Michael Shank Racing head to Detroit full of optimism for the fifth round of the Rolex Series at Belle Isle Park.
Most eyes will be on the team’s Gustavo Yacaman, who lead 15 laps on his way to victory at Belle Isle in the Indy Lights championship in 2012. Yacaman will be joined by Antonio Pizzonia in the #6 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype, with the duo coming off their best result of the season at the previous round in Road Atlanta, where they finished fourth.
The sister #60 car had been hoping to see a return of Ozz Negri, who had missed the Barber Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta events due to an off-season injury. However, with the team erring on the side of caution, Michael Valiante will once again play the role of “super-sub” alongside John Pew.
“It’s been a while since Road Atlanta so even though we’ve been very busy at the shop preparing for the whole month of June, all my guys are really looking forward to getting back out there and racing starting in Detroit,” said team owner Mike Shank. “Gustavo and Antonio keep making progress, every race, and hopefully we can help them continue doing that this weekend. Obviously with Gus having won the race here in Lights he knows his way around pretty well! It was a tough call with Ozz to have him sit out, but doctors orders are just that so we really appreciate Michael (Valiante) being able to come back and race with us again. This is a really compressed event, and the race itself is very quick, so hopefully we can show up with a good package and bring Ford some success in their home race.”
