The Secrets to Meyer Shank Racing's Success at this Year's Rolex 24 at Daytona

• Meyer Shank’s Acura ARX-06 led 365 laps at this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona, including the first 62 and last 97.

• The closest competitor was the No. 01 Cadillac of Chip Ganassi Racing, which led 198 laps.

• As for MSR, Michael Shank’s stock as a team owner has risen in part because of his own driver rating system.

The Acura of Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian played the role of the hare to racing perfection in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, pressing a victorious pace from the beginning to end.

That surprised Cadillac Racing's Sebastien Bourdais, whose No. 01 Cadillac finished third, 10 seconds behind the winners.

“Honestly, I just didn’t think it was going to take the perfect race and then some,” said Bourdais, who pressed the issue from the drop of the green for Cadillac. “I’m really surprised that the competition beat us on performance and everybody ended up having a very clean race. It’s tough to be on the wrong side of things, but scoring some good points.”

Meyer Shank’s Acura ARX-06 led 365 laps, including the first 62 and last 97. The closest competitor was the No. 01 Cadillac of Chip Ganassi Racing, which led 198 laps.

David Salters, president of Honda Performance Development, said there several reasons why the Acura ARX-06 took the top two spots and was able to push the pace from the start. Testing emphasized speed more than performance. The winning Meyer Shank team and the runner-up squad of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Racing did not test more than five hours continuously—but ran lots of four-hour and five-hour tests.

The ARX-06 built in conjunction with ORECA has an emphasize on balance, which starts with the team’s relatively small and lighter 2.4-liter twin turbo V6. There was lots of continuous testing of the engine, said Salter.

“On the dyno, we have a full hybrid power train. That thing did tens of thousands of miles, and the car did tens of thousands of miles. We just didn't put it all together. But apparently, it's okay.”

As for MSR, Michael Shank’s stock as a team owner has risen in part because of his own driver rating system. Once he tested Tom Blomqvist, he was surprised the much-traveled racer was on the market. Since signing the U.K.-born Swede, Shank’s team has won the Rolex 24 at Daytona twice and clinched last year’s WeatherTech Series championship with a victory at the Petit Le Mans, where Blomqvist drove the final winning stint.

Blomqvist “truly believes he’s the fastest guy out there,” said Shank, who witnessed his driver’s speed from the first test.

“He was with BMW and Formula E and the DTM for them and he did a lot of high-level stuff,” said Shank, “and then kind of, I don't know, fell out of favor or I don't know what happened. But he was a free agent. I started looking at his numbers and I'm like,’We should test this guy.’ So, I take him to Road Atlanta in the DPi car in the fall of '21, and he got in this car and just slayed it.” Shank called team co-owner Jim Meyer and said, “I've got our guy. This is our guy. There's no question about it.”

Shank confirmed Blomqvist will not be a free agent again anytime soon.