BRITISH RACING DRIVER JACK HARVEY SECURES 20TH PLACE FINISH AT MID-OHIO INDYCAR RACE
31st July 2018
British racing driver Jack Harvey today finished P20 at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Verizon IndyCar Series event in the Meyer Shank Racing with SPM No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda.
Harvey had a strong practice session on Friday afternoon, finishing tenth quickest, and was hoping for a strong spot in Saturday’s qualifying. Unfortunately, a red flag during the 10-minute qualifying session affected his quick lap and, although he improved on his next fast lap, it wasn’t enough to allow him to move into the next session. Harvey qualified in P20 with a lap of 1:05.991seconds.
“After Practice Two we were in a pretty good spot,” said Jack Harvey. “Our red tyres were very good and we all were happy with the speed we had. We just weren’t able to keep that momentum going in qualifying.”
Lined up on the tenth row of the grid, the Meyer Shank Racing team relied on an aggressive strategy to pit early in the hope of moving Harvey up the order as quickly as possible. However, this strategy was reliant on the arrival of a full course caution to shuffle the order, which unfortunately didn’t occur.
As a previous winner at the Ohio-based track, Harvey put in a solid performance and over the course of the race made seven passes for position and posted a fast lap of 1:07.867-seconds – consistent with the top running cars.
Although a 20th place result was not what Harvey had hoped for at the team’s home race, he has already moved his focus to his next race in Portland.
“We had a high risk, high reward type of strategy,” commented Jack Harvey. “The race summed up our weekend in that at sometimes we were ok, but then other times we were struggling a lot. Our day was a combination of not being quick enough and not getting the yellows we needed. The team has been working hard and only doing a few races this year is a challenge, but we are making the best of it and I know we will make progress during Portland.”
“The first race back home isn’t exactly how we wanted it to go,” commented Mike Shank. “We gambled for track position and it didn’t pay off. It would have been a completely different race for us had we got a yellow. There are a lot of little things we need to tighten up since we don’t do this every weekend. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but what we can get out of this is learning these little mistakes and fixing them. We will be back for Portland and we will look at what happened here and see where we can improve.”
Harvey next races in the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series at the Grand Prix of Portland on September 2nd, 2018.
About Jack Harvey:
Originally from Bassingham, Linconshire, Jack Harvey is competing in select rounds of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series for Meyer Shank Racing with SPM. An IndyCar Rookie in 2017, Harvey raced in the 101st Indianapolis 500, the Grand Prix at the Glen at Watkins Glen International, and the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma held at Sonoma Raceway.
Prior to IndyCar, Harvey posted six (6) wins and eighteen (18) podium finishes in Indy Lights, placing second place overall in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, narrowly missing Indy Lights Championships by the slimmest of margins. Racing from as early as he can recall, Harvey has previously competed in GP3, British F3, Formula BMW Europe, with his early race years spend in karting. Winning at every level of competition, Jack Harvey captured the 2012 British International F3 Series Champion, the 2010 Formula BMW Europe Vice Championship, and won Karting Championships, including the Junior British Champion, the Junior European Champion, and the Asian Pacific Champion. Additionally, in 2010, Harvey was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.
Harvey trains and makes his offseason home in Carmel, Indiana.
About Cometic Gasket, Inc
Cometic Gasket, Inc., is a leading worldwide supplier of gaskets and engine sealing solutions for the Automotive Performance, Powersports, Original Equipment and Remanufactured Engine Industries. Housed in a 70,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing center in Concord Township, Ohio, Cometic Gasket has maintained its deep roots in the performance industry while expanding to service the Domestic Automotive, Sport Compact, V-twin, Marine, Diesel, Agricultural, Industrial and Stationary Power markets. Today, Cometic Gasket offers over 85,000 SKUs, shipping gaskets and engine sealing solutions across the globe. For more information about Cometic, visit www.cometic.com.
