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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: Young Guns Deliver For MSR
Overshadowed by their sister car's win, Michael McDowell, Gustavo Yacaman, Felipe Nasr, and Jorge Goncalvez finish a surprise third in 50th Rolex 24...
Michael Shank Racing's DPG2 No. 6 Riley-Ford finished a surprise third in last weekend's 50th Rolex 24. (Photo: LAT)
With a huge crowd on hand to see a thrilling door to door battle for the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona lead, the storybook Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian victory has generated significant attention for the No. 60 LiveOn Ford-Riley entry and drivers John Pew, Ozz Negri, Justin Wilson, and AJ Allmendinger.
But not to be neglected in the shower of winning confetti is the outstanding run to the podium that the sister No. 6 Ford-Riley machine enjoyed with Michael McDowell, Gustavo Yacaman, Felipe Nasr, and Jorge Goncalvez combining to finish third, less than 45 seconds behind the race-winning car. The line-up was the youngest in the field, and utilized the previous-generation “DPG2” to excellent effect to rally from three laps down to lead the race and come home with a podium finish.
“The 6-car guys did everything and more than I was asking them to do for me,” said Team Owner Mike Shank. “If they hadn’t had that one little problem with that cut tire, they’d have been right there fighting for the win.”
Despite starting the race from pit lane after having to do a last-minute motor change, an extra pit stop to change brake pads, and a second additional stop after a narrow escape from a cut tire, the No. 6 DPG2 Ford-Riley still came back from three laps down to lead the race and finish third as team strategist Erik Peterson called a shrewd race.
“The first motor had an issue, and the Roush-Yates engineers were all over it,” said Shank. “Obviously we raced hard for over 2700 miles with the Fords, but there was something they didn’t like about that motor, so we just made the call to put in a different one. It cost my guys a bunch of sleep before the race even had started, but it worked out.”
Deep into the race the team fought off another setback as a tire went down, costing several laps. But it could have been much worse as Yacaman was behind the wheel at the time and sensing something was amiss, headed right to the pits before the tire began to delaminate and cause body damage.
“You know, I had probably 1,000 questions to ask Mike (Shank) before the race started, and he answered them all in one seven-page email,” said Yacaman. “I knew what I had to do. I knew in case of emergency what we needed to do. If I had a flat tire, I knew exactly what we needed to do. I think it's preparation and being cool-headed, and also, you know, a little bit of luck. Michael Shank did an amazing job preparing, getting ready both of the cars. We had no mechanical failures. We had no driver mistakes.”
All this race resilience from a group of drivers with an average age of 22 and with three of them making their first-ever run in the huge endurance challenge.
Another key factor was the team’s preparation.
Last year, Mike Shank oversaw his team’s first-ever three-car assault on the race, with a huge scope of planning and preparation paying off with all three cars making it to the finish in the top-10. Once again this year, the Shank-managed squad was able to keep the cars on the right side of the pit wall, running to a new DP-race record 761 laps.
“That’s the tough balance with a lineup like this--young guys have all that speed and don’t think twice about the toll that this race can take on you,” said Shank. “But they also, especially the guys coming over from open wheel, bring that sprint mentality and sometimes that can catch you out in the Rolex 24. You have to be--as we saw--inch perfect for 24 hours and if you get too aggressive, or lose your patience for just one second, you can lose the shot at a podium. These guys didn’t do that and way exceeded our expectations. And it was good to have a guy like Mike (McDowell), who has raced the 24 so many times even though he’s still a youngster, in the line up for us. It was a great mix, and a great result.”
“These guys not having a lot of experience in endurance cars doesn't make them any less capable of running well and having patience and doing the things that we did in this race,” added McDowell. “It was just running through scenarios and just telling them how to prepare for the GT traffic and just walk through it.”
“You have a little bit of pressure because you have the whole team pushing you, so you have to be fast and give the car to the other guys and don't crash,” said Goncalvez. “So I think we all did a really good job. That's why we are on the podium, I think.”
