Cameron Puts the MSR Acura on the Front Row in Monterey

Surpasses track record by six tenths of a second and narrowly misses pole by 0.02-seconds

Monterey, Calif. (11 September 2021) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) captured its third front row start of the 2021 IMSA season on Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca after Dane Cameron laid down a lap that was just 0.02-seconds off of pole position.

What started off to be a tough start to the weekend to find pace on the notoriously low grip northern California circuit, quickly turned around for the MSR squad as Cameron narrowly missed out on capturing the team’s first pole position of the season. Cameron will start on the front row for Sunday’s two hour, 40-minute Monterey Sports Car Championship race before turning the car over to co-driver Olivier Pla as the team chases a fourth victory at Laguna Seca.

The veteran Acura driver knew exactly what needed to be done in the 15-minute qualifying session. With just five minutes left on the clock, Cameron sat 0.1-seconds behind pole and made one final push in the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Acura.

The California-native posted a 1:14.406-second lap – which was just two thousandths of a second off pole position.

“Qualifying was a big improvement for us, we were a bit off in the first session yesterday,” said Cameron, who won at Laguna Seca in 2019. “I’m really happy with the improvement and the balance changes that we made. It’s definitely disappointing to come up just a but short but it’s an all-Acura front row start for us which is great.”

With a big race ahead, Cameron admits that tire management will be the key to winning the race.

“For the race it will be all about tire management, the pavement is so old here it’s quite hard on tires,” continued Cameron. “It’s really important to have a good long-run car. Based on practice, I think we have a good race car and we have a strong package behind us, so we’ll see what we can do in the race.”

The IMSA Monterey Sports Car Championship is set for a green flag start time of 4:10pm ET with live coverage on NBCSN. Sunday will be a busy day for Meyer Shank Racing which will also be racing in the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Portland at 3:00pm ET on NBC.

Media Contact: Maddie Komar
maddie@sundaymanagement.com