The #86 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 was strong throughout last weekends Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the four drivers were rewarded with an excellent second place finish in the GT Daytona class.
Katherine Legge took the car to the front of the field in the early hours of Sunday morning, while her co-drivers Alvaro Parente, AJ Allmendinger and Trent Hindman all had superb stints in the car, and they were not far away from the class winning #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan at the chequered flag.
Legge admitted it was tough not to take home the victory after such a positive race at the Daytona International Speedway, but she was proud of the whole team and all of the drivers.
“My first double stint was really good, my second was average,” said Legge. “We were also double stinting tyres, just trying to get through the night.
“My last stint was really good, apart from the incident with the prototype. I don’t think we had the straight-line speed to fight with those guys so what we achieved was like a victory. I’m happy to be on the podium but gutted not to have won.
“I’m proud of the whole team and all of the drivers – it’s been a very long 24 hours.”
Parente, who will run the four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup races alongside Legge in the #86 in 2018, says the team’s confidence in turn gave him confidence, although the lack of straight-line speed hindered them slightly.
“This feels great, especially since we had such a difficult race,” said Parente. “We knew we were lacking a bit of straight line speed, so it feels even better.
“Congratulations to the engineers, to Ryan (McCarthy), to Mike (Shank), to Vince (Forges) and the boys that were on it all the time. They were confident the whole way.”
