Meyer Shank Racing claims first Rolex 24 win 10 years from its last

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 30, 2022 5:17 PM ET

After 24 hours, it was a team of drivers competing together for the first time, including a Rolex 24 At Daytona rookie, that took the Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura to victory lane, 10 years after Mike Shank’s last victory in the 24-hour race.

With an all-new driver line-up of Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, the Acura team looked lost in the beginning of the race. They had started the middle of seven DPi cars, fell to last and went a lap down with a tire puncture early in the race. But smart strategy brought them back into contention.

“I believe we were the fastest on pit lane,” said Pagenaud. “I haven’t seen the numbers, but I can guarantee you we were and the guys did a great job in the pits. No mistakes, execution was amazing. But first and foremost was the strategy. We were able to save fuel and go longer than anyone. And this team, they set themselves up to make sure at the end we would put less fuel in the car, would take less time, to leapfrog everybody basically in the pits. And that’s exactly what happened.”



Blomqvist, who missed a Rolex win several years ago due to visa issues, was the Rolex rookie of the bunch. Jarvis is fresh from the shuttered Mazda DPi program. Castroneves and Pagenaud are MSR’s IndyCar Series drivers brought in for the 24-hour race. And they jelled immediately and performed admirably to deliver a win that MSR had lacked in 2021.

“I was just going crazy today because we came out of the gate and we went from where we started fourth or third to last and, I went, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ We went to work and we made the car better and I stopped talking on the intercom,” said team co-owner Mike Shank.

“We needed this bad — real bad. We had a real tough year last year,” he added.

The Acura fell a lap down early due to a tire puncture, but six hours in was back on the lead lap. The cars took its turn in the lead now and then, but it wasn’t until just before dawn on Sunday morning that the car truly looked like a contender. When trouble struck the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs that had mostly dominated the race — the No. 01 was felled by an apparent alternator problem and the No. 02 with a fuel pump issue — it distilled into a four-horse race with the MSR Acura, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura, the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac and the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac.

While the No. 5 with Loic Duval at the wheel looked strong in the late going during the longest period of green flag running, late yellows shook up the order and equalized the field. Once that happened, the No. 5, which also included Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook and Ben Keating, seemed to lose the pace that had allowed it put a gap on the rest of the field. From the two-hours-to-go mark, it was looking very much like an Acura vs. Acura battle.

Blomqvist took the lead from Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 WTR machine after 22 hours of racing before handing the car over to Castroneves. The final yellow came out with about 50 minutes left, and the four DPi contenders all pitted, with the No. 60 emerging in the lead after taking fuel only. With 43 minutes left in the race, making it to the end was questionable. Both Cadillacs would pit for a splash before the caution ended to make sure they could make it to the end. In doing so, they likely made it possible for the Acuras to make it to the finish by extending the caution. The final green waved with 30 minutes to go, and it was all Castroneves out front to take the win over the No. 10 of Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens. The WTR team was going for its fourth-straight Rolex 24 victory. The only position change in the final half hour was the Duval passing Pipo Derani into the No. 31 to take third for the No. 5.

There was a bit of drama on the final lap for MSR when Castroneves came upon the GTD Pro fight that was coming to a head in the Le Mans Chicane, nee Bus Stop. Not only did Castroneves nearly get caught up in an accident, it slowed him and allowed Taylor to close some of the gap.

“I saw nothing, which was absolutely dirt and I and then I felt a lot of things … like changing my underwear was one of them,” laughed Castroneves. “Code Brown was another one. I was like all over the place and and thank God that car just keep skidding and did not stop right away. I did anticipate it because my spotter did mention it was a fight for win. I did not expect a big crash like that and right in front of me. It was a little bit of anticipation and luck at the same time. And thank God I had a little bit of a gap between me and Ricky. It was very scary. I don’t I don’t think any moment of the race I had that kind of scary scenario and until that one.”

 

Herta delivers late heroics for DragonSpeed to take LMP2 victory

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 30, 2022 5:31 PM ET

The DragonSpeed LMP2 squad of Eric Lux, Devlin Defrancesco, Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta looked to be out of the fight for the LMP2 win after going three laps down, largely thanks to pit lane violations for the No. 81 ORECA. But the cautions allowed them to get back on the lead lap in the late going, and speed put them out front of the No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA of John Farano, Louis Deletraz, Rui Pinto de Andrade before the final pit stops. But taking fuel only put the No. 8 in front, leaving Herta to make a dramatic late-race pass for victory.

