Today’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans will mark the end of an era for a number of teams, programs and manufacturers. From the final races for the Lexus RC F GT3 and Lamborghini Huracan GT3, to the exits of Pfaff Motorsports as well as Acura and Lexus (to be replaced by Toyota sub-brand GR) as long-standing manufacturers, it will almost feel like 2027 will be turning a page in IMSA history.
But perhaps the most impactful is that of Meyer Shank Racing, which will be making its 401st and 402nd, and final scheduled IMSA starts. The Pataskala, Ohio-based team, founded by ex-Atlantic Championship driver Mike Shank, has been a mainstay in either Grand-Am or WeatherTech Championship competition since 2004, with the exception of 2024, and is one of only four teams (Pratt Miller Motorsports, Risi Competizione and Riley Motorsports) that are still actively racing in top-level IMSA competition today.
A longtime Daytona Prototype entrant, MSR’s rise to fame came in 2012 when Ozz Negri, John Pew, AJ Allmendinger and the late Justin Wilson won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, although it is now most known for its long-running association with Honda, which began as an engine supplier for its Ligier LMP2 car in the 2015 WeatherTech Championship season.
Fast forward 11 years and MSR, with the ‘M’ now being Meyer in team co-ownership with former Sirius XM CEO Jim Meyer, collected three IMSA championships and two wins in the Indianapolis 500, all with Honda/Acura. That’s why when the news broke in April that the luxury automaker would be pausing its WeatherTech Championship program with the factory Acura ARX-06 GTP class entry at seasons’ end, it didn’t come as a huge shock that MSR also wouldn’t continue in the series.
Shank, now 60, admitted to assembled media at the recent Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that he wouldn’t field a WeatherTech Championship entry just for the sake of doing it and the team “deserves to be at the top end” in a top-class factory capacity. While not ruling out a potential return in the future, his full focus will now be on the NTT IndyCar Series, particularly in 2028 when the team adds a third charted entry to be run on behalf of Honda.
Reflecting on the team’s highs and lows with the Acura brand in sports cars, Shank says its step into the GTD ranks with the then-new NSX GT3 project in 2017 actually helped get them to where they are today in their tight-knit relationship with the Japanese manufacturer.