Pataskala, Ohio (8 November 2021) – 2016 Petit Le Mans overall winners, Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) will look to repeat the feat at the 24th annual Motul Petit Le Mans on Saturday (NBC, 12:00pm ET) as the team hopes to finish off the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season on a high note.
MSR regular Dane Cameron will combine with former Indianapolis 500 winners Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves to form an elite driver lineup in the No. 60 MSR Acura.
MSR has had entries in the last seven Motul Petit Le Mans events at the newly renamed Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Following MSR’s 13 year run in Prototype competition, the team emerged with an overall Petit Le Mans victory in 2016 to close out the end of a victorious era of Prototype competition before switching over to the GTD ranks as a factory Acura NSX team.
MSR’s success continued in GTD as the team finished second in 2018. Upon taking the green flag at the 2019 edition of the 10 hour event, MSR claimed the team and driver championships – the first IMSA championships for the team. With two visits to Road Atlanta in 2020, MSR emerged victorious in the six hour event in September. MSR endurance driver, Shinya Michimi then went on to score his first-ever IMSA pole position in October for Petit Le Mans, putting the No. 86 MSR Acura NSX on the front row.
This year MSR enters the race weekend with a strong stable of Prototype drivers as the team hopes to finish the season with its first victory.
Cameron is no stranger to success at Road Atlanta having scored the pole position in 2020 onboard an Acura ARX-05. While Cameron is looking to score his inaugural Prototype victory at Road Atlanta he has three IMSA podium finishes (2015, 2017, 2020) at the 2.54-mile course.
“Petit Le Mans is one of my favorite events, it’s always a great turnout and there is nothing quite like driving our Acura DPi car around Road Atlanta in the darkness,” said Cameron. “I think we will have a strong chance to win, our pace has been good lately and I would love to close out the season on a high note and deliver a win for Meyer Shank Racing to reward the team for all their hard work.”
Montoya rejoins the team after having last raced at the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona which saw the team finish fourth. Montoya has raced onboard an Acura DPi in the last three Petit Le Mans events as he rounded out the podium in 2020. The Columbian racer also scored a third place Prototype finish in 2017.
“I’m very excited to be back with Meyer Shank Racing for Petit Le Mans,” said Montoya who earlier this season claimed the LMP2 Pro-Am 24 Hours of Le Mans victory. “Road Atlanta is a such a great track and racing at night is so different from any other track. Like any endurance race it’s about survival and keeping the car clean until the last hour of the race and then that’s when you start putting your elbows out.”
Castroneves completes MSR’s lineup after recently being announced to compete in the day-to-night event. Castroneves enters the weekend as the reigning IMSA champion and Rolex 24 winner as he hopes to translate his previous success to the team’s race this weekend.
“I cannot wait to get back in a DPi car, and to do it with MSR makes it that much more special,” said Castroneves. “I have gotten so close with everyone on this team this past year and I can’t thank Mike (Shank) enough for having the faith in me to finish the IMSA season with him. Petit is not easy, but it’s a fun race. We will go into with the same motivation, maybe a little bit more, as we look to get these guys their first win of the season.”
Meyer Shank Racing will take on the 24th annual Motul Petit Le Mans on Saturday, November 13th with coverage beginning on NBC starting at 12:00pm ET. SiriusXM Ch. 202 will also carry live radio coverage of the event.