“They didn’t take tires, I took tires,” Herta explained. So that’s kind of how they jumped up in the pits. And so I knew that I would have a little bit of a grip advantage, but it is quite difficult to get a run and pass in these cars, especially at the Bus Stop, you get a lot of aero wash. So I took a few tries and it didn’t happen until he got a little help from traffic and he backed off going into the bus stop to get a run in I was able to go to the inside of him.”

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Herta dived inside, while Deletraz seemed to be caught off guard, started to turn in, realized Herta was there and jerked back the other way, taking a ride through the grass, but holding on to finished second. The No. 29 Racing Team Nederland of Frits van Eerd, Giedo van der Garde, Dylan Murry and Rinus Veekay ended up third. Pole-sitters Ben Keating, Mikkel Jensen, Scott Huffaker and Nicolas Lapierre in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen ORECA were fourth, on the same lap.
'@ColtonHerta passes FOR THE LEAD in LMP2!@PatricioOWard and the @DragonSpeedLLC team are LOVING IT! #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/rgUwDZfmOn

— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC)

The Riley Motorsport LMP3 squad, Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Kay van Berlo and Michael Cooper, making his first LMP3 and first Rolex 24 start, won LMP3 for the second year, although only Robinson was in the No. 74 Ligier last year. By the end of the race, they were the only LMP3 car on the lead lap, the second-place team of Joao Barbosa, Malthe Jakobbsen, Set Priaulx and Lance Willsey in the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport a lap down and the third-place No. 54 CORE Autosport Ligier of Jon Bennett, Colin Braun, George Kirts and Nic Jonsson another lap back.

“Bill Riley has a lot of experience running many different cars in this race and being very successful with it,” said Robinson. “So we went with kind of a conservative, old-school style endurance race where you had to take care your car, make sure it finished, stay on their lead lap and be very, very strict on making sure you never put a wheel wrong. And we did the exact same thing this year, but the difference in this year and last year was this felt like GTD was where it is a sprint race from the green flag to the checker for 24 hours. Every one of us had to push the entire time that we were in the car.”

 

Pfaff takes dramatic GTD Pro win after final lap Porsche battle

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 30, 2022 6:13 PM ET

Pfaff Motorsports took the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD title with Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor. Little did team owner Chris Pfaff and team manager Steve Bortolotti know when they moved to IMSA’s new GTD Pro class with an all-Porsche-factory driver lineup of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, plus new Porsche hire Felipe Nasr for the endurance races, it would be their former driver Vanthoor battling them for the Rolex 24 win in the final hours.

The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R seemed in control of the first GTD Pro field from the beginning. But before long it was clear that the No. 2 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3R of Vanthoor, Patrick Pilet, Dennis Olsen and Alexandre Imperatori would be a threat for the win. The Asian team, which had already scored a Le Mans win in LMP2, was making its first Rolex 24 At Daytona start, and nearly won the thing.

The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche of Cooper MacNeil, Julien Andlauer, Matteo Cairoli and Alessio Picariello was making its presence known early, and the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG of MacNeil, Daniel Juncadella, Maro Engel and Jules Gounon looked like contender later. Both, however, ended up having issues.

In the end, although the No. 62 Risi Ferrari 44 GT3 and its strong driver lineup of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon and the No. 14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood were always close, it came down to a fight between Pfaff and KCMG. For the final two hours, the battle between Jaminet and Vanthoor raged, with Jaminet ending up in front for the final stint and trying to hold off Vanthoor, for whom the Rolex is the biggest prize he hasn’t won.

“Those last two hours have been maybe the most stressful of my life,” said Jaminet. “Yeah, I mean, what a crazy fight with Laurens. We all know how good he is, one of the best GT drivers out there in the world. We had a great fight. It was sometimes on the limit, maybe even over.”

