Michael Shank Racing will continue in the GT Daytona class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2018 with Justin Marks and Lawson Aschenbach sharing the full-time driving duties in the #93 Acura NSX GT3, while Katherine Legge and Alvaro Parente will race in the #86 in the four IMSA Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup events.
Mario Farnbacher will join Marks and Aschenbach for the endurance events, while AJ Allmendinger will complete the #93’s line-up for the Rolex 24 at Daytona at the beginning of January.
Legge, twice a winner alongside Andy Lally in the team’s first campaign with the Acura in 2017, returns alongside Portuguese racer Parente for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Watkins Glen Six Hour and Petit Le Mans, although the team has not ruled out adding additional events for the pairing, whose team-mates for the endurance races will be announced closer to the time.
“We learned so much with this program last year and I was very proud to represent Acura and bring home a pair of wins with the NSX in its first season,” said team owner Michael Shank.
“The NSX is phenomenal and we want to build on what we’ve learned so far. I’m very pleased to have two big talents in Justin (Marks) and Lawson (Aschenbach) come on board—their records speak for themselves.
“Having the second entry for the long races and maybe some additional events will also be a boost for the program, between what Katherine (Legge) already knows about this car from last year and having a guy like Alvaro (Parente) join us, that will be a second bullet for us in the long races.
“And people are going to love how these cars are going to look.”
