Rolex 24 winner Meyer Shank gets big penalty for manipulating tire data; will keep victory Jordan Jarvis knows how tough it is to blaze a new trail in SuperMotocross
Meyer Shank Racing winning team in Race 61st. The Rolex 24 at Daytona received a hefty fine for manipulating tire pressure data during the January 28-29 race but will keep its win, trophy and winner’s watch.
The No. 60 MSR Acura, which also won the 2022 season championship in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Master Prototype category, was fined 200 driver and team points on Wednesday, plus all points towards the Michelin Endurance Cup.
The team was also fined $50,000 and lost all prize money for the race. Team engineer Ryan McCarthy was suspended indefinitely by IMSA and team owner Mike Shank was placed on probation until June 30.
An MSR spokesperson said the team would not exercise its right to appeal the penalty.
“We make the decision of the series and take responsibility,” the team said in a statement. “We want to apologize to everyone at Acura, HPD and all of our partners. We have resolved this issue internally and the team member in charge is no longer with the organization. We don’t want this mistake to overshadow the tremendous effort our team, drivers and all our partners have put into developing this new LMDh vehicle. We consider this matter closed and are fully focused on the reboot and return to Twelve Hours of Sebring.”
— Meyer ShankRac (@MeyerShankRac) March 8, 2023
In a statement Wednesday, IMSA said it became aware of possible manipulation of tire pressure data following the completion of a post-race technical inspection. IMSA said the manipulation was discovered by Honda Performance Development and brought to the attention of the sanctioning body after the official results were released.
“We are extremely disappointed with the misconduct of the Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) team during the Daytona,” said David Salters, President and CTO of Honda Performance Development. “We have become aware of a data issue with MSR #60 and after a thorough post-race investigation, we have reported our findings to IMSA. HPD does not tolerate any form of misconduct, tort or any form of data manipulation. We fully support IMSA’s actions on this matter. We put a lot of effort into the ARX-06 with our chassis partners over two years to make the best race car we could. It is unacceptable to question this.”
HPD Penalty Statement in Dayton involving Team #60 MSR GTP. pic.twitter.com/5AUrpY2J3m
— HPD-North American Motorsports (@HondaRacing_HPD) March 8, 2023
When asked by NBC Sports if the fine would affect HPD’s relationship with Meyer Shank Racing (which also fields Honda in the NTT IndyCar Series), Honda & Acura Motorsports manager Chuck Schifsky said HPD “won’t comment on the matter at this time.”
Schifsky has confirmed that the No. 60 Acura MSR will take part in the Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 18.
There will be no change to the points scoring of GTP manufacturers, which include Acura, Cadillac, Porsche and BMW.
Acura also has an ARX-06 entered by Wayne Taylor Racing, which finished second in the 2023 Rolex 24, which saw the debut of LMDh hybrid prototype cars in the rebranded GTP category.
IMSA subsequently checked tire pressure data for eight other cars in the Grand Touring Prototype category before wrapping up its investigation and announcing penalties on Wednesday, nearly six weeks after the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
ARX-06 #60 was driven by Tom Blomquist, Colin Brown, Simon Pageneau and Helio Castroneves. This became the second consecutive win for Rolex 24 for MSR.
Throughout January, the No. 60 was exceptionally fast on the 3.56-mile highway in Dayton. Blomkvist drove a fast lap to take pole position and the car had several practice runs.
During the race, No. 60 led a race-record 365 of 783 laps.
IMSA has been monitoring Rolex 24 tire pressures since 2022, setting certain minimum values for teams after several setbacks in the 2021 race.
MSR was found to have violated IMSA Sports Regulations and SSR Rule ATT3.6.6.E (Operational Failure) and 3.6.6.D – Deliberately Applying Program Offsets within Pressures Reported by the Tire Pressure Monitoring System and Related to them Automotive telemetry is prohibited and can be fined.
REtweet to congratulate @MeyerShankRac!
