MSR hires the first driver for 2021

Meyer Shank Racing has hired their first full-season driver for their upcoming DPi programme in 2021.

The new Acura ARX-05 team has made a deal with Olivier Pla, who will race the car throughout the season.

The French driver has raced for MSR previously in 2016, where he helped out for the long IMSA races, including a victory at Petit Le Mans 2016. It was a Ligier LMP2 car with a Honda (Acura) engine in the back, with Pla being a long time test- and development driver for Ligier.

The MSR team switched to the GTD category after that, where they currently are racing for the fourth season. It’s still unclear if that programme will continue, or if their focus will be 100% on the DPi car.

Even though the team receives two chassis’, they only plan to run a single car and keep a spare car in their trailer.

Olivier Pla
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Richard Dole

AJ Allmendinger will be joining the team for the opening round at Daytona in January.

Olivier Pla was part of the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team, that participated four seasons in the FIA World Endurance Championship, but he has been without a full-season job since fall 2019, when that programme closed down. He raced at Le Mans 2020 for Risi Competizione in their Ferrari, while he has been helping out Mazda Team Joest/Mazda Motorsports #77 during the long races in the IMSA series this year – including Petit Le Mans this weekend.

The remaining driver(s) at Meyer Shank Racing will be announced in the coming weeks.

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