Meyer Shank Racing demonstrated strong race pace at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, leading 53 of 118 laps on the way to a fourth place finish on Sunday. Olivier Pla and Dane Cameron combined in the No. 60 Acura DPi for the seventh round of the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship.
Cameron started the two-hour, forty minute race from the outside front row and slotted into second at the start The California-native moved into the lead on lap 23 when the race-winning No. 10 Acura took to pit lane. Cameron continued to lead for 15 laps and grew the advantage to the rest of the field to nearly 20-seconds before turning the car over to Pla on a lap 38 pit stop.
“I started the race on the tires we qualified on, and that is always tricky and even more so on this track which is always such a challenge grip-wise,” said Cameron. “We had a good progression of pace from where we started the weekend, and it was nice to be out front for a bit, but unfortunately things didn’t play out for a big result for us today.”
Pla rejoined in sixth, but was able to move up the order after a range of fuel strategies played out and retook the lead on lap 51. Pla led the next 28 laps, holding the advantage until lap 97 as he balanced the pace with fuel consumption. The long final green flag run saw the No. 60 Acura move into a more severe fuel save mode in the closing stages, with Pla coming across the line in fourth.
“The car had good performance today,” said Pla. “I felt like from the first stint, I had something to push with, and something to play with. It felt really good, like what we had at Watkins Glen. But with the strategy, we couldn’t use that performance especially on the last stint so it was a frustrating finish for us today.”
The IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship will reconvene in just two weeks time when the California swing of the IMSA season continues at the Acura Grand Prix at Long Beach. The event will see both sides of the Meyer Shank Racing race program in action as the two-car INDYCAR team and IMSA Acura DPi effort race on the same event for the first time since the Detroit Grand Prix in June.
Source. Sunday Group
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