Monday, 10 October 2022

Sheena Monk

 


Sheena Monk races sportscars in the USA. 

At first she raced in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. She picked up her first podium at the end of 2017 at Imola, in her second-ever race in the Huracan. The Trofeo was her first experience of motorsport, having undergone a fast-track racing license course with Lamborghini when she was 28. She had never raced anything before that.

Her first full racing season was the 2018 Lamborghini Super Trofeo, competing in the LB Cup. She scored her first class win at Virginia International Raceway. 

Sheena made the headlines for the wrong reasons in September 2018 when she crashed her Huracan heavily at Laguna Seca. This was the last meeting of the season and she missed the final race, although this was the last of her worries at the time. Her car may have suffered a brake failure going into the Corkscrew and she hit a tyre wall, leaving her with nine separate fractures.

In 2019, still in pain and healing from her injuries, she returned to the Super Trofeo in the States. Despite her setbacks, she ended the season fourth in the championship with five thirds and one second place. She travelled to Europe for the World Final and was fifth at Jerez. This came after she had tried out for the all-female W Series in Austria. She did not progress beyond the first selection event, but it did not harm her career.

2020 was a great year for her; she raced a McLaren 570S in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and won the Grand Sport class at Road America. She and Corey Lewis were ninth in the championship. 

A second season in the car gave her sixth in the championship, with one podium position at Watkins Glen, a third. She and Spencer Pigot were more consistent this year and only out of the top ten twice, which included the Lime Rock round which they did not finish.

Pairing up with Kyle Marcelli, she tackled the Pilot Challenge again in 2022, initially driving a Toyota Supra GT4. They were twelfth in the Grand Sport class at Daytona, but Kyle had a big accident at Sebring, necessitating a change of car for the rest of the season. It took them some time to get to grips with the Ford Mustang, but by the end of the year they were up to speed, finishing third at Lime Rock and second at Virginia. They were eighth overall.

An all-female partnership with Katherine Legge followed in 2023, driving an Acura for Gradient Racing in the IMSA GTD class. They were eighth in a hotly-contested class, including a class fourth at the Daytona 24 Hours with two other co-drivers. This was their best result; their highest finish in a shorter race was fifth, at Watkins Glen.

(Image copyright Sheena Monk)

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