Michael Shank Racing, which has a long history of developing fan-favorite liveries, will ring in the New Year with a stunning new look at Daytona International Speedway this week. The team, which will return for its 15th consecutive Rolex 24 At Daytona campaign will launch its 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship program, and will make another bold statement with its dual Acura NSX GT3 liveries once again.
Michael Shank Racing recently announced the driver lineup for its two Acura NSX GT3 machines, with the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 set to be driven by Lawson Aschenbach, Justin Marks, Mario Farnbacher and Côme Ledogar, as Katherine Legge, Alvaro Parente, Trent Hindman and A.J. Allmendinger will share the No. 86 Acura NSX GT3 entry with an eye on taking the 2018 Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup championship.
The 2017 IMSA season saw the team not only break through for two race victories with the all-new Acura NSX GT3, but the Ohio-based squad also kept photographers on their toes with a series of innovative liveries through the season. The iconic Fourth of July liveries, which featured Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty, had a tremendous response from race fans. The move to Acura-specific colors, available only on the production Acura NSX machines, was another chapter in the team striking a new look as it then closed out the year with a throwback scheme that echoed the colors the team carried to victory in IMSA Prototype competition.
2018 is no different, and Michael Shank Racing has delivered another new look with an all new urban design. With coordinating colors, the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 – numbered after the 1993 founding year of HPD – will sport a striking red design with a grey and black “spray painted graffiti” look. The sister car, the No. 86 Acura NSX GT3 – numbered after the birth of Acura in 1986 – will coordinate with a similar design but with sleek grey primary coloring.
Both designs, which were originally created for MSR team driver suits by Jessica Karp – were so eye-catching to team owner Mike Shank, that they were soon transformed for the two car Acura NSX GT3 lineup.
“We had some awesome designs last year, but this season we are not carrying the Acura branding so that gave us a bit of a clean slate to come up with something all-new, and when we saw the renderings for the driver suits it was something that we wanted to go even further with and put on the cars,” said team owner Mike Shank. “It came out even better than we were hoping it would! We are all packed and ready to get to work down in Daytona and hopefully everyone is as excited about these cars as we are.”
The Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 lineup will set its debut at the annual Roar Before the 24 event at Daytona International Speedway on January 5th.
