Blomqvist marks Acura’s IMSA ‘last hurrah’ with Petit Le Mans pole

Tom Blomqvist was thrilled to put smiles on the faces of everyone at Acura Meyer Shank Racing as he took the pole position for the Motul Petit Le Mans, in what will be Acura and MSR’s last race in IMSA before their program

“Everyone knows, obviously, it's kind of a last hurrah,” Blomqvist said after winning the pole on Friday afternoon. “Just doing things like that we did today is obviously fantastic for everyone for the team. Huge team effort, as always.”

It’s Acura’s 45th pole in IMSA since 2017, across all categories of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – and the 15th pole for the outgoing Acura ARX-06. The No. 60 of Blomqvist, Colin Braun, and Scott Dixon will line up next to the sister No. 93 of Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, and Álex Palou.

“We know our car is generally very good over a lap,” Blomqvist continued. “I generally enjoy this place, especially in qualifying. It's always good to me. So, I think today was about executing more than anything.

“The expectation was to fight for pole, so obviously the team did a fantastic job with the one-two there. Things like today go a long way for everyone, for the mood, putting smiles on people's faces so late in the program; it’s fantastic.

“The last two events, qualifying has been very good. It's just nice to get out of the car and see everyone so happy. It hasn't been the smoothest of weekends. We had something go wrong yesterday, and the guys worked super hard late into the night to make sure everything was good for today. To get a little win today, as we did just there with the pole, is super important for everyone. I’m really excited for that.”

That said, Blomqvist – a two-time overall winner of Petit Le Mans – knows very well that the ten-hour race to come is another challenge entirely.

“We know today is one thing, and tomorrow is a very different one,” he said. “Our car is generally good in high-speed, medium-speed corners, and it always excels pretty well in qualifying as well. We work the tires well, which gets a good peak and a good amount of grip out of them in a short period of time, but obviously does not necessarily bode well for a longer stint, which is obviously what we try to work on.

“This weekend, we're focused a little bit more on that, I would say, because we know obviously it's a weakness. We knew we'd be good in quali. We didn't focus on it that much, if I'm honest.

“I hope we've done our homework. We still know it's going to be super tough. Some of the competition looks extremely quick in the race pace, which we expected. But then again, if you look at the radar, it looks a bit dodgy, so it might spice things up anyway.”

In 2023, Blomqvist, Braun, and Hélio Castroneves led Meyer Shank Racing to a win at Petit Le Mans, in the team’s final race before a one-year hiatus.

At Indianapolis, team founder and co-owner Michael Shank said that he wants nothing more than to end the season and wrap up the team’s current stay in IMSA with a fourth Petit Le Mans win.

“If you look on that straightaway, we’ve got three cars on that straightaway wall – and I want that fourth one,” Shank said. “It’s one of the great things we’ve done in sports cars, win that race three times overall. And it would mean a ton.”