With a driver line up that featured a Frenchman, a Brazilian-born American, and an American, Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian provided the racing demonstration of the American Dream as the Ohio-based team won the final race in the IMSA Daytona Prototype era with a tremendous victory in the 19th running of the Petit Le Mans on Saturday.
The team, which was celebrating its 250th Prototype class race start, utilized its Honda-powered Ligier to lead every practice session, score the pole position in qualifying, lead the most laps in the race and go on to set the fastest race lap in the final race of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on its way to the victory.
Drivers Olivier Pla (France), Ozz Negri (Brazil/USA), and John Pew (USA) combined to score a dramatic victory, winning by just under four seconds after 10 hours of racing.
The race was the final event for the top Prototype class with the current IMSA regulations expiring along with the waving of the checkered flag as a new crop of Daytona Prototype international (DPi) machines are set to take the green flag at Daytona in January 2017.
Michael Shank Racing has been tabbed by Acura Motorsports to campaign the incredible new Acura NSX GT3 machine in the GTD class starting in 2017 with a two-car effort.
The 10-hour race saw Pla lead from the start and move to a healthy lead on the field. The first pit stop though saw an issue emerge that would slow the pit stops for the rest of the race as a wheel nut at the back of the car had a problem.
Pew rejoined the pack one lap down but was able to race his way back into contention before turning the car over as the team cycled through drivers. Pace was never in question. However, there were many tense moments including Pla being hit by an errant Porsche and sending him into a spin late in the race.
Fortunately, even a late race yellow flag would not allow the competition to make up ground on the focused drivers and its determined crew, which scored its second win of the year (Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May with Negri and Pew). The team enjoyed the support not only of the many sponsor partners that the organization has developed, but also the many race fans that consider the squad “their” team, as evidenced by the many signatures that the car carried from fans that visited the team on Friday at the paddock.
The big effort also won the team the “Spirit of the Race” Award as voted on via Twitter by race fans listening to the IMSA Radio race broadcast.
The victory capped off an incredible year, as the team also contested its first-ever Le Mans 24 Hour in June, leading the race on the way to a top-10 finish in another chapter of incredible effort.
“I’m so proud of this entire team, these drivers, HPD and Honda,” said Team Owner Mike Shank. “Just everyone who is involved with this. We had a dominant car this weekend—I would have loved to have had a hot rod like this all year! It’s just a tribute to every single person involved with our team, from every direction. I want to say thank you. I’m lucky and proud to have a group like this. I can’t wait to take on our next project with the Acura NSX. This really sends us off well for that. It’s not ‘good bye’ for prototype forever, it’s just ‘see you later.’”
DRIVER QUOTES
OZZ NEGRI: “I can’t say enough about my team, Michael Shank Racing. My engineers, HPD/Honda, Ollie Pla, and mainly John Pew. I could not have asked for a better weekend. Pole, fastest lap, we led the most laps. I don’t think I’ve ever had a 40 second lead before! It was just like a fairytale! It is my last race with John and maybe my last Prototype race. I just have to thank God, I’m so blessed to experience this”
OLIVIER PLA: “We had a little incident with a Porsche, he just turned on me and there was nothing I could do. Then we had a little misfire after that. That was really scary, I was just praying we’d go to the end. But it was a perfect weekend, a dream weekend, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a perfect weekend. And so thank you so much to Michael Shank and this whole team. From the beginning, it has been great with this team, there are a lot of very good people here.”
JOHN PEW: “I couldn’t have asked for a better day, it was fantastic. Ollie (Pla) was unbelievable and really fast in traffic, just hammering away. That’s what made the difference. Ozz (Negri) did an incredible job as well. I’m happy to win this race, but I think I’m happier for this team. Mike (Shank) has some amazingly talented people—and just all around good guys—on this team. I’ve been so pleased to be a part of this for so many years and for us to close this chapter like this, it really is all you could ask for. I don’t know what to say, it’s so incredibly satisfying to have a win like this.”