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Two laps from the end, Vanthoor attacked Jaminet on the outside in Turn 1, cut back inside at Turn 2, went side-by-side and finally, after several incidents of contact and as the two Porsches were alongside each other in the Kink, took the lead. Jaminet wasn’t done, however, as he attacked in Turn 3 to take the lead back on the final lap. As they headed into the Le Mans chicane –oto Bus Stop – Vanthoor pulled alongside again and the two had side-to-side contact with Vanthoor getting the worst of it and going into a half-spin. Jaminet continued to take the victory for the No. 9.

“I’m at a loss for words,” said 2021 DPi co-champ Nasr, making his first GT start after being picked up by Porsche for its LMDh program. “I’ve been trying so hard to win this race since I’ve been coming here in 2012. I came close in ’18 and ’19. And the first time driving for Porsche here and having those two aces in the car, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet – it was incredible! What a last lap – that was incredible what he did!”
OH MY GOODNESS.

Door banging for the GTD Pro class in the final moments! #Rolex24 x @Daytona pic.twitter.com/ogB5eYizOj

— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC)

The incident allowed the No. 62 Risi Ferrari to move into second, while Vanthoor gathered the Porsche up to finish third for KCMG.

In the debut of the GTD Pro class, the teams familiar with GT3 cars certainly seemed to have the edge, although the former GTLM teams, BMW Team RLL and Corvette Racing were dealing with new GT3 cars in the case of the BMW M4 GT3 or the converted-from-GTLM Corvette C8.R GTD. The BMWs struggled with pace all week, and most times the Turner Motorsports M4 GT3 running in GTD was quicker. The Corvettes seems to fare better in the race and were flirting with top-five finishes until both struck trouble.

For much of the final fight between Jaminet and Vanthoor, Jan Heylen had a front-row seat. At that point, he was in control of GTD in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R he shared with Robichon, Ralph Hardwick and Richard Lietz. Likely the only reason he wasn’t pulling away from the No. 21 AF CorseFerrari 488 GT3 of Simon Mann, Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen – driving at that point – and Toni Vilander was that the Jaminet-Vanthoor battle was holding him up.

“You don’t expect to finish such a big race that way, but it was very much under control and even then, with three hours to go, we had a pretty substantial lead,” said Heylen. “You know there’s gonna be a yellow coming at some point, so I was a little nervous about that, but then the yellow came and we just had the pace. It’s never easy, but we didn’t have to do anything too crazy to to do what we did. It’s just a big team effort between the team and the drivers, not making any mistakes for 24 hours. That’s what gets you to the end and that’s what we did today.”

The No. 21 Ferrari got hit with a penalty late, and it was the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Johnathan Adam that survived to finish second in the Pro-Am class, with the No. 32 Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Mike Skeen, Stevan McAleer, Scott Andrews and James Davison finishing third. The AF CORSE Ferrari was the last car on the same lap in fourth.

The two teams that seemed to give Pfaff the biggest challenge were the polesitting and defending Rolex winner No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Mikael Grenier and Lucas Auer and the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S of Brendan Iribe, Frederic Schandorff, Jordan Pepper and Ollie Millroy. Winward Racing had mechanical difficulties that left them eight laps down, and the McLaren had brake issues that necessitated a caliper change last in the race.

 

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Rolex 24 Hour 7: Trouble hits several class contenders

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 29, 2022 9:13 PM ET

The seventh hour of the 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona ended under a yellow that started 20 minutes earlier due to the No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports America Ligier LMP3 car, which was involved in the incident earlier with the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and just re-emerged from the garage, but went off on the out lap.

The hour saw trouble strike several cars, including the pole-sitter in LMP3, the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier that stopped on course, went to the pits, then had to go back to the garage before re-emerging again.

The No. 4 Corvette also had issues, coming into the pits under the yellow, but not restarting. The crew pushed it to the garage where they have removed a lot of parts at the rear, including the rear undertray, working on the car.

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The No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing continues to lead, now with Kevin Magnussen in the car. The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura is now fully back in contention, running second with Simon Pagenaud.

Dennis Andersen leads LMP2 for High Class Racing in the No. 20 ORECA, with Ben Keating back in the No. 51 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA in second and the No. 69 G-Drive Racing by APR in second with James Allen at the wheel.

