The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura team claimed the overall victory and Whelen Engineering AXR were crowned IMSA 2023 GTP champions after an eventful 26th edition of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

The final two hours of racing encapsulated an exciting and incident-filled thriller for the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.

Filipe Albuquerque asserted promising pace in his #10 Acura ARX-06, and made an eager pass on Jack Aitken’s #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R.

In the LMP2 lead, the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07 was spun around by Alex Quinn at the chicane after he made contact at the chicane with the #10 Acura, and thus Aitken returned the favour after leaving the chicane underneath the bridge, almost beaching it within the gravel trap but managed to continue.

Harry Tincknell in the #59 Proton Competition Porsche spun after leaving the pit on cold tyres, making brief contact with the wall.

Driver changes were galore into the most crucial period of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans event.

In the #01 Cadillac, Renger van der Zande replaced Sebastien Bourdais in the driver’s seat, as Pipo Derani got into the #31 Cadillac from Aitken.

A 10th caution was deployed after the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3, which won in GTD last year, stopped at the side of the track with Katherine Legge at the wheel.

A tense GTD Pro fight developed, featuring the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG of Daniel Juncadella fending off Kevin Estre in the #9 Pfaff Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3.R.

The same could be said for LMP2, as the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR of Ben Hanley made a charge past Josh Pierson on the restart for second and commenced a chase on Indy NXT Christian Rasmussen in the leading #52.

In GTP, things became dramatic and the brief duel for the title ended in anticlimactic scenes.

Albuquerque chased Derani for second place in the dark, as the #31 found himself held up by traffic for second place between the two GTPs.

Their fight was short-lived after the Portuguese driver closed up on Derani into Turn 1, attempted a move on the outside line, and the #10 Acura was edged off the circuit and into the barrier.

As the caution was deployed, it was certain that the #10 Wayne Taylor-run Acura, which had not secured any race wins this year, were ruled out as champions after they started on pole position. No further action was taken on their incident.

Having not pitted, first to fourth in GTP did not pit during the caution, as van der Zande led over the #60 of Colin Braun, whose Acura was ahead of Tincknell’s #59 Porsche.

Despite this abrupt drama, the GTP and LMP2 title were still up for the taking in the final 30 minutes of green flag racing as the #01 found their closest title contenders out.

Colin Braun had a great restart in his #60 Acura and took the lead from van der Zande on the inside line at Turn 1.

The GTP title fight narrative still ran tightly-contested now on the #25 BMW Team RLL, and the #7 Penske Porsche Motorsport cars.

Although this changed simply with Derani’s comeback pursuit, passing both BMWs as the title fight became on the #7 Porsche and two Cadillacs – one run by Chip Ganassi and the other Whelen Engineering.

The GTD Pro battle from earlier continued as the #9 chased down the tail of the #79 Mercedes-AMG.

Matt Campbell in the #7 asserted pace setting the best laps of the race in the car, although van der Zande’s lap times were into the 1:10s.

A spin for the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca with Rasmussen took place having ran second in LMP2, with rear damage, as the 12th Full Course Yellow was deployed.

This set up an exciting and crucial five minute sprint to the finish, as van der Zande had a strong restart although the #60 Acura managed to retain the lead with its pace.

The #16 Wright Motorsport caught on fire immediately after with contact at the rear-right with the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, subsequently deploying a joint-IMSA record 13th caution period.

The race finished under caution with the Action Express (Wehrlen Engineering) Cadillac #31’s sixth position enough for the GTP Championship win and the Endurance Cup title for Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken.

At the front, Meyer Shank Racing‘s #60 crew of Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castroneves took the win with 397 laps completed for their Acura ARX-06.

Second place went to the #01 Cadillac crew of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon.

Third went to the #59 Proton Competition Porsche crew of Harry Tincknell, Neel Jani and Gianmaria Bruni, having scored their first IMSA podium in their first endurance round.

Meanwhile in LMP2, the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR crew of George Kurtz, Ben Hanley and Nolan Siegel took the class-win and the Endurance Cup title, ahead of John Falb, Guido van der Garde, and Josh Pierson in the #35 TDS Racing entry.

