Helio Castroneves leads Meyer Shank Racing to Rolex 24 Victory

The 46-year-old Brazilian held off the No. 10 Konica Minolta/Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi of Ricky Taylor in the closing laps of the race to deliver Meyer Shank Racing its second overall victory in the sports car classic.

Castroneves’ victory was the perfect way to cap off a storybook year. He entered the 2021 race season without a full-time ride in either IndyCar or sports car racing for the first time in his lengthy career.

But in a one-off start at last year’s Rolex 24, Castroneves captured the victory, ironically by driving alongside Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Alexander Rossi in the same No. 10 car he defeated Sunday.

Castroneves also signed a part-time contract with Meyer-Shank’s IndyCar program last year, where in May he became only the fourth driver in history to win four Indy 500s.

His success in the 500 also helped him secure a full-time contract with Meyer Shank's IndyCar team for this season and next.

“It's taken momentum,” Castroneves said. “When Ricky [Taylor] and I won the (IMSA) championship in 2020, me winning the Rolex last year, and then jumping with Mike [Shank] and Jim [Meyer] for the Indy 500, we knew -- it's all about, it sounds cliché, but it's all about belief: I believe in them; they believe in me. This is exactly what's happened with this group here.

Meyer Shanks’s Rolex victory also could not have been accomplished without the help of Castroneves’ teammates Simon Pagenaud, Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist - all of whom took turns driving the No. 60.

“We needed it bad, real bad,” co-owner Mike Shank said of the victory. “We had a tough year last year (Meyer Shank's IMSA program, not IndyCar), and I made it very public. And I didn't want to run from the truth, which was we had a bad year.

“We set out to fix it. I told the guys here's the same thing: Here's where we were; here's where we're going; and I'm not stopping until we get some kind of closure and some competitive level that we're used to dealing with in the sports car world.

“Today proved we're on the right track. We've got a long way to go, but I liked our execution today and I'm just relieved today, just completely relieved.”

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry was denied a fourth consecutive victory at the Rolex and had to settle for second. All of the entry’s 2021 drivers returned in 2022 with the exception of Castroneves, who was replaced by Will Stevens.

Finishing third and fourth, respectively, were the No. 5 and No. 31 Cadillacs of JDC Miller and Action Express Racing. No other cars finished on the lead lap.

In LPM2, IndyCar star Colton Herta drove the No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA to first place, battling the No. 8 Tower Motorsport entry of Louis Deletraz in the closing laps.

With eight minutes remaining, both cars nearly made contact, causing Deletraz to spin and essentially gifting the victory to Herta, as well as his teammates, fellow IndyCar drivers Pato O’Ward, Delvin De Francesco and sports car regular Eric Lux in the No. 81.

In LMP3, the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 of Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson, Kay van Berlo, and Michael Cooper won by over a lap to their nearest competitor.

The GTD Pro and GTD classes were both won by Porsche 911 GT3Rs, with the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports entry of Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and Felipe Nasar taking the Pro class. The No. 16 Wright Motorsports entry of Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen, Richard Lietz and Zach Robichon took GTD honors.