Sheena Monk equals personal best in IMSA with P4 at Long Beach
4/22/24 (via racers-behindthehelmet.com)
"It looked like for a minute we were really close to getting on the podium" – Sheena Monk and her Gradient Racing teammate Stevan McAleer charged from dead last to fourth at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which equalled Sheena's career best in IMSA and gained her the top Bronze Cup award.
Sheena Monk and teammate Stevan McAleer claimed a remarkable fourth place finish at the iconic Long Beach Grand Prix after a stellar charge from the back of the field, which saw the new Gradient Racing driver pairing recovering from an engine change to finishing on the doorsteps of the podium in the third round of the IMSA Sports Car Championship.
Monk had previously shared the #66 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 with long-time mentor Katherine Legge, in an all female crew that also included Tatiana Calderon for the Michelin Endurance Cup racers. A program change for Legge – who recently announced her return to the Indianapolis 500 in a Dale Coyne Racing entry – resulted in the return of Stevan McAleer, who had previously joined the team at the Rolex 24H of Daytona.
After a highly positive debut season for Monk in the GTD class of North America's premier sports car championship, where she and Legge were often in contention for an elusive podium, expectations were high for a sophomore campaign in the highly competitive GTD field. Unfortunately, retirements at the first two rounds of the 2024 season at Daytona and Sebring interrupted a streak of point scoring finishes; a big accident at the 12H of Sebring – where Legge was pushed by a GTP prototype into the wall – resulted in a new chassis ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which hosted the first sprint race of the season.
Monk took over driving duties for the first practice session, setting a 1:19.689 that put the #66 Acura P14 in the GTD field. Sheena made more progress in the second session, before Stevan McAleer put in a 1:18.259 lap which moved the Gradient Racing squad to the top of the timing sheets.
While Monk should have tackled qualifying on Friday afternoon, an engine change forced the team to sit out the session – and therefore the JG Wentworth-sponsored Acura would have to recover from the very back of the field in Saturday's race.
Taking the start for her second Grand Prix of Long Beach, bronze-rated Sheena Monk had a great getaway at lights out and cleared two cars already into the first tricky corner, while the two Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Thompson and Montecalvo led the pack after a dominant qualifying for the Japanese brand. Montecalvo, though, had changed lane before the green flag and would receive a drive through penalty.
Albert Costa (Conquest Racing Ferrari) had meanwhile got ahead of Montecalvo for second, with Danny Formal (WTR with Andretti Lamborghini) up to third. By lap 3, Sheena Monk had found a way past Elias Sabo, Kerong Li and Orey Fidani – and was improving her pace to catch Jarett Andretti in the #43 Andretti Motorsports Porsche.
Sheena was very cautious as the GTP traffic approached, but decisive enough to close in on the car ahead. She would move up to P11 on lap 8, when Brendan Iribe's Inception McLaren hit the wall and was collected by the Wright Motorsports Porsche of Adam Adelson. The safety car was deployed and, after a short caution, Monk was ready to resume her chase with 1 hour and 17 minutes to go.
Monk continued to follow closely the Porsche, while at the same time she had the fast recovering Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Montecalvo to keep at bay, after the pole sitter could close back with the pack under caution. Sheena held her own brilliantly throughout the rest of the stint, before she took to the pitlane on lap 23, when she handed over to Stevan McAleer – having charged from 17th to from 12th.
Sadly the Andretti Porsche had held them up in traffic and Anders Fjordbach (MDK Motorsports Porsche) was back ahead after the pit stop – as McAleer rejoined in P12. He gained one more position when the Winward Racing Mercedes received a penalty for a pit stop infraction – and then had the chance to close back in with the rest of the pack when the safety car was out for the accident of Louis Deletraz's WTR Acura prototype on lap 30.