The #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport crew took their fifth LMP2 Team Championship after finishing third.

The #30 Jr Three Racing took LMP3 victory ahead of the #13 AWA crew, and the final WeatherTech LMP3 championship-winning #74 Riley Ligier JS P320.

GTD Pro (and the Endurance Cup title) was won by the #79 WeatherTech Racing crew of Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Maro Engel, who finished ahead of the #9 Pfaff Motorsports drivers of Klaus Bachler, Patrick Pilet and Kevin Estre.

Third place was taken by the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, by Alessandro Pier Guidi, Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon.

After having started the race, the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 took the GTD Pro title at the race start.

Finally in GTD, the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini took the win in the hands of Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli, and Patrick Liddy.

In second place was the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher, Robby Foley and Michael Dinan, as third was claimed by the #77 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Alan Brynjolfsson, Trent Hindman, and Max Root.

The GTD Endurance Cup champions were the #32 Team Korthoff Mercedes-AMG crew, as the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech season marked its conclusion.

Meyer Shank Racing has announced their departure from IMSA, after 19 consecutive years of competing in the IMSA-based sportscar championship, with intentions to focus on their Indycar programme from 2024.

The team who currently run the #60 Acura ARX-06 GTP in this year’s WeatherTech Championship, are set to mark this month’s Petit Le Mans as their final race.

At the Battle of the Bricks, which took place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they surpassed their 350th start in North American sportscar racing.

With an Acura NSX GT3 and their DPi car, they claimed titles in 2019, 2020 and 2022, and won this year’s Daytona 24 Hours despite the team being caught artificially inflating the tyre pressure data submitted to IMSA, and thus took on reduced winning points.

“Making the decision to take a year away from IMSA was not an easy one by any means,” said co-owner Mike Shank.

“Our guys live and breathe this team, and have committed most of their lives to working on these cars and traveling to races – and many of them have been with us for nearly 20 years.

“For Jim [Meyer] and I, our main focus was getting our guys set and making sure they were all going to be OK, which we were able to do. 

“There are a lot of projects that we have going at the shop, and of course some of the guys will be helping with our growing Indycar program.

“The third Indianapolis 500 entry for Helio [Castroneves] is a very big deal and I’m glad to have the right people in place to help us be as ready as possible for him to go get that fifth one. And then when we need to prepare for the IMSA program, we’ll still have this great group together and ready to go. 

“I have so many people to thank who have had such an impact on me and how this team has grown – Jim France has been a supporter of us since we joined the series in 2004 and he’s someone that I cannot thank enough.

“Jon Ikeda, David Salters and everyone at Honda, HPD, and Acura, gave MSR a shot and trusted us to run this program for the last few years and we have accomplished some pretty awesome things since running together.

“All of my crew and drivers who have been with us – and we have a pretty large list – I can’t thank them enough.

“Most of these guys have changed my life since I started this team in Grand-Am.

“Like I said, we are not going anywhere, we’ll be gone for now, but definitely not forever.

“Taking next year to step back and focus on our Indycar program will be important for us as a team.”

Their first win was in 2006, at the ‘Discount Tire Sunchaser 100k’ in the hands of Ozz Negri and Mark Patterson.

MSR claims their departure will not be permanent, and that they will return at some point in the future.

They currently sit fifth in the standings, having won Petit Le Mans last year with Tom Blomqvist, Olly Jarvis and Castroneves.

For Acura and HRC US, their IMSA GTP class representation will reduce to one team for 2024, consisting solely of two Acuras run by the Wayne Taylor Racing outfit.

Linus Lundqvist is making his long-awaited IndyCar Series debut this weekend around the streets of Nashville, filling in for Simon Pagenaud, who has not yet been cleared to race after his crash at Mid-Ohio.

The 2022 Indy NXT champion has been searching for a ride in the top level series ever since he won the title in September, but a combination of factors have meant that he has been sitting in the paddock as opposed to behind the wheel.

Lundqvist’s chance to show his talent in the big leagues has come this weekend with Meyer Shank Racing, and he is aiming to make the most of the opportunity around the tricky street course.

