MSR Thought Their “Race Was Done” With Two Hours to Go

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Meyer Shank Racing thought its race was over with two hours to go according to Tom Blomqvist, who along with Colin Braun and Helio Castroneves scored victory in the team’s final confirmed IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.

The Ohio-based squad broke through in Saturday’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans, capitalizing on a series of late-race yellows and stretching the energy of its Acura ARX-06 after struggling for pace that initially dropped them to eighth in the running order with just two hours to go.

Braun took over the lead from the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande, who was on a similar strategy, on a restart with 30 minutes to go and cruised to victory.

It bookended the season for the team, which won January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, although was docked 200 driver and team points by IMSA for manipulation of tire pressures in that race that ultimately cost Blomqvist and Braun the championship.

The duo finished 22 points behind championship winners Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims in the GTP class standings.

“We won three races this year,” Blomqvist said. “We don’t have a championship but I couldn’t be more proud and at the same time grateful to have spent these last two seasons with this team.

“We’ve done a lot together and have won some good races. It’s just such a good team atmosphere. They work hard and never give up.

“At one point it looked like our race was done with about two hours to go.

“When I jumped out of the car, we were dying out there on some pretty old tires. The guys never gave up and some things came our way.

“We capitalized on that, specifically Colin. At those restarts, he’s been phenomenal all year on those cold tires. I don’t think anyone likes those cold tire restarts but he does.

“He was the right guy in the car at the right time.”

With no realistic chance of taking the title, Braun said they “didn’t have a lot to lose” on the restart with CGR’s Van der Zande.

“I knew it was going to be hard,” Braun said. “We’ve raced each other for a long time back in the ALMS days in LMPC and it’s always fun.

“Certainly for me, Renger has always raced super hard but super fair and clean.

“I knew it was going to be all to play for. I thought if we could get clean air we were going to be in good shape. I just put it all on the line.

“We didn’t have a lot to lose and I think they were kind of in the same boat with the championship.

“I knew it was going to be big commitment. It was awesome. It was nice to make it happen.”

It marked a come-from-behind victory for the No. 60 Acura, which initially went two laps down in the second hour when Blomqvist had contact with the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Corey Lewis in the second hour that damaged the car’s rear toe-link, which needed replacing.

When asked by Sportscar365 what it meant to win in the team’s final race, Blomqvist said: “It was an absolute fantastic day.

“To see the emotion on everyone’s face within the team, when we get a result like this, when everyone knows it’s basically the last race and they’re not coming back next year, that was really special and cool to see.”

Braun added: “When we got our laps back, we had to be fast at times, be smart and save the car. I think we did all of those things really well today.

“I’m just super proud of everybody at Meyer Shank, Acura/HPD. It’s a heck of a day for sure.”

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