As the first round of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Challenge sprint races begins this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) has plenty of reasons to get excited as the local team enters its 12th year of sports car competition at the 2.4-mile road course.
Coming off of the inaugural NTT IndyCar Series Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Ohio-based team now heads to the second consecutive Acura titled event this weekend for the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio.
Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher will share the driving duties in the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing/AutoNation Acura NSX GT3 for the two hour and 40-minute sprint race this Sunday.
Over the course of 11 years at Mid-Ohio, MSR has entered 21 cars that featured 20 different drivers including the likes of Ozz Negri, John Pew, Michael Valiente, Katherine Legge and Jack Harvey racing for the team in Rolex GRAND-Am Series, IMSA WeatherTech Championship and the NTT IndyCar Series competition.
2017 Michelin Endurance Cup champion Farnbacher will be making his first trip to the Midwest circuit. The German ace has produced several solid results for MSR over the past two seasons, including a big win in Detroit in 2018, and he now hopes to continue those results in front of MSR’s home crowd.
“I’ve never been to the Mid-Ohio so I don’t know what to expect,” said Farnbacher. “Trent and the team have already been helping me to prepare with videos and giving me tips and I am mega thankful for that. I am also looking forward to getting back to the track for the championship hunt with Trent, MSR and Acura especially since it’s a home race of Acura. Last year the car proved that it very good on track.”
Coming off of scoring his first IMSA Weathertech pole position at Sebring International, Hindman is rolling on momentum. Pulling double duty last season racing in both the Super Trofeo Series as well as the Michelin Pilot Challenge, Hindman has 213 laps around the 2.4-mile course as he hopes to back up his strong running so far this season.
“I think we’ve shown that the No. 86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 has great speed between our runs at Daytona and Sebring, but now it’s crucial that we capitalize on that pace if we want to have a run at the GTD championship,” said Hindman. “We maximized our results on race days that saw absolutely zero luck come our way, and I believe that’s just a testament to Mike’s (Shank) leadership and the quality of this Meyer Shank Racing team. Mid-Ohio is the home race for Acura, MSR, and also happens to be one of my favorite tracks on the calendar. The No. 86 had a fantastic run for P2 in last year, so Mario and I will be looking to improve that by one position this time around.”
Team Owner, Mike Shank has a well-rounded background at Mid-Ohio with countless days spent at the track, attending races in the 70s as a fan which then transitioned to racing himself in the Atlantics series in the 90s. Then turning over his role to team owner, Shank is excited to race in front of his local fans as well as several Columbus-based sponsors who will be attending the event weekend.
“Every time Mid-Ohio comes around I get excited,” said Shank. “This track holds so many memories for me and to get to race here in both the IMSA and IndyCar Series here is something special. We have a ton of local partners here this weekend and it’s another big event for Acura so I am hoping that we can put on a good show for everyone here this weekend.”
Source. Sunday Group
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