Québec-based Motorsports In Action (MIA) is back for a fourth consecutive year in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with an incredible opportunity to showcase Sheena Monk, an up-and-coming driver from Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, paired with multiple GT Champion and current Rolex 24 At Daytona WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) champion Corey Lewis.
Last year proved to be a pivotal season for MIA delivering their best performance in three years. A top-10 result in every round of the season, plus four podiums, the Michelin Pilot Contingency Award for Least Time in the Pits and VP Fuels Front Runner Award for Most Laps Lead culminated into the Grand Sport (GS) class vice-champions – missing the top step by only 12 points (272 – 260).
As luck would have it, MIA’s achievements over the past three years at IMSA did not go unnoticed by Monk, who recently paired up with Lewis with a goal to compete in Pilot Challenge. However, when it became known that MIA was available, the drivers had already contracted another team for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.
“Sheena is coming from the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series, which has faster cars than the GT4 field in the Michelin Pilot Challenge”, observed Kerub. “Yet it was clear from my conversations with her that she wanted to compete at the highest levels of GT racing in a series that is considered to have the most incredible pool of talented GT drivers.”
It is with Monk’s determination to succeed and to win, along with sharing the car with an already proven champion, that MIA made every effort to secure this pairing for the remainder of the season. The team was forced to miss the first round at Daytona and nearly the entire season after not securing a driver lineup earlier in the offseason.
“We are so excited to make this announcement with such a competitive duo after thinking we were parked for 2020. The entire team is extremely thankful to Sheena and Corey for giving us this opportunity, and we don’t plan on letting them down.” concluded Kerub.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with MIA because they have a proven record of success and their achievements as a team will help make the difference in this extremely competitive field,” said Monk, who scored her first Lamborghini Super Trofeo victory at VIRginia International Raceway in 2018. “I am also pleased to continue sharing the driving duties with Corey and learning from his experience.”
“I’m very much looking forward to joining MIA for the 2020 Michelin Pilot Challenge with Sheena in the McLaren 570S GT4,” added Lewis.
“We had a very strong test at Sebring, which I know we will be able to hit the ground running come race week. Sheena has shown strong progression with learning new circuits and has proven race pace. We plan to continue MIA’s success from last year. Sebring has always been one of my favorite circuits on the schedule, I can’t wait to get to work.”
The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge returns to action at Sebring International Raceway for its second race of the season, the two-hour Alan Jay Automotive Network 120. The race can be streamed live on Thursday, March 19, at 3:50 p.m. ET exclusively on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. IMSA Radio will also have live coverage throughout the weekend on RadioLeMans.com.
NBCSN will broadcast the race on Thursday, March 26 from 3-5 pm ET. That broadcast is part of tripleheader of IMSA races being shown in a four-hour block that afternoon that also includes the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama race from St. Petersburg at 1 p.m. and the IMSA Prototype Challenge from Sebring at 2 p.m. ET.