MotorsportWeek.com asked the 24-year-old if his performance this weekend will be a factor in his prospects for finding a full time ride next season, and he was quick to confirm how much is at stake.

“Oh yeah, 100 percent,” said Lundqvist. “Every time you get on track, even if it’s just a private test, I know the other teams are looking and talking between themselves.

“To be put on display like this is definitely an opportunity to improve my chances. Or make them worse, let’s put it that way.

“I am aware there’s some pressure to perform this weekend, but I would also tell myself that it is the most difficult thing you’ll do. ‘Just take it easy, be smart.’

“I’m fairly comfortable that I know I’m fast, but it’s just going to be about putting together a good weekend and a solid weekend.

“[Throughout the year] I was talking to all the teams up and down the pit lane, trying to have some opportunities. Nothing was confirmed, or nothing at least that I knew of, were in the talks about doing it. When this happened, I was very excited.”

Lundqvist won his Indy NXT title in September of last year, and it has been nearly 11 full months since he has competed in a race weekend.

He has been a part of a couple IndyCar tests since then to help get acclimated to the more powerful cars, including one at Sebring that he revealed prepared him as well as possible for his debut on the streets of Nashville, given that there is no opportunity to test on a temporary course.

But Lundqvist is having to prepare mentally for competition again, and he admitted that it feels like he has been out of the car for even longer than the reality of his nearly year-long break.

“[It feels like it’s been] even longer than 10-11 months, I’ll tell you that” continued Lundqvist. “It’s been a very, very long season, and a lot of sleepless nights.

“It’s been something that we’ve been working very, very hard and very long for. Very happy that it finally got done. I’m making my debut, and hopefully it’s more than one race and we can string together a couple more at the end of the year.

“Still the focus is to be on the grid full time in ’24. Hopefully we can do a good job this weekend, and maybe my chances will improve.”

At this time, Lundqvist does not have any further confirmed races after this weekend’s Music City Grand Prix.

He is sure to be a part of the silly season talks, however, as many different teams have unconfirmed lineups for their 2024 seasons.

Linus Lundqvist will make his IndyCar driving debut this weekend at the Music City Grand Prix, driving the #60 entry for Meyer Shank Racing.

The 24-year-old will get his first opportunity in the premiere series on account of Simon Pagenaud continuing recovery efforts from his high speed tumble through the gravel at the beginning of July.

Lundqvist is the 2022 Indy NXT champion, but has had trouble securing a spot in IndyCar so far this year. He has been in the paddock acting in an advisory role while he continued to search for a ride.

This opportunity will place him behind the wheel of an IndyCar during a race weekend for the first time, and will do so on one of the most treacherous tracks on the calendar.

“This is a moment I’ve been dreaming of literally since the start of my career,” said Lundqvist in the announcement.

“I could not be more excited about the prospect of finally making my NTT IndyCar Seris debut; I am extremely grateful to Meyer Shank Racing for this opportunity.

“This will be an incredible experience, but also the toughest challenge of my life. Sitting on the sidelines all year, it would be a massive task to join any championship towards the end of the season – let alone the NTT IndyCar Series on the streets of Nashville.

“There’s been very little time to prepare, but I feel like the sheer excitement of this moment will make up for some of that. Of course, working alongside Helio [Castroneves] – one of the true legends of this sport – will also be a huge asset.

“Last but not least, I would like to wish Simon Pagenaud a continued speedy recovery. While fully aware of everything I have to learn this weekend, I will do my very best to make him and everyone else on the team proud in Music City.”

Lundqvist has completed two IndyCar tests this year, making runs at Texas Motor Speedway and Sebring.

The Sebring outing in particular will have given the young driver a taste of the kind of track he can expect this weekend around the bumpy streets of Nashville.

The first time Lundqvist will be on track will be Friday afternoon for the first practice session around the 2.17-mile course, which runs next to the Titans football stadium and over the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Meyer Shank Racing announced on Tuesday that Conor Daly will fill in for Simon Pagenaud at the upcoming double-header from Iowa Speedway.

