Tough Day for Harvey and Castroneves at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Monterey, Calif. (19 September 2021) – The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey ran at a green flag pace for 93 of 95 laps, and it quickly became a race of tire management for the 27 car INDYCAR SERIES field on Sunday.

Meyer Shank Racing drivers Jack Harvey – No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda – and Helio Castroneves – No. 06 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda – finished 15th and 24th respectively.

MSR started the weekend off strong at the Northern California circuit, which is infamous for its low grip and intense tire wear. Practice 1 on Friday saw Castroneves and Harvey with the second and third fastest times of the session, providing optimism for the team after clocking a fourth place result with Harvey last weekend in Portland.

Unfortunately, qualifying did not play out as the team had hoped with Harvey Harvey slotting in on the 10th row, and Castroneves on the 11th. Once the green flag waved on Sunday, one single yellow flag slowed the field on Lap 2 with green flag running for the remaining 93 laps.

Harvey and Castroneves ran two different tire strategies with the No. 60 [Harvey] starting on new alternate tires while the No. 06 [Castroneves] started on new primary tires.

Harvey ran a strong initial stint, capitalizing on several cars coming out of pit lane on cold tires and racing to a high of 12th. Harvey consistently ran within the top fifteen and worked to hold on with the No. 60 through the  final 29 lap stint as his Firestone primary tires began to wear off. Harvey finished five positions ahead of where he started to come home 15th.

“This was a tough one for us, we had high tire degradation and no speed,” said Harvey. “The only good thing was that we moved slightly forward. We just need to reset quickly and make sure we have a final good race together as a team in Long Beach.”

Castroneves made his third stop of the race on lap 65 for a set of scuffed primary alternates, but the grip quickly faded. The Brazilian made the call to pit one additional time with seven laps to go to finish out strong and gain some additional positions, but unfortunately Castroneves finished the Firestone Grand Prix 24th.

“First of all, the AutoNation / SiriusXM car was incredible, the guys did a great job,” said Castroneves. “We really worked very hard. Tire degradation was extremely high. The car changed a lot from yesterday to today. We decided to make that last stop in an effort to finish the race strong. In the end, we probably would have finished 19^th or 20^th. Everyone’s been working so hard, great effort from everyone, not the result we wanted but we’ll keep working.”

Meyer Shank Racing will continue its west coast swing next weekend with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race weekend will have both MSR IMSA and INDYCAR programs onsite for a big weekend of action.

Media Contact: Maddie Komar
maddie@sundaymanagement.com