MSR Has “Taken Responsibility” for Rolex 24 Tire Manipulation

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Meyer Shank Racing has “taken responsibility” for the penalties imposed on the team by IMSA after it was found the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 crew manipulated tire pressure data in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The Ohio-based squad won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener but was penalized on Wednesday by the sanctioning body after Honda Performance Development discovered the infraction following the posting of the official race results.

Both the team and drivers lost 200 of its 350 WeatherTech Championship points earned in the race, all team and driver points from the Michelin Endurance Cup, loss of race prize money as well as a $50,000 fine.

Additionally, team co-owner Mike Shank has been placed on probation through June 30 and engineer Ryan McCarthy has been stripped of his IMSA credential and placed on indefinite suspension.

“We accept the series’ decision and have taken responsibility,” a statement from MSR supplied to Sportscar365 read.

“We want to apologize to everyone at Acura, HPD, and all of our partners. We have dealt with this issue internally and the team member that was responsible is no longer with the organization.

“We do not want this error to overshadow the tremendous effort that our team, drivers and all of our partners have put forth to develop this new LMDh car.

“We consider this matter closed and are fully focused on resetting and coming back for the Twelve Hours of Sebring.”

The points change will see the sister Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport head into next weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring as the championship leaders in the GTP class with drivers Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz.

MSR’s Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun and Helio Castroneves, meanwhile, drop to last place in the standings.

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