Pagenaud has not been cleared to race by the IndyCar medical team, with his violent crash at Mid-Ohio three weeks ago still having lingering effects on the 39-year-old veteran.

Daly was called in to drive the #60 the day after Pagenaud accident, and will again drive his car for the two events on the short oval in Iowa.

Daly is available to fill in on account of Ed Carpenter Racing releasing him from his seat earlier this year.

“I’m thankful to Mike [Shank] and Jim [Meyer] to calling me up to fill in for Simon again this weekend in Iowa,” said Daly in the announcement. “Obviously I’m wishing him the best and hope that he gets well soon.

“Iowa has definitely become one of my favorite tracks in the last couple of years. Obviously I have qualified really well there – qualified on the pole and started in the top three the last two years. Hopefully we can replicate that qualifying performance, but also deliver in the race.

“The team does an incredible job to prepare the car, so we’re going to do our best for Simon again. We’ll do everything we can to score some more points for the team and I’m thankful to drive this No. 60 car again for AutoNation and SiriusXM.”

Last weekend Tom Blomqvist filled in for Pagenaud and made his IndyCar debut on the streets of Toronto, although he was forced to retire on the first lap due to contact.

Although Pagenaud was cleared of any physical injuries following his crash, lingering cognitive issues have prevented IndyCar from allowing him to compete.

A busy weekend driving around the 7/8-mile oval in Iowa would have been one of the toughest events to manage regarding any lingering dizziness Pagenaud may have, and it is understandable that officials wouldn’t want that to be his first real world test.

Daly will take his first laps of the weekend on Friday afternoon, followed by 250-lap races on Saturday and Sunday.

2023 Rolex Daytona 24 Hours winners Meyer Shank Racing have been penalised for manipulating tyre pressure data through the race — but they have not had the win taken off them.

Instead, the team has been fined $50,000, had 200 team and driver points docked, lost all the IMSA Endurance Cup points, lost the race win prize money, and team owner Mike Shank placed on probation until 30th June 2023.

In addition, the team member responsible, Ryan McCarthy, has had his IMSA credentials revoked and his IMSA membership put on indefinite suspension. He has also left Meyer-Shank Racing, the team has confirmed.

The manipulation was discovered by Meyer Shank’s factory racing partner, Honda Performance Development (HPD) and reported to IMSA after the Daytona 24 Hours results were made official. 

In a statement, Meyer Shank Racing said: “We accept the series’ decision and have taken responsibility. 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.”

Wayne Taylor Racing took the chequered flag in first place after an hour-long red flag halted the race.

Meyer Shank Racing looked to have covered off the WTR machine just before the stoppage but Felipe Albuquerque would make the decisive move on the resumption of the race, mirroring the first lap pass for the lead.

Into the final 2 hours of the race and it was still unclear as to which leading DPi car would come out on top. With the threat of weather as well to throw into the mix, the final third of the race looked to be set up for a tantilising finish.

The calm green flag running briefly burst into action as with1 hr 43mins left there was a fire in the pitlane involving the #30 LMP3 car that was parked behind the second-placed LMP2 #20 Oreca. There was no caution thrown but the event did happen around the time of pit stop work happening. Happily, everyone was fine, and the fire was quickly put out.

With an hour and a half to go, the #39 GTD Lamborghini was taken out of the race as it was getting out of the way of the LMP2 battle. The LMP2 cars made contact after leaning on each other and subsequently collected the Lamborghini which was an innocent party in the event.

At 1 hour 25 mins to go the Red Flag was thrown due to incoming weather. Just before the flag was thrown, the #60 pitted and came out ahead of the WTR Acura. This put it in prime position as there was still uncertainty as to whether the #10 had to pit again.

The race resumed under yellow with 30 minutes to go.

Cars that were not quite able to make it to the finish without stopping took their pit stops under the Full Course Yellow to lose as little time as possible. The #10 didn’t however. A big move happened in the LMP2 battle as the Dragonspeed car had to pit with what was possibly a drive time issue.

With 21 minutes to the green flag was thrown and the lead changed in a copy move of the turn one lap one pass at the bus stop chicane. The Wayne Taylor Racing car moved ahead of Tom Blomqvist with Bourdais doing his best to challenge.