With a spectacular restart, the #66 Acura leapfrogged both the Andretti and the MDK Motorsports Porsches: McAleer now chased Hawksworth in the #12 Lexus after setting his personal best sectors. The Gradient Acura gained another spot when Hawksworth clipped the wall and damaged his left rear suspension; now up to eighth, McAleer further improved the car's best lap and, just as he was trying to close in on Kyle Marcelli, a pile up at the final hairpin gave him the chance to pick up more positions. He navigated through the traffic triggered by a contact between Loris Spinelli and Mathieau Jaminet's Porsche and grabbed fifth in GTD. McAleer further climbed to fourth when the Forte Racing Lamborghini was handed a drive through for the incident.
With 15 minutes to go, the #25 BMW hypercar of Connor de Phillippi crashed into the barriers and triggered another full course yellow. In the final minutes, McAleer had the podium within reach - but at the same time he had to defend from Corey Lewis' Proton Mustang.
After 1 hour and 50 minutes of extremely close racing, the #66 JG Wentworth Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Sheena Monk and Stevan McAleer completed a stellar recovery from the back of the grid to cross the finish line in fourth place – banking important points for the championship. As the top Bronze Cup team, Monk and McAleer also took top honor in the Bob Akin Award.
"I'm just really happy for JG Wentworth and also for Acura at their home Grand Prix", Sheena commented. "It's a testament to this entire program and the drivers to go from dead last, being patient and choosing the spots. We were able to go from 17th to fourth."
Fourth place ties Sheena's personal best result in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, equalling her 2023 Daytona 24 Hours result.
"It looked like for a minute we were really close to getting on the podium – which we would have loved for Acura at the Long Beach Grand Prix", she continued. "I'm looking forward to hopefully getting our JG Wentworth Acura in victory lane one of these days soon."
McAleer Replaces Legge at Gradient for Rest of Season
4/10/24 (via SportsCar365)
Stevan McAleer drafted into No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 for remainder of GTD season…
By John Dagys
Stevan McAleer has replaced Katherine Legge in Gradient Racing’s Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 for the remainder of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Announced on Wednesday, McAleer, who was part of the No. 66 Acura’s lineup for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, will team up with Sheena Monk for the rest of the GTD season beginning with next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
A reason for Legge’s departure from the team has not been communicated.
“After the thoroughly great experience I had with the team in Daytona, I was excited to be granted the opportunity to return and run for the rest of the season,” said McAleer.
“This will be my second time competing in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, and I’m looking forward to reconnecting with Gradient Racing. I have known Team Owner Andris Laivins since 2011 through CJ Wilson Racing, and I have won two championships with his programs in 2012 in MX5 Cup and in 2015 in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.”
McAleer finished third in the GTD standings in 2022, at the wheel of Team Korthoff Motorsports’ Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, in the Scot’s only previous full-season WeatherTech Championship effort.
RS1 Porsche Sweeps Sebring Practice
3/14/24 (via sportscar365.com)
Stevan McAleer keeps No. 28 Porsche on top as practice at Sebring wraps up…
By Davey Euwema
Stevan McAleer paced the second and final practice session for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring International Raceway, completing a practice sweep for the RS1 squad in the process.
The Scottish driver steered the No. 28 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS to a best time of 2:09.786, which was 0.179 seconds ahead of the No. 88 Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the hands of Aaron Telitz.
McAleer’s time compared strongly to the 2:10.286 that co-driver Trent Hindman set to lead the opening practice session, which took place on Wednesday.
Spencer Pumpelly completed the top three aboard the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche that he shares with Thomas Collingwood, while the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Michai Stephens slotted into fourth.
Michael de Quesada rounded out the overall top five aboard the No. 69 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4, leading the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG.
In TCR, Audi beat Hyundai as Chris Miller set a 2:13.552 aboard the No. 17 JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi RS 3 LMS TCR to lead the class.
He remained clear of a trio of Hyundai Elantra N TCRs, led by the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport car driven by Harry Gottsacker and the sister No. 98 machine of Mason Filippi.
The 60-minute session was briefly red flagged in the opening minutes as the No. 55 Gou Racing Audi stopped on track at Bishop.
The Pilot Challenge cars return to the track for qualifying at 2:10 p.m. EDT.
RESULTS: Practice 2