About Meyer Shank Racing:
After making a mark for himself as a professional racing driver, team owner Mike Shank first started Michael Shank Racing in the Champ Car Toyota Atlantic Championship, flourishing with the likes of Kenny Wilden, Sam Hornish Jr., and Johnny Rutherford before switching the team into a new direction and into the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series in 2004.
Michael Shank Racing led the first race that they entered and finished on the podium in the second race of the team’s history. 2016 marked the teams 250th Prototype start where the team saw victory at the season finale event – the Petit Le Mans.
With a new era in 2017, MSR moved out of Prototype competition and into the GT ranks and served as a factory team for the inaugural year with the Acura NSX GT3. The team earned success after collecting two wins in the car’s first season of competition in 2017. The same year also marked the first time Michael Shank Racing entered the famed Indianapolis 500 with Rookie driver Jack Harvey, impressing the field after overcoming several setbacks.
The 2018 season saw Michael Shank Racing return to IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship competition as a customer racing team, returning with two Acura NSX GT3. The team also made the move to enter the Verizon IndyCar Series with a select schedule of events with driver Jack Harvey piloting the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda. Jim Meyer also entered the Michael Shank Racing family in 2018, serving as new co-owner alongside Mike Shank as the team was rebranded as Meyer Shank Racing.
About Schmidt Peterson Motorsports:
Established in 2001 and owned by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt and Canadian businessman Ric Peterson, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM) currently competes in the Verizon IndyCar Series. With a storied history in the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires series with over 70 wins, over 70 pole positions and seven championship wins, the Indianapolis-based team has also found success in IndyCar with six wins, two Indianapolis 500 pole positions and five poles claimed overall, as well as three top-five finishes in the championship points standings. For more information, please visit spmindycar.com.
About MBK Sports:
MBK Sports (MBK) is a full-service sports agency dedicated to the growth and fulfilment of its clients’ careers and potential, both on and off the field, in the short and long-term. Founded by long-time NFL agent and attorney Eugene T. Lee in 2015, and with offices in New York City, Indianapolis and Los Angeles, MBK’s far-reaching footprint is impacting lives nationwide through a foundation of faith and a dynamic combination of diligence, experience, integrity and industry expertise.
About AutoNation, Inc.:
AutoNation, America’s largest automotive retailer, through its bold leadership, innovation and its comprehensive brand extensions, is transforming the automotive industry. As of September 30, 2017, AutoNation owned and operated 361 new vehicle franchises from coast to coast. AutoNation has sold over 11 million vehicles, the first automotive retailer to reach this milestone. AutoNation’s success is driven by a commitment to delivering a peerless experience through customer-focused sales and service processes. Through its Drive Pink initiative, AutoNation is committed to drive out cancer, create awareness and support critical research. AutoNation continues to be a proud supporter of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and other cancer-related charities.
About SiriusXM:
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the world’s largest radio company measured by revenue and has approximately 32.2 million subscribers. SiriusXM creates and offers commercial-free music; premier sports talk and live events; comedy; news; exclusive talk and entertainment, and a wide-range of Latin music, sports and talk programming. SiriusXM is available in vehicles from every major car company and on smartphones and other connected devices as well as online at siriusxm.com. SiriusXM radios and accessories are available from retailers nationwide and online at SiriusXM. SiriusXM also provides premium traffic, weather, data and information services for subscribers through SiriusXM Traffic™, SiriusXM Travel Link, NavTraffic®, NavWeather™. SiriusXM delivers weather, data and information services to aircraft and boats through SiriusXM Aviation™ and SiriusXM Marine™. In addition, SiriusXM Music for Business provides commercial-free music to a variety of businesses. SiriusXM holds a minority interest in SiriusXM Canada which has approximately 2.8 million subscribers. SiriusXM is also a leading provider of connected vehicles services, giving customers access to a suite of safety, security, and convenience services including automatic crash notification, stolen vehicle recovery assistance, enhanced roadside assistance and turn-by-turn navigation.
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