Following the announcement earlier today that Michael Shank Racing will be competing in the IMSA GTD class in 2017 with a pair of new Acura NSX GT3s, DSC caught up with Michael Shank himself about his big switch from prototype to GT3 racing in IMSA, how it will work and his first impressions of the car:
When you first discovered that there would be the possibility of running an NSX, and being part of the programme, was it something you immediately jumped at, or was it a tough decision as a team that’s running in prototypes?
“For the health of any racing team that does this as their sole source of income, ultimately you need manufacturer programme.
“We’ve worked long and hard at it, we were with Ford before and moved over to Honda in 2015. Once I knew that there was a programme out there I made sure that they understood that we were available and that we’d like to do it.
Once I knew that there was a programme out there I made sure that they understood that we were available and that we’d like to do it.
Relationships with factories is what we big teams look for. It’s an opportunity, all we could do was control what we could control and show them what we are capable of.”
I’m guess you like where GT3 racing and the GTD class in particular is going then?
“Oh yeah. The GT3 category has really helped IMSA across the board, it’s a great formula, it can be tough also, but it’s growing. Between our announcements and others that are coming we’ll have around an 18-car field for the entire year in 2017. We want to go where competition is so we can prove ourselves, GTD is a great area to prove it.
“One day I’m sure we’ll go back to prototypes, but for the time being we’re focused on doing everything we can to deliver wins and championships.”
The GT3 category has really helped IMSA across the board, it’s a great formula
You mentioned in the press conference that you’ve already been a part of the testing programme and that you’ve seen the car in action. Do you think it will be a quick and reliable car out of the box, or do you see it taking time to develop?
“It’s quick already. A lot of it depends on reliability though. We’re working through durability, but so far it looks promising. There have been problems, and we have gone through them.”
The relationship with RealTime Racing, which is running the NSX in PWC, will that be close-knit?
“It is, and that relationship started well and is going well. I anticipate us trading information. Obviously there’s a lot of differences in horsepower levels and tyre. But we will have a back and forth.”
Is there a chance of you guys heading over to PWC for some key races or vice versa?
“No, we will stand in our own arena.”
And in terms of drivers, are you having to look far afield for that? Or are you going to run with a selection of guys you know well?
“Yeah, in the next four to six weeks we will announce drivers. We will have eight, we need eight. We have three exactly where we want them and the rest of it’s going to be comms group decisions that we are going to have to make.”
It must have been a tough thing for you to say goodbye to John (Pew) in all of this though? Is this because John didn’t want to race in GTD?
“It was totally John’s decision, his decision came first. John told me at the beginning of the season that he needed to take a break essentially. We knew that was coming a long time ago, he’s been a high level for a very long time, so we were looking into multiple programmes. We had Plan B if this didn’t work.”
John told me at the beginning of the season that he needed to take a break essentially.
GT3 is a customer formula, so once the car is homologated and you’ve done a year of racing, will you guys have to effectively become salesmen to potential customers and then help run their cars in the future?
“It could happen. We haven’t clearly defined that, but the car will be for sale. It will be a great car for teams. How we help with that is yet to be determined, but we’re amenable to it, we’d be happy to help.”
So you have the infrastructure and the man power to expand from running two cars?
“We do, it just depends on what project comes next.”
Is the NSX a purely North-American car, or will we see you guys coming over to Europe or Australia to race it at the big endurance races of GT3 cars?
“It’s strictly a North American car. I would think you could buy one if you are in Europe.”
And last question, slightly off topic, we know since the partnership with Honda you tested the ARX-04b, is there a future with that car?
“It’s fast, it’s great, but it’s done I’m afraid.”
Featured image courtesy of IMSA
