Shank & Harvey Set For Six-Race IndyCar Schedule
INDIANAPOLIS – Michael Shank Racing and driver Jack Harvey will embark on a six-race Verizon IndyCar Series program next season.
The announcement, made Friday at the PRI Trade Show in the Indiana Convention Center, is the latest step for Shank as he continues to build towards a full-time Verizon IndyCar Series program.
“It’s a big step for my team. We’ve been trying to do it for a long, long time,” said team owner Michael Shank. “We felt it was the right time, the right situation, everything was kind of lining up to do it the right way.
“We’ve been in business for 23 years racing cars solely for a living and we’ve taken conservative steps every step of the way. We saw this as a shot to be competitive, not over reach out budget and try to build something over the next two years.”
The car, which will carry sponsorship from SiriusXM and AutoNation, will also have technical support from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Shank said Friday the team recently acquired a new chassis, which will be assembled at the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports before being handed off to MSR.
“I’m good with taking small steps. It’s that conservative side that has served us well,” Shank said. “It has gotten us a lot of wins and poles and things in sports cars. We have a lot to prove in IndyCar though. We have the right people in place already, equipment is ordered and the technical alliance has started to work, so we’ll see.”
Shank said the team will kick off the season at in St. Petersburg, Fla., before heading to Long Beach, Calif., and then Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500. Three additional races will be announced at a later date.
Curb Records, CAP and Associates, Rocky Fork Co. and Roberts Service Group will also serve as sponsors for the Verizon IndyCar Series program.
Harvey returns to Michael Shank Racing after joining the team to compete in the Indianapolis 500 last season. He started 27th and finished 30th after a crash on lap 65. He also made two additional starts with Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports, scoring a best finish of 14th at Watkins Glen Int’l.
“I’m extremely lucky with AutoNation and SiriusXM that they have stuck with me this year and this relationship is growing and building,” Harvey said. “It’s a multi-year agreement with the two teams I raced with last year.
“I like Michael a lot as person,” Harvey continued. “He’s been extremely successful in everything that he has done. I know Sam so well because he brought me from Europe to North America in the first place. This is a great collaboration of people.”
Michael Shank Racing has confirmed the driver roster for his Acura sports car program. (IMSA Photo)
In addition to announcing the Verizon IndyCar Series program, Shank also announced the details of his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Acura NSX GT Daytona program. The team, which had factory support from Acura in 2017, will run one full-time entry and a second part-time entry in the North American Endurance Cup races.
Justin Marks and Lawson Aschenbach will share full-time driving duties in the No. 93 Acura NSX. They’ll be joined by Mario Farnbacher during the endurance events and A.J. Allmendinger will return to the team for the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
Katherine Legge, who drove one of two Acura NSX entries for Shank last season, will share driving duties of the No. 86 Acura NSX alongside former Pirelli World Challenge GT champion Alvaro Parente. Additional drivers for the part-time MSR Acura NSX will be announced at a later date.
“We had a big funding shift after 2017 in IMSA. IMSA said we couldn’t have factory efforts, so we’ve had to raise money to run the sports cars,” Shank explained. “
Source :speedsport.com
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