"This just feels good to me for everyone else" - Sheena Monk achieved her first IMSA podium by securing third place at Road America, in a breakthrough performance for the JG Wentworth Gradient Racing Acura that saw flawless drives for Monk and McAleer, an efficient strategy and a chaotic finale.
Sheena Monk secured her first career IMSA podium claiming third place at Road America, in a breakthrough result for Gradient Racing that saw the duo turning a flawless two stop strategy into the team's first top-three in over two years following a hectic finale.
Monk had run a brilliant first stint, running as high as third maximising the team's strategy in a caution-disrupted race, lapping on consistent and very competitive pace just before the pit stops. Stevan McAleer continued the progression, navigating through traffic and executing great passes in a closely contested GTD race - up to the final lap.
Sheena Monk therefore improved on two fourth-place finishes as her best result in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - the first collected in her debut season at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, then matched at this year's Long Beach Grand Prix. Her podium-worthy pace, however, hardly comes as a surprise, as the team has been often in contention for the front-running positions over the last two years, with a podium only slipping away from them for misfortunes.
Having finished eleventh in Monk's GT3 debut season, her 2024 campaign started with a challenging first few rounds. The first top-10 eventually came at Long Beach, where Sheena and McAleer - who stepped in full time from an endurance round role - bagged fourth. They would return to the top ten at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with a seventh place finish, and aimed to keep momentum at Road America, on a circuit where Monk claimed her maiden victory in the GT4-based GS class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2020.
Gradient Racing’s weekend began with a 2:06.284 lap in the opening practice session, placing the JG Wentworth-sponsored Acura NSX GT3 seventh in the GTD class. The team built speed over Friday's sessions, though the #66 Acura struggled more in the second practice and was 14th fastest, leaving Monk with a difficult car ahead of qualifying.
During qualifying, bronze-rated Sheena Monk took over driving duties and was fourth in GTD halfway through the session, as times started to drop. She improved again with five minutes to go, putting the #66 Acura back in the top 10 in ninth; in the final minute, however, Sheena couldn’t find further improvements in her last run and ended 13th fastest, second among the Bronze drivers. Mikael Grenier (#32 Korthoff Mercedes AMG) took the top spot in GTD, ahead of Zachary Robichon (#27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin) and Onofrio Triarsi's #023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.
The team opted for some significant setup changes for the race, attempting something different to turn their performance around. From P13, Sheena Monk took the start of the 2-hour and 40-minute contest at one of the most challenging circuits in North America.
The Corvette Racing cars led the GTD pack at lights out, but the race was shortly back under caution when Alexander Sims spun after contact from the #64 Ford Mustang of Mike Rockenfeller and got beached in the gravel. In GTD, Mikael Grenier held position and, ahead of a few GTD Pro entries, led Robichon and Gallagher (Turner Motorsport BMW). Sheena Monk had a clean first lap, crucially avoiding trouble and slotting just behind the Forte Racing Lamborghini of Misha Goikhberg before the neutralization.
The green flag flew ten minutes into the race, and Monk gained a position when Manny Franco brought the Conquest Racing Ferrari into the pits for a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. Just a few laps later, a technical issue for the #34 WTR with Andretti Lamborghini saw Danny Formal having to park his Huracan up in smoke, triggering the second caution.
On lap 10, most teams pitted under yellow, and Gradient Racing, having opted to stay out, climbed the order up to third in class and into the overall top ten.
The action resumed with 2 hours to go, with Monk holding her own and retaining third in GTD as the top bronze driver - well clear of Mikael Grenier in fourth - as she mingled with the GTD Pro entries.
Monk continued to run superb times, holding position and matching the front runners before eventually pitting on lap 18, having completed the bronze driving time. After a solid drive, Sheena Monk handed over to Stevan McAleer, who rejoined in P12 following a perfectly smooth pit stop by the Gradient crew.
Despite a few collisions involving LMP2 cars, the race stayed green, and McAleer ran his first laps on the 2:05 pace, moving up to P11 once Loris Spinelli served a drive-through penalty.
When the TDS Racing LMP2 Oreca went off at the Kink, several teams pitted, anticipating a caution; Gradient Racing stayed out and climbed to seventh. The yellow flag in fact didn’t materialize until on lap 28, when a big accident for the #25 BMW hypercar brought out the safety car with 1 hour and 20 minutes left on the clock.
McAleer then pitted from seventh on lap 32 when the pit lane opened for GT cars, retaining eighth after another good stop by the Gradient team.
After a lengthy cleanup, cars accelerated away for the final hour of racing. McAleer had Wright Motorsport's Elliott Skeer and Albert Costa's Conquest Racing Ferrari to keep at bay, although the safety car was immediately back out when contact displaced the rear bumper of the Multimatic Mustang of Joey Hand, who lost the big piece of bodywork on the main straight, just ahead of Stevan McAleer's Acura and a big group of cars that took evasive action and escaped without damage.
With 49 minutes to go, McAleer defended strongly and kept up the pace with Roman De Angelis in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. This big group of GTD cars engaged in an incredible fight with the Corvette of Tommy Milner: McAleer seized the opportunity when Milner and De Angelis traded positions with some contact and dived on the inside at the final corner, making a move stick on his opponent and moving up to seventh.
Just behind him, chaos ensued when Skeer and Spinelli hit each other, scattering debris that brought out another caution with 30 minutes left. Alessio Rovera pitted the #023 Triarsi Ferrari, handing sixth place to Stevan McAleer just before the restart.
The Scottish driver again held off Albert Costa's Ferrari, following him three-tenths behind. Over the following laps, the Gradient Acura managed to open a small breathing space as the race reached its final ten minutes.
With a handful of laps to go, there was fuel drama for the #12 Vassar Sullivan Lexus, promoting McAleer to fifth. But an unbelievably chaotic final lap saw the Gradient Racing Acura NSX navigate through the GTP traffic, and when Ellis and Koch made contact, McAleer was quick to snatch third place, also surviving contact with the #10 WTR Acura GTP and ultimately crossing the finish line in an outstanding third place.
"This means a helluva lot, especially for Sheena", McAleer commented after the eighth round of the championship. "They've been hovering around P4, P5, P6 for a long time."
"I saw the two Mercedes getting into each other, something funky happening coming out of three, and that was my shot. I don't like finishing P5, so I was willing to take the risk! I'm absolutely stoked for Gradient, for JG Wentworth and Sheena. This is a massive day."
It was McAleer and Monk's best result of the season, improving on a fourth place at Long Beach, as well as Sheena Monk's first-ever IMSA podium after one of her strongest runs in the first stint - a well-deserved reward for the bronze driver who has remarkably improved with hard work throughout her two seasons of GT3 competitions.
"It's a shame it took this long. I'm just really grateful to Stevan for coming in and bringing some life into this", Monk said. "The people at Gradient have been working really hard, it's been a long time where the folks at JG Wentworth have been supporting us and supporting us through a lot of adversity."
"This just feels good to me for everyone else. I'm just happy that a lot of other people are able to take part in this", she added. "It's a good feeling. Road America has traditionally been quite kind to me, so it's just a pleasure to be here and it's a pleasure to get my first WeatherTech podium here."
Monk now sits third in the Bob Akin Award classification for bronze-drivers, just 30 points behind the leader, with three rounds to go.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will return to the track for the ninth round at VIRginia International Raceway for the final 2 hour and 40 minute race on 25th August.
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