Absolute winners @Rolex24Hours V @DAYTONA! pic.twitter.com/J2RunlvxP2
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) January 29, 2023
When things go wrong, sometimes things seem to get worse, and that’s how supermotocross rider Jordan Jarvis spent the weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
After becoming the only female driver to take part in the 2023 Ricky Carmichael-designed Supercross track at Daytona International Speedway, Jarvis started the weekend with high hopes, even though she had only been able to train for Supercross since mid-October. unlike the top riders who have been training since October and have been racing for the past eight weeks.
Luck won’t be on her side this weekend. The burden of preparation fell on her shoulders.
During media day for the Daytona Supercross race, Jarvis made a mistake during a small jump when she missed the rear brake pedal and she was sent to the ground. Deciding in a split second, she clenched her hands, and the impact of the fall reverberated through the lower half of her arm and elbow.
Not wanting to leave, Jarvis checked in with the Alpine Stars medical team ahead of Saturday’s free practice, checked in, drank some ibuprofen, and hit the track. But the writing was on the wall before she made her first jump, as her father had to help her zip up her suit.
“When it happened,” Jarvis told NBC Sports, “I knew it wasn’t going to work. And when I rushed ahead of the group and came across a couple of bumps, it hurt me.
She thought to herself, “Oops, this will suck.”
“I just stumbled upon the jump face and experienced excruciating pain,” Jarvis said. “I immediately screamed, in tears, trying to just push through it, but I couldn’t, so I just drove off the track.”
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However, Jarvis has gone a bit further in the Daytona Supercross round this year than he did in 2022, but with the time and money invested, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed after a string of bad luck.
Jarvis has always been into motocross. This made Daytona’s track, which combines some motocross elements in a traditional Supercross track, a great training ground for her forays into the stadium series. Between that and knowing how many friends, competitors and eyes will be around, she understands the importance of participating in this race every year.
Now, Jarvis calls Central Florida home, but the Daytona Round is an important race for her for more than just proximity. She knows openness is important if she wants to stay on the motocross circuit and also complete a full Supercross season in the future.
“I’ve been racing here since I was a kid,” Jarvis said. “I did everything amateurishly [events] when i was growing up. I have quite a few titles in women’s and women’s classes. In fact, I got my last two Supercross points here a couple of years ago.
“That would be great,” Jarvis said of racing at the Saturday events, “it’s nice to see everyone… Usually everyone comes to this race to talk and it’s nice to see everyone. It’s nice to show your progress. I didn’t have much more track time this year than last year, but I did have a little, so I wanted to show the difference it made.”
It’s hard to fight trolls
Each athlete strives to prove himself internally, in front of parents, competitors, fans. It was tough at the best of times, and Jarvis has found that Twitter can be especially caustic these days. For an athlete involved in a male sport, this need sometimes seems tenfold increased.
“You know there’s always these keyboard haters, people who automatically think, ‘She’s a girl, she shouldn’t be there.’ I wanted to try and prove that every time I race the men on the pro schedule, I belong.”
While the use of social media is an important tool for finding and interacting with fans and potential sponsors, it can quickly deteriorate. Everyone has something to say, and the worst comments are usually the loudest.
“I posted a video on TikTok where I did a threesome,” Jarvis said. “This was one of my first cases of upholstery and you know I now have Supercross suspension.
“It’s nothing compared to [Eli] Tomac or [Chase] Sexton’s material is much stiffer than mine, but mine is stiffer than average. I posted a video of this because it looks cool, I’m sheathing it and the bike is fully compressed and when it comes up it doesn’t knock me off the bike but soaks it up and does what it’s supposed to do. Someone on [TikTok] commented, “Are you really a pro supercross racer or can’t you even keep up with the LCQ?”
“First, don’t hate the LCQ Supercross riders for being fast. I mean, look at it compared to five years ago, the speed can’t be compared. The depth of the pack is laughable now compared to a couple of years ago.”
Secondly, every rider on the weekly Supercross roster achieved what they achieved by dominating their local classes.
Women’s Pro Motocross DOA
Jarvis…
Source: motorsports.nbcsports.com