Albuquerque, Blomqvist and Bourdais formed a 3-way fight for the lead that scythed through the other classes lap after lap as the time ticked down. With 8m 30s to go Alex Lynn joined the fight as a tense fight played out before us.

Disaster for the leading Risi Competizione Ferrari as they had to make a splash for fuel with 4 minutes to go. Daniel Serra had been comfortably leading but it wasn’t to be for the Risi driver. This put Mathieu Jaminet in the lead who then had to pit themselves on the subsequent lap, this gave John Edwards the lead in the pole-sitting BMW in GTD Pro.

Despite pressure from the moment they re-took the lead the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura took the victory from the Meyer Shank Racing and the #01 Cadillac of Chip Ganassi.

In LMP2 it was Scott Huffaker from Louis Deletraz and Giedo Van Der Garde. Scott beat Deletraz at the line by 0.107s after a fantastic fight culminated in a side-by-side drag race.

LMP3 saw Felipe Fraga take the chequered flag after a late fuel stop and Colin Braun setting the class fastest lap. Gabby Chaves would finish third in class.

The late pit stops meant that John Edwards took the #25 BMW M4 across the line in first followed by Ross Gunn in the Heart Racing Aston Martin. Daniel Serra would be able to secure third after a late fuel stop.

Finally, in GTD Philip Ellis won with a gap of 3s to the #27 Aston Martin. Roman De Angelis making it a pair of second places for Heart Racing. Ollie Millroy rounds out the podium in the Optimum Motorsport Mclaren.

Oliver Jarvis leads the Shalen 6 Hour’s at the Glen after the race’s longest period of green flag running. The #60 Acura is duelling with the #10 Wayne Taylor machine which is on an alternate strategy, looking to gain the upper hand as we get into the final third of the race.

The race got back underway just past the 2-hour mark and Earl Bamber made his move on the #5 of Tristian Vautier to move into fourth place.

The leading Wayne Taylor Racing Acura made its pit stop at the 2hr 15 mark, surrendering the lead to the Meyer Shank Racing team. WTR changed driver to Ricky Taylor as Blomqvist has 4 Cadillacs behind him within 11s.

Not long after Sebastien Bourdais starts to pressure Blomqvist with the second Ganassi car of Earl Bamber catching them both. A look down the inside of the leader didn’t come off into the bus stop but Bourdais continued to pressure the Acura.

Fifteen minutes after the WTR pit stop the leading Meyer Shank Racing car came in, changed drivers to Oliver Jarvis, and would come out nearly three seconds behind Ricky Taylor. Renger Van der Zande would be directly behind the MSR Acura when it re-joined the track but with a gap of 1.5s.

The #32 Mercedes in GTD would incur some damage to the front right of the car which would be big as they are the points leader in class. Marvin Dienst led the GTD class with one pit stop less than second-place Maxime Martin in the #27 Aston Martin. In the Pro class, Ben Barnicoat was still leading but second place was occupied by the #3 Corvette despite starting 37^th overall and 7^th in class. Fan favourite Risi Competizione was holding third with Davide Rigon at the wheel.

Unfortunately for the #3 Corvette, the good start to the race would hit an issue as they received a drive-through penalty for multiple track limits violations. The car ran off track in defence of his position from the chasing Ferrari which finally incurred the wrath of the stewards.

There has been a tight scrap in LMP2 with Anders Fjordbach leading but Juan Pablo Montoya, Mikkel Jensen and Giedo Van Der Garde chasing him down. The 4 were only separated by 2 seconds and would continue to pressure each other.

Despite two incidents involving Ferraris, the race started to get into a rhythm with a good amount of green flag running. This allowed Montoya to pass Fjordbach for the lead in LMP2 despite the car missing a wheel earlier in the race. When it came to the next set of stops though, the #20 Oreca jumped the Dragonspeed machine to re-take the lead of the class.

