Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian‘s second place finish in the recent IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was down to the call of the teams endurance racer Mark Wilkins, who used his local knowledge to good use when it came to tyre choices in mixed conditions.
The #93 Acura NSX GT3 of Andy Lally and Katherine Legge were already in contention for a podium, but Wilkins, who calls Toronto home these days, was asked by team boss Michael Shank to make the call on tyre choice when it began to rain on parts of the track, and ultimately the decision to stick to slicks was the right one to make.
“Mark (Wilkins) knows this track better than any track that we race on so when he looked at his radar I yelled at him to tell us what to do,” said Shank.
“He was dead right so we have to thank Mark Wilkins for that call.”
Shank was pleased to see the team rise from sixth on the grid to finish second, with the runners-up spot adding to their two race victories at Detroit and Watkins Glen, and although they were denied victory by the #57 Stevenson Motorsports entry of Lawson Aschenbach and Andrew Davis, the strategist for the #93 machine felt they could not done anything more.
“It was a great day,” insisted Shank. “Really what made the difference in that race was the final pit stop and the in and out laps. They were phenomenal – we passed everyone in the pit lane.
“We just had fantastic pit stops and I can’t ask any more from our guys from that. We’re really pleased.”
