#60: Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Race WInners, Checkered Flag
The overall winner of this year’s IMSA Rolex 24 Hours was penalized by IMSA Wednesday, and while they will get to keep the win, and watches, they have been stripped of just about everything else.
The Meyer Shank Racing No. 60 Acura ARX-06 driven by Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist won the class, and took overall victory in the first outing for the new GTP class and the hybrid LMDh cars.
Now, some five weeks after the event, IMSA said it was notified by Honda Racing Development (HRD) after the race and after an investigation the team was found to have manipulated their minimum tire pressure data. IMSA sets minimum tire pressures; going below those allows the tires to warm up faster and get grip sooner and giving a car an advantage. In order to get the lower tire pressure past IMSA scrutiny, the team used ‘offsets’ to the information being transmitted by the monitoring devices on each wheel that was being sent to, and observed by, IMSA.
IMSA said the team has been penalized for a violation of the following 2023 IMSA Sporting Regulation & SSR:
ATT 3.6.6.E. Failure to adhere to the Operational Requirements is prohibited and may result in the following Minimum Penalties:
First violation: Warning/Reprimand (not guaranteed, depending on timing/severity of violation; for penalties, paragraph vi. below shall apply).
Second violation: Drive-Through.
Third violation: Stop plus ten (10) seconds.
Any violations may be penalized to the full extent listed in Art. 57.
A Penalty assessed during or after qualifying may result in qualifying times disallowed.
An un-served Race Penalty or a Penalty assessed after the Race is added to the Car’s Race finishing time and may include a lap count penalty.
Summary – Per Attachment 3.6.6.D, intentional application of software offsets within the pressures being reported by the tire pressure monitoring system and associated Car telemetry system is prohibited and may be subject to penalty.
Penalties are as follows:
- Loss of 200 team and driver IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship points.
- Loss of all team and driver IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points.
- Loss of race prize money.
- Team receives a $50,000 fine.
- Team and Entrant representative Mike Shank placed on probation through June 30, 2023.
- Revocation of IMSA annual credential and indefinite suspension of IMSA membership for team engineer Ryan McCarthy.
“The tire pressure data manipulation was discovered by Honda Performance Development (HPD) and reported to IMSA after the official results were released,” the IMSA statement said. “No changes will be made to the official race results. The No. 60 team and drivers retain credit for the race victory, trophy, and race-winner watches. All other teams and drivers will retain the points and prizes commensurate with their finishing positions as shown on the official race results. There also will be no change to GTP manufacturer points.”
For the team’s part they issued their own statement.
“We accept the series’ decision and have taken responsibility,” the team said. “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.”
The next event on the IMSA schedule is the Twelve Hours of Sebring next weekend. The penalties applied move the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura to the top of the GTP standings with MSR falling to last place.
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.