Daytona International Speedway has become Meyer Shank Racing’s playground.
After Tom Blomqvist wheeled the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 to glory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday afternoon, MSR earned its second consecutive overall triumph in the twice-around-the-clock classic.
Though before crossing the start/finish line, Blomqvist had to hold off a hard-charging Filipe Albuquerque aboard the No. 10 Acura during the final 30 minutes of action.
For Blomqvist, trusting his hybrid-powered race car and keeping it on the pavement became the key in the final stint.
“We were good at the restarts, so I was confident with them behind that I could manage the situation better,” Blomqvist said. “But once the team got also a little bit more nervous because I knew they were probably the second fastest car on track, and I have enough experience with Filipe to know he’s going for it if he sees an opportunity.
“But I said, just keep it cool. Just trust what I had, and basically just try and get every little bit of performance out of the car, and thankfully I was able to do that. My life was made a lot easier this week by every single one of us at this team.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06 in victory lane. (IMSA Photo)
It turned out to be a dominant performance for the No. 60 group, after scoring the pole and leading countless laps in the newly formed GTP class.
Though in the span of 24 hours around the 3.56-mile road course, adversity naturally hit.
“Our car had a gearbox problem all night. I mean, all night, and we could not fix it,” Mike Shank, Meyer Shank Racing co-owner said. “We decided just to run it until it blew up. It didn’t blow up.
“We got super lucky.”
The issue first came to light on lap 200. Though with over half of the event still to go, MSR consistently kept up with damage control until victory was achieved.
“It was real serious,” Shank said. “The guy that really monitors that sits next to me and someone brought him a piece of racers tape that said 90 C on it, so we stopped — we just knew it was 90 C. If it goes, it goes.
“It just didn’t. We kept maintaining the gearbox and fluid levels and trying to fix it literally the whole race.”
The patch work in the MSR camp did the trick, as the team finished the race bathing in champagne with a Rolex Daytona timepiece on their wrists.
Adding to his already storied racing career, driver Helio Castroneves scored a third Rolex victory in a row, joining Peter Gregg as the only other driver to reach that mark. After the race, the emotions of triumph overcame the 47-year-old.
“Look, to do three in a row, it’s a very tough sport. You lose more than (you) win some,” Castroneves said. “All of a sudden when you win like this and the way it was, the expectation, you saw Mike talking about Acura, everyone was not knowing, and all of a sudden you’re right there and about to achieve this amazing dream.
Meyer Shank Racing scored their second Rolex 24 victory in a row on Sunday. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
“Yes, I am an emotional guy. I have my family here. My daughter was here. My wife wasn’t but my dad was here. That’s how we started.
“So yeah, it did touch me in a way that that’s why I love so much this sport, because it’s very hard, and when you get it, you’ve got to celebrate.”
The X-factor in MSR’s surge to victory may have come from Simon Pagenaud, who re-took the lead from Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais after a restart in the 21st hour.
Despite heat from the No. 01 Cadillac, Pagenaud remained cool and focused as he stood his ground at the top before handing the reins over to Blomqvist.
“Yeah, I feel great. It’s like Helio kind of said, it’s the environment that I’m in, the teammates that I had this weekend,” Pagenaud said. “Mike, Jim (Meyer, co-owner), and how they make me feel about myself really. Personally I’ve worked on myself this winter to improve and keep pushing.
“Every driver in the world is doing that. We’re all doing it. But it’s about finding what works for you. I’ve found a few things that I’m feeling really good, but the car is suiting me well. Acura built something that I really enjoy driving, and I felt really great for the whole 24. Never got tired when the team needed me to do more stints, I stayed in.”
It was also a stellar outing for first-time Rolex 24 overall winner Colin Braun, who completed MSR’s four-driver lineup. It was his third Rolex 24 class victory.
Braun gave a tip of the cap to key members on top of the box who helped strategize and spearhead the success of their 24-hour race.
“Super proud of all these guys. I think we haven’t touched on it too much, but hats off to Ryan McCarthy and Vincent (Forges) up on the box,” Braun said. “Those guys managed this race the entire day, throughout all the little issues we had, little things here and there.
“Those guys just did such a good job at staying cool, staying calm, and managing the whole program for us. Yeah, couldn’t do it without them.”
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Keyword: A History-Making Event For Meyer Shank Racing