On his ninth attempt, team owner Michael Shank finally captured America’s most prestigious sports car race – the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The team of Oswaldo Negri, John Pew, AJ Allmendinger and Justin Wilson in the #60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford Riley survived a tight battle for the lead in the final hours to take home the grueling twice-around-the-clock challenge by a 5.198-second margin of victory.
“I feel like we deserved it to be honest,” Shank said. “I think we’ve worked hard. I don’t make any excuses for that. We paid our dues for sure and I hope it can take us to new cool places in the coming years.”
The winning #60 car had an average speed of 126.300 mph and turned 761 laps, 2,709.16 miles, nearly equivalent of a trip from Daytona Beach to Los Gatos CA, Allmendinger’s hometown. The number of laps completed by the winning Shank team was one lap shy of the Rolex 24 all-time record set back in 1992.
Allmendinger, who recently signed with Roger Penske in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, drove the final stint in the #60 car. It was Allmendinger’s seventh time racing with Shank in the Rolex 24.
“I feel very fortunate,” Allmendinger said. “This is one of the reasons why I love this race, because it really kicks off Speedweeks. It’s such a prestigious race. It’s one of those races you want on your resume and you want to say that you were part of a victory. It’s amazing. I’m going to cherish this.”
Said Negri: “It’s a cool way to start the year. Being with Mike for such a long time, what makes it special is that he wants to win as bad as I do. It’s just so cool. To have a fiery AJ, a very calm and fast Wilson and John Pew on the team, I think we had a dream team this year.”
Finishing behind the #60 car was the pole-winning #8 Starworks Motorsport Ford Riley and Ryan Dalziel, Alex Popow, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish and Enzo Potolicchio.
Shank Racing took the final spot on the podium with the #6 Ford Riley with Michael McDowell, Jorge Goncalvez, Gustavo Yacaman and Sunoco Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge winner Felipe Nasr.
The Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Target Telmex team of Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth.
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