Michael Shank Racing will begin a brand new era in the Tudor United Sportscar Championship with the arrival of a brand new title sponsor, in the form of tyre and maintenance company Tire Kingdom.
The Ohio-based team will carry Tire Kingdom as its primary sponsor for this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona (January 24th-25th) and the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring on March 21st.
Tire Kingdom is a well known Floridian automotive maintenance and tyre company that operates largely in the eastern states of America.
“We are excited to sponsor Michael Shank Racing for the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring”, Tire Kingdom Chief Marketing Officer Scott Stoughton said. “These are both very big races that carry an international reach. Michael Shank’s team obviously knows what it takes to do well in these long races and we could not be more excited to be involved.”
The deal adds another new dimension to Michael Shank Racing’s 2015 season, following the team’s switch to Onroak-produced Ligier-Honda power and a slight revision of its driver line-up.
The #60 Tire Kingdom/Curb Records Ligier-Honda JS P2 coupé will be piloted by 2014 drivers Oswaldo Negri Jr, John Pew and AJ Allmendinger, with Dyson Racing protégé Matt McMurry joining the team. At 17 years of age McMurry will become the youngest prototype driver ever to compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. He is also the youngest driver to have raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at 16 years 202 days.
A successful Roar Before the 24 test saw the team knocking at the door of the faster Daytona Prototype cars, giving team owner Michael Shank plenty of reasons to be confident ahead of this weekend’s prestigious race.
“I’m very excited to have Tire Kingdom come on board with us for our first race with this new car”, said Shank, who had originally intended to delay the Ligier’s race debut until Sebring. “There has been a ton of hard work that has gone into being prepared to support an effort like this and I’m very happy to have it all come together in time for the start of the season in Daytona.”