MSR Set for First Double-Header Race Weekend

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Meyer Shank Racing is set for its first double-header weekend as a team, with the Ohio-based squad set to tackle Saturday’s WeatherTech 240 at Daytona as well as the IndyCar GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the same day.

Nearly 30 full-time employees and two separate crews will support a total of five drivers over the July 4 weekend with its season-long IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and NTT IndyCar Series programs.

Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry will pair up in the No. 86 Acura NSX GT3 Evo, with Alvaro Parente and Misha Goikhberg in the No. 57 Acura that’s run under the Heinricher Racing with MSR banner.

MSR’s Honda-powered IndyCar, meanwhile, will be driven by Jack Harvey.

Mike Shank will be the only overlap between the two programs this weekend, with the team co-owner set to fly to Daytona shortly after the checkered flag at Indianapolis, which is slated to finish around 2 p.m. ET.

The WeatherTech 240 gets underway at 6:05 p.m. ET.

“This is a big weekend for everyone at Meyer Shank Racing to have two full race programs running at the same time in different parts of the country,” Shank said.

“It just wouldn’t be possible without AutoNation, SiriusXM, and all of our partners.

“We’ve planned through everything as well as we can, working with the new restrictions as they have changed with different stages of the pandemic. We have a full crew just for IndyCar that will be at the Speedway and then two crews for our Acura program that will be down in Daytona.

“This will be the first ever IMSA race weekend where I will not be there for the entire event, but luckily I’ll be able to fly down to Daytona as soon as the IndyCar race ends.

“A weekend like this is a direct result of all of the hard work from everyone at Meyer Shank Racing. It’ll be busy but hopefully we can pull off a good result all around.”

In addition to Shank, a number of other team principals with IndyCar operations are also expected to fly to Daytona.

It includes AIM Vasser Sullivan team co-owners Jimmy Vasser, James “Sulli” Sullivan and driver Townsend Bell, who will be part of the NBC Sports commentary team at Indianapolis and set to drive AVS Autosport’s No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 in the two-hour and 40-minute race.

Daytona is set to mark the first of at least four overlapping weekends between IMSA and IndyCar this season, with a double-header at Iowa Speedway occurring on the July 18 Sebring weekend and the GT-only IMSA rounds at Virginia International Raceway and Lime Rock Park also clashing with the open-wheel series.

The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, in fact, has been moved forward to Sat. Aug. 22 to accommodate team principals attending the rescheduled Indianapolis 500 that weekend.

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