With this period being the longest amount of green flag running, it became a matter of hitting the strategy points. The Wayne Taylor Racing car ran roughly 10 laps out of sync with the rest of the field whereas their main rivals at Meyer Shank were on the more conventional pit stop times. The only other bit of main action going on was the LMP2 lead battle between Sebastien Montoya and Louis Deletraz. The Dragonspeed machine had got back ahead although was now robustly defending from behind.

As the clock struck two hours to go, Oliver Jarvis leads for Meyer Shank Racing followed by Albuquerque and Renger Van der Zande in DPi. In LMP2 Fjordbach got back ahead of Montoya with Dylan Murry trailing the leader by five seconds. LMP3 has the #74 Ligier of Felipe Fraga out front, with Garett Grist and Colin Braun rounding out the podium spots.

Heading into GTD Pro, Augusto Farfus leads in his BMW M4 GT3 followed by Daniel Serra and Kyle Kirkwood. In the GTD class, Ollie Millroy is being chased by Bryan Sellers with Philip Ellis in third.

Filipe Albuquerque leads the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen after a frantic fifteen minutes which was bookended by a full course yellow for an accident in the LMP3 class.

Despite the Meyer Shank Racing car driven by Tom Blomqvist beating the other Acura Dpi into turn one, Albuquerque got a run up the straight and made the move for the lead into the bus stop chicane. Filipe would be unchallenged for the first fifteen minutes with the only other obstacle to navigate being the LMP3 accident.

Sebastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber would fill the next two spots for the Chip Ganassi Cadillacs with the fast-starting Kamui Kobayashi rounding out the top 5 after a fast start.

In LMP2 Ben Keating would lose the lead to Steven Thomas in the #11 Oreca but would make a strategy call to pit for fuel just before the full course yellow was called.

In GT Pro, Connor De Phillippi would make the jump from pole to stay ahead of the Aston Martin of Ross Gunn. Gunn would start to challenge again later but the fight would be nulled. Ben Barnicoat in the Vasser Sullivan Lexus would be stuck behind the GTD call Mercedes of Stevan McAleer.

McAleer would stay in the GTD lead up until the FCY with Robby Foley and Richard Heistand in the GT que behind.

LMP3 would start relatively quietly until the fifteen-minute mark when Orey Fidani would lose control of his Duqueine when trying to avoid a fellow LMP3 that was spinning in front of him. Unfortunately, Fidani would collide with the wall but would be able to get the car out and back to the pits.

Stoffel Vandoorne will make his IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship debut next month, replacing Helio Castroneves at Meyer Shank Racing for the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The Belgian will partner freshly crowned Rolex 24 at Daytona winners Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist aboard the #60 Acura ARX-05 for the Florida classic.

Castroneves, who took MSR to its landmark Daytona win last month, is unable to contest the event as he is scheduled to compete in the IndyCar round at the Texas Motor Speedway together with team-mate Simon Pagenaud.

Other drivers to be impacted by the clash between the two events include Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who will be replaced by Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Vandoorne, meanwhile, will be reunited with former co-driver Blomqvist aboard the Acura DPi. The two drivers were team-mates at JOTA during last year’s FIA World Endurance Championship campaign, scoring five podiums together.

“I’m really excited to be joining Meyer Shank for the Sebring 12 Hour,” said Vandoorne. “For me it will be the first time racing in Sebring, and the first time racing in IMSA competition which I am excited for because the racing in America is very close. 

“I feel lucky to also be joining the team that just won the Daytona 24 Hours, so it’s going to be a really great experience. I know my teammate Tom already from last year racing in WEC and Olly I know him as well from endurance racing, but it will be the first time teaming up with them together.”

“I’m really looking forward to the weekend and hopefully we can bring home a good result for the team.”

According to team boss Michael Shank the original plan for the team was to have Castroneves present at the second race of the IMSA season and for the Brazilian to pull double duty. It ultimately opted to sign Vandoorne instead.

“Stoffel impressed us at a test last week and will be a great addition to the team for Sebring,” said Shank. “It was our initial intention to have Helio race in both the IMSA and IndyCar events that weekend, but logistically it became a bit difficult. 

“Tom has said great things about Stoffel from their time racing in WEC together last year, so I think we have another strong lineup heading into the race weekend.”