomqvist and Braun have crept to within 120 points of championship leaders Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor. 120 points is the difference between P1 and P8 in the points system of an IMSA race.
The leader of the standings is, of all things, the other Acura ARX-06 from arch-rival Wayne Taylor Racing. Incidentally, it hasn’t won a race in 2023 yet, but it has conquered the lead in the standings with consistency.
“Since the difficult January, these guys have fought their way back and are back in the championship fight, which is incredible. If they gave us the points back they’d be as good as champions by now,” Shank said.
“We’ll probably know in four or five weeks where we are [in terms of 2024]. It’s my 20th year as a team owner at the 24 Hours of Daytona, which we’ve won three times. That was the start of everything, so we’re giving it our all to stay in it.”
Two races remain on the schedule: the new race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Jim Meyer: “We’re in the thick of the fight. Keep your eyes on us.”
Shank adds, “If we’re in the lottery after Indianapolis, too, then you better come to the Petit Le Mans. It’ll be like a NASCAR race at Martinsville!”