“I'm surprised to be (on the podium) with these guys,” added Nasr. “I think we all did a good job. For my first ever time doing a 24, I'm surprised, I need to say. It was an unbelievable experience for me, and I just can't wait to come back here in the next years.”
But not to be neglected in the shower of winning confetti is the outstanding run to the podium that the sister No. 6 Ford-Riley machine enjoyed with Michael McDowell, Gustavo Yacaman, Felipe Nasr, and Jorge Goncalvez combining to finish third, less than 45 seconds behind the race-winning car. The line-up was the youngest in the field, and utilized the previous-generation “DPG2” to excellent effect to rally from three laps down to lead the race and come home with a podium finish.
“The 6-car guys did everything and more than I was asking them to do for me,” said Team Owner Mike Shank. “If they hadn’t had that one little problem with that cut tire, they’d have been right there fighting for the win.”
Despite starting the race from pit lane after having to do a last-minute motor change, an extra pit stop to change brake pads, and a second additional stop after a narrow escape from a cut tire, the No. 6 DPG2 Ford-Riley still came back from three laps down to lead the race and finish third as team strategist Erik Peterson called a shrewd race.
“The first motor had an issue, and the Roush-Yates engineers were all over it,” said Shank. “Obviously we raced hard for over 2700 miles with the Fords, but there was something they didn’t like about that motor, so we just made the call to put in a different one. It cost my guys a bunch of sleep before the race even had started, but it worked out.”
Deep into the race the team fought off another setback as a tire went down, costing several laps. But it could have been much worse as Yacaman was behind the wheel at the time and sensing something was amiss, headed right to the pits before the tire began to delaminate and cause body damage.
“You know, I had probably 1,000 questions to ask Mike (Shank) before the race started, and he answered them all in one seven-page email,” said Yacaman. “I knew what I had to do. I knew in case of emergency what we needed to do. If I had a flat tire, I knew exactly what we needed to do. I think it's preparation and being cool-headed, and also, you know, a little bit of luck. Michael Shank did an amazing job preparing, getting ready both of the cars. We had no mechanical failures. We had no driver mistakes.”
All this race resilience from a group of drivers with an average age of 22 and with three of them making their first-ever run in the huge endurance challenge.
Another key factor was the team’s preparation.
Last year, Mike Shank oversaw his team’s first-ever three-car assault on the race, with a huge scope of planning and preparation paying off with all three cars making it to the finish in the top-10. Once again this year, the Shank-managed squad was able to keep the cars on the right side of the pit wall, running to a new DP-race record 761 laps.
“That’s the tough balance with a lineup like this--young guys have all that speed and don’t think twice about the toll that this race can take on you,” said Shank. “But they also, especially the guys coming over from open wheel, bring that sprint mentality and sometimes that can catch you out in the Rolex 24. You have to be--as we saw--inch perfect for 24 hours and if you get too aggressive, or lose your patience for just one second, you can lose the shot at a podium. These guys didn’t do that and way exceeded our expectations. And it was good to have a guy like Mike (McDowell), who has raced the 24 so many times even though he’s still a youngster, in the line up for us. It was a great mix, and a great result.”
“These guys not having a lot of experience in endurance cars doesn't make them any less capable of running well and having patience and doing the things that we did in this race,” added McDowell. “It was just running through scenarios and just telling them how to prepare for the GT traffic and just walk through it.”
“You have a little bit of pressure because you have the whole team pushing you, so you have to be fast and give the car to the other guys and don't crash,” said Goncalvez. “So I think we all did a really good job. That's why we are on the podium, I think.”
“I'm surprised to be (on the podium) with these guys,” added Nasr. “I think we all did a good job. For my first ever time doing a 24, I'm surprised, I need to say. It was an unbelievable experience for me, and I just can't wait to come back here in the next years.”
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