Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will join Meyer Shank Racing for IMSA’s Petit Le Mans season finale.
The Brazilian replaces Olivier Pla, who had been Dane Cameron’s full-season partner for every round of the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship campaign thus far.
The team has given no reason for the change in personnel, although Pla did end his last race in Long Beach with a crash.
Castroneves now partners Cameron, while Juan Pablo Montoya has been brought in to complete the line-up for the final endurance race of the year.
“I’m so excited to be joining Meyer Shank Racing, Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya for Petit Le Mans,” said Castroneves. “Road Atlanta is such a great track and racing under the lights is something really special.
“Luckily I have a win there last year in the same car, so I’m hoping that I can jump right in and get up to speed. We had a test there last week and we’re feeling pretty confident about the 60 Acura.”
Castroneves joined the Ohio-based squad in IndyCar after leaving Team Penske at the end of 2020. In May, he won a record-equalling fourth Indianapolis 500 with the team and contested the final few races of the 2021 campaign with the MSR operation before signing a contract extension for the 2022 campaign.
While new to MSR’s #60 Acura DPi, Castroneves has plenty of winning experience aboard the ARX-05. He raced it for three consecutive seasons as part of Team Penske’s factory effort, taking five race wins and a career-first championship title in 2020.
He followed that up with a Rolex 24 at Daytona overall victory with Wayne Taylor Racing in January, also aboard the Acura DPi.
Cameron and Castroneves’ team-mate, Juan Pablo Montoya, also experienced championship success with Team Penske and joined Meyer Shank Racing for the Daytona and Sebring rounds earlier this year.
Discussion about this post