Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian continued the team’s winning ways at Watkins Glen International on Sunday when the team delivered a second consecutive victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a win in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen. The win follows up the team’s breakthrough victory for the Acura NSX GT3 in the previous round at Detroit.
The No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 of Andy Lally and Katherine Legge, which led 101 laps of the 187-lap race, took the victory to give Michael Shank Racing its first win in the endurance classic.
The victory adds to Michael Shank Racing’s list of wins in the crown jewel endurance events of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – having already won the Rolex 24 (2012) and Petit Le Mans (2016).
While the team celebrated the win for the No. 93, the squad was also left to rue what might have been for the No. 86 Acura NSX GT3 of Ozz Negri and Jeff Segal.
After strong practice sessions during the weekend, Negri led the morning warm up and the duo was hopeful to carry that positive momentum into the race. The pairing led laps and ran in podium contention throughout almost the entire six hours with flawless pit stops and strategy from the pit box.
While running second with about a half an hour remaining in the race, the No. 86 stopped on track with Segal reporting a hub failure on the car.
“We’ve never, ever won the Six Hours of the Glen, after 14 years and 20 entries,” said Team Owner Mike Shank. “We are so happy and so proud for the No. 93 but also just gutted for the 86. That’s my first thought – they deserved to be on the podium today. It is a true team effort – I can’t over emphasize how happy I am with this Acura NSX GT3 and where it’s going right now. We’ll hopefully keep it going at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.”
Michael Shank Racing returns right to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition next weekend for Round 7 of the championship at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
DRIVER QUOTES:
Andy Lally, No. 93 Acura NSX GT3: “Man, we’re in victory lane in New York! To get my fourth victory here and my first since 2010 is awesome. Thanks to the whole Michael Shank Racing team, to Katherine (Legge), to Dale (Wise, engineer) on the box, Lee (Niffenegger, Program Senior Engineer at Honda Performance Development) and Art (St. Cyr, President at Honda Performance Development) and Steve (Eriksen, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at Honda Performance Development) and also my teammates in the No. 86. They helped give us feedback to get our car where it was and they got some really unlucky breaks today or they would have been right there fighting us for the win.”
Katherine Legge, No. 93 Acura NSX GT3: “This is a dream come true. To win two in a row is just awesome. Obviously, a huge thanks to Andy (Lally) because he was a rock star! It was amazing. I’m very proud of the entire team. It was down to their pit stops and the strategy that we got another one – two in a row! I can’t hardly believe it. I am just gutted for Ozz (Negri) and Jeff (Segal) – they were right there with us and it would have been great to be on the podium with them.”
Ozz Negri, No. 86 Acura NSX GT3: “We pushed really hard here and felt very comfortable. This weekend we worked on the car so that it suited us well. We definitely had the pace and I felt comfortable leading for quite a while. I am very happy for our sister car and for Andy and Katherine. But again, it could have been another double podium. Unfortunately, that’s how things go sometimes but we are fighters and we will keep fighting.”
Jeff Segal, No. 86 Acura NSX GT3: “For us, we were running incredibly strong. We had a rough start to the weekend and were scratching our heads a little bit. The 93 car was strong all weekend so it was really nice to have them to rely on, to compare notes and setups and data. We turned it around this morning – Ozz (Negri) was P1 this morning in warmup and drove an awesome middle stint. We asked him to go fast and save fuel and that’s not an easy thing so full credit to him. Andy (Lally, in the No. 93) had a little extra speed at the end so we let him go but on that last set of tires the tables kind of turned and we were right there in podium contention. We were biding our time in second place – I don’t know if we had anything for the No. 93 but a one-two would have been nice.”
Source. Sunday Group
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