Meyer Shank Racing team principal Mike Shank admits that the team’s plans for competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship are still up in the air.
“I don’t know what the odds are,” he said of his chances for remaining in the series beyond this season. “They float. It goes from 50-50 to 80 percent right now. It’s coming down to the last minute, which I don’t like a lot. That’s the way it is right now.”
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Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian, as well as drivers Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist, would be leading the GTP championship had they not been docked 200 points following the revelation that the team manipulated tire pressure data in its Rolex 24 at Daytona win. A couple of months after the tire pressure issue was revealed, Acura announced that its other team, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, will be campaigning two Acura ARX-06s next season. Acura gave no indication that it intends to have three cars in the championship, and Shank’s comments gives clear signal that he doesn’t expect to be racing an Acura next season.
“We’re still working on that,” he said. “[The plans are] up in the air right now. Those guys, through our tough January, have battled back and they’re in the championship again, which is unbelievable. You put those points back on the board and they’ve checked out on the championship.
“We don’t know yet, is the answer. We’ll know probably in four to five weeks. This is my 20th year as a team in the Rolex. We’ve won it three times. We’ve had much success. It was kind of the start of all this. We’re doing everything we can to stay on.”
Without a factory deal, the only current option for a privateer is Porsche’s 963, which JDC-Miller Motorsports and Proton Competition are running in the WeatherTech Championship. Alpine has also expressed the possibility of having a customer racing its new LMDh car in IMSA.
If Meyer Shank does put together a new IMSA program for 2024 it will be without Blomqvist, who is moving across to the team’s No.06 IndyCar next year.