Leaders After seven hours:

DPi: Kevin Magnussen, No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac

LMP2: Dennis Andersen, No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA

LMP3: Seb Priaulx, No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier

GTD Pro: Jules Gounon, No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3

GTD: Giacomo Altoe, No. 19 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan

News and Notes:

• Jimmie Johnson Reminisced about growing up in San Diego and going to watch IMSA racing at Del Mar and seeing 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona Grand Marshal Bobby Rahal win the race. He says he knew then that he wanted to race prototypes on day. He had just finished his first stint in his second Rolex 24.

“The start went really well,” Johnson said. “The car balance was good we had a lot of potential in the car and now that we’ve gone through all four drivers in a pattern of cautions to change some parts and pieces on the car. We realize this significance of the damage and the damage was done to our car when the 01 got in the back of us when Jose was in the car. So fixing that was worth a big chunk of speed and we noticed there was some damage to the nose change the nose and the car was probably a second and a half faster after that last caution when I was in the car, were able to change the front the rear so I feel like there’s a lot more potential back in the car. And then hopefully we’re right back on base where we need to be.”

 

What happened to the first 6 hours?

 

Rolex 24 Hour 8: Kobayashi puts AXR back out front

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 29, 2022 10:07 PM ET

Kamui Kobayashi is back in the lead in the No 48 Action Express Cadillac. Front and rear bodywork was changed during a yellow when Jimmie Johnson was in the car, and he said the undamaged body made a huge difference in lap times. Alex Lynn is second in the No. 02 CGR Cadillac, in which Kevin Magnussen set a new fast lap of 1m34.000s right before handing it over.

“It was good to get some some laps get into nice rhythm,” said Magnussen after his first stint. “There’s a lot of traffic this year compared to last year; it’s super busy so it was really fun. I was having a good time and the car was great. We were in a good spot and able to be consistent and fast and get the fuel saving done that we needed and stay out of trouble, so a good start.”

The penalties continue to pile up, seriously hampering the chances of many teams that might be contenders for class wins in the 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona.

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Meyer Shank Racing claims first Rolex 24 win 10 years from its last

The No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier was leading LMP3 when it received a penalty for incident responsibility in contact with the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW M4 while Seb Priaulx was at the wheel. That car is now in third, a lap down from the LMP3 leaders.

More serious were the penalties handed out to the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG in the hands of Jules Gounon and the No. 14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Ben Barnicoat in GTD Pro, and the No. 19 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Giacomo Altoe) and the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (John Potter) having been handed 3m30s stops for improper final wave-by on the last caution. The No. 97 Mercedes-AMG and the No. 14 Lexus were one-two in GTD Pro when the penalties were announced.

As a result, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari with Daniel Serra at the wheel is back in front of GTD Pro, with Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 2 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3R in second and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche third.

Winward Racing is back in front in GTD, with Lucas Auer at the wheel of the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG, with Scott Andrews in the No. 32 Gilbert-Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG in second. Jan Heylen briefly led GTD in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche before handing the car over to Ralph Hardwick.

For now, LMP3 is a two car fight. Michael Cooper is leading in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, with Jon Bennett in the No. 54 CORE Autosport Ligier in second.

Leaders after eight hours:

DPi: Kamui Kobayashi, No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac

LMP2: Rui Pinto de Andrade, Tower Motorsport ORECA

LMP3: Michael Cooper, No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier

GTD Pro: Daniel Serra, No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3

GTD: Lucas Auer, No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3

News and Notes:

• Electrical issues were the cause behind the problems for the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier LMP3. The car that had been in contention for a win is now six laps down.
• By the Numbers: There are four IndyCar Series champions in the field, accounting for 12 titles. Drivers on the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac – Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Palou – account for all but one of those, the one earned by Simon Pagenaud on the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura. There are four Indianapolis 500 winners – Helio Castroneves, Dixon, Bourdais and Alexander Rossi – in the field. And, of course, one seven-time NASCAR Cup champion in Jimmie Johnson.

