Monk on “Putting the Pieces Together” in Podium Pursuit

Photo: Gradient Racing

Sheena Monk said her and Katherine Legge are still focused on “putting all of the pieces together” in their pursuit of an “elusive” podium finish in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition with Gradient Racing.

Monk and Legge head into this weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway eighth in the GTD standings in their Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, yet to claim a top-three class finish in the highly competitive category.

Their fourth place class result at the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, when teamed with Marc Miller and Mario Farnbacher, stands as the duo’s best result so far in what’s been an up-and-down season.

For Bronze-rate Monk, in her first season of GT3 competition, the Michelin Pilot Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America graduate has been in an upward learning curve.

“I’m still adapting to all of these tracks that I’ve been accustomed to, but it’s quite different in GT3 machinery right now,” she said.

“The GT-only races tend to feel a bit different. Just the pace and you can focus more on the pure racing aspect where a lot of times we’re dealing with traffic management and just understanding how to get in a flow with the prototype traffic.

“Now this is going to be my second GT-only race, I’m looking forward to the opportunity.

“VIR has always been a very strong track for me. I had my first win in Lamborghini Super Trofeo at VIR.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s going to be like there in the NSX.”

Monk elaborated further on coming to grips with the Acura.

“As a driver when I look at the data, and in my mind I’ll be on the track and I’m like, ‘There’s no way that I can do what they’re saying I can do,'” she said.

“When you see it in the data in black and white, you just have to find it in yourself to get the confidence and go try whatever it’s saying it’s possible with the car.

“One of those things for me has been building some confidence and also some trust.

“There’s been a couple of corners where I’m like, ‘There’s no way the car can do that.’ Then I go do it and it’s like, ‘Wow, it actually even felt better to go faster through the corner than the way I had initially been taking it.’

“You’re utilizing the aero and the effectiveness of what the car is designed to do. So what it ends up being is more compliant and less scary.

“But a lot of it for me has been some mental hurdles and really trusting what Katherine has to say and leaning into that.”

With three rounds to go, Monk said her and Legge are focused on delivering results.

“For me right now we’re still focused on putting the pieces together,” Monk said. “We’ve had this elusive scenario with the podium where frankly there’s been a couple where I felt like we really deserved it.

“Either we were taken out or we had a mechanical or were right on the cusp of it.

“I feel like we’ve been knocking on the door at that for a while now. It’s a little bit frustrating but actually to me it’s inevitable, I feel like.

“Not to sound arrogant about that but we’re just getting better every time out.

“I feel like we’re super focused on keeping our heads down and getting better as pairing, getting more integrated and flowing better with the team. All of those things are happening.

“We’re super focused on the continuity of things right now. When you do that, I believe the results come from that.

“It would be awesome to the the JG Wentworth Acura into victory lane.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John