MSR Acura Loses Pole; AXR Cadillac to Start First at Indy

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 has been stripped of its pole position for Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to a technical violation found in post-qualifying inspection.

The GTP class entry, qualified by Tom Blomqvist, will start from the rear of the 12-car field due to “failing to comply with bodywork tolerances as defined in LMDh technical regulations” according to an IMSA statement.

Blomqvist had initially given Acura MSR its fourth consecutive pole of the season.

It, however, has promoted the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken to the front of the grid, in what will now be a Cadillac 1-2-3 lockout.

Cadillac’s last IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole came at Motul Petit Le Mans last year, also with Aitken behind the wheel, ironically, in a car that he shared with Blomqvist in the race.

The No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Louis Deletraz will line up alongside the No. 31 Action Express entry on the front row tomorrow, with the sister No. 10 WTR entry of Ricky Taylor now third on the grid.

The No. 60 Acura wasn’t the only car to have faced a technical infraction post-qualifying, as the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mikael Grenier has been moved to the rear of the GTD Pro starting field due to the car falling below the minimum permitted ground clearance.

The six-hour Battle on the Bricks gets underway Sunday at 11:40 a.m. EST with live flag-to-flag coverage on Peacock, with the final two hours and 40 minutes live on network NBC, beginning at 3 p.m.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John