 

Rolex 24 Hour 9: Penalties hit GTD contenders

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 29, 2022 11:12 PM ET

The Ninth hour of the Rolex 24 at Daytona ended with the seventh full-course caution of the race due to a the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 driven by Michael Dinan spinning on the front street after contact with another car. It came on the heels of another yellow, a long one for Jon Bennett in the No. 54 CORE Autosport Ligier, which stopped briefly at the exit of the Le Mans Chicane but continued, so it was a short yellow.

The first yellow allowed the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing to get back on the lead lap by staying out as all the other DPi cars pitted, then getting the wave-around and pitting later. Seb Priaulx in the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier did the same thing, and at the end of the hour was not only on the lead lap, but in the lead being a bit off pit sequence to the other LMP3 contenders.

More IMSA!

Pfaff takes dramatic GTD Pro win after final lap Porsche battle

Herta delivers late heroics for DragonSpeed to take LMP2 victory

Meyer Shank Racing claims first Rolex 24 win 10 years from its last

The penalties continue to be handed out, now putting two of the top contenders in GTD in a hole. Both the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R received stop +60s penalties for running the red light at pit lane exit.

With the GTD violations, the No. 32 Gilbert Kortholff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG leads the class, with Jordan Pepper in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S in second.

The No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac leads with Alex Lynn at the wheel, with Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 in second.

Five cars in LMP2 are on the lead lap, with Dylan Murry in the No. 29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA leading, followed by Scott Huffaker in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA and Luca Ghiotto in the No. 69 G-Drive Racing by APR in third.

Leaders after nine hours:

DPi: Alex Lynn, No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac

LMP2: Dylan Murry, No. 29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA

LMP3: Seb Priaulx, No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier

GTD Pro: Laurens Vanthoor, No. 2 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3R

GTD: Scott Andrews, No. 32 Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG

News and Notes:

• Coming out of the No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA, Pato O’Ward said the track is getting really fast with a lot of rubber being laid down. Unfortunately due to a variety of penalties, that car is two laps down.
• Trouble hit the second Corvette, with the No. 4 still in the garage, the No. 3 went behind the wall with an alternator issue.
• By the Numbers: Fifty-seven drivers in the 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona have a class or overall win in the race in previous years. Twenty-one of those have multiple victories. Andy Lally, this year in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Lally has five class victories, but none overall. Joao Barbosa and Scott Dixon follow with four apiece.

 

Rolex 24 Hour 11: Nunez leads as another yellow slows pace

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | January 30, 2022 1:08 AM ET

Tristan Nunez leads the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac after 11 hours.

Nunez inherited the race lead by staying out when the race’s ninth caution flew late into the hour. He then held off a charging Helio Castroneves, now in the No. 60 for Meyer Shank Racing when Castroneves got to his outside going into Turn 1 on the restart. However, Castroneves wound up too wide to keep the position.

Helio Castroneves is now in the No. 60 for Meyer Shank Racing. Castroneves took the wheel from Tom Blomqvist, who put in a smooth stint to give the team the lead.

“It was a tough. It was tough,” Blomqvist said after getting out of the car. “It’s tough out there with the temperature and the amount of cars on track. But I’m enjoying it.”

More IMSA!

Pfaff takes dramatic GTD Pro win after final lap Porsche battle

Herta delivers late heroics for DragonSpeed to take LMP2 victory

Meyer Shank Racing claims first Rolex 24 win 10 years from its last

The ninth caution flew halfway through the hour. Fabio Scherer, leading the LMP2 class, spun into Turn 1 and backed his No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA into the tire barriers near Turn 6. Sherer was able to limp his back to pit road, but not without shedding parts and pieces around the course.

The only other incident involved Tristan Vautier in the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac. Vautier went off course shortly after exiting the pits but was able to keep running.

There were multiple lead changes in DPi during the hour, including by Alex Palou in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Palou stayed in the car through a fuel only pit stop. But it subsequently put Alexander Rossi put Wayne Taylor Racing at the front in the No. 10 Acura DPi.

Leaders after 11 hours:

DPi: Tristan Nunez, No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac

LMP2: Ferdinand Hasburg-Lothringen, No. 8 ORECA

LMP3: Kay van Berlo, No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier

GTD Pro: Patrick Pilet, No. 2 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3R

GTD: Mike Skeen, No. 32 Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG