Blomqvist Reflects on Controversial 2023 Rolex 24 Win

Tom Blomqvist has shared his reflections on the events of last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona and how Meyer Shank Racing was stripped of the points for victory for a tire pressure infraction.

Along with full-season co-driver Colin Braun as well as Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves, Blomqvist was part of the winning lineup aboard the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 in the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, the first race of the new GTP era.

However, a little over a month after the race it emerged that the MSR Acura had gained a performance edge in the race by manipulating tire pressure data, leading to the drivers and the team being hit with a 200-point penalty, although they kept the win.

MSR’s involvement in the WeatherTech Championship came to an end at the conclusion of the season as it lost its deal to run one of Acura’s GTP cars, while rival squad Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti has expanded to run a second ARX-06 for 2024.

Blomqvist has maintained his ties with MSR by stepping across to a full-time NTT IndyCar Series drive with the team, while keeping a foot in the WeatherTech Championship with his Michelin Endurance Cup drive for the Action Express Racing Cadillac team.

Approaching the one-year anniversary of MSR’s tainted victory, Blomqvist said he was convinced that Acura’s advantage over the competition over its GTP rivals would have allowed the team a good chance to win the Rolex 24 in any case.

“It was an interesting one to deal with afterwards, more so for the team,” he told Sportscar365. “I think it wasn’t easy for them, because nobody likes to be accused of those things. It’s not nice to read some of the things people said. 

“I read something ridiculous about restarts, and silly comments that don’t even make sense. It’s just not nice for the people in the team. 

“Obviously [there were] a lot of people in the team who had no idea [what was going on] getting accused. It’s not nice, people don’t enjoy that. And the intentions of most people there were not for it to end up how it ended up.

“I’m 99 percent sure we still would have fought for that victory, because you saw both Acuras were superior that weekend. And in qualifying, [tire pressures] don’t make any difference and we still put the thing on pole quite easily. 

“We were the car to beat the whole week, regardless of that situation. So it’s a shame it put a dark cloud over it in that respect.

“I’m almost certain we would have won anyway. The car was so fast and Acura did such an amazing job. The thing was a rocket ship right out of the box when everyone was on an equal playing field. It was nice to be a part of that.”

Blomqvist and Braun went on to fall only 22 points shy of the GTP title after scoring further wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and at the Motul Petit Le Mans season finale.

The Anglo-Swede said he was proud of the way that MSR rebounded from the setback of losing the majority points it earned from its Rolex 24 victory.

“It was a bit annoying how it came out, and how it played out over the season,” Blomqvist added. “We had to claw our way back in the championship and we just came short. 

“But can’t do anything about that, right? Just gotta move on, and that’s what we did. We nearly won the championship anyway!”