Tom Blomqvist Puts Acura, Meyer Shank Racing on Rolex 24 at Daytona Pole

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The first “official” marks of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s 2023 season were set Sunday in Motul Pole Award qualifying to establish the lineup for the Rolex 24 at Daytona season opener.

Most attention was focused on the hybrid-powered prototypes making up the reborn Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, and the qualifying session lived up to the hype.

In a dramatic final moments, Tom Blomqvist turned the best lap of the entire three days of Roar Before the Rolex 24 on-track activity, putting the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 on pole position. Blomqvist will lead the 61-car field to the green flag on Jan. 28, following an impressive lap of 1 minute, 34.031 seconds (136.295 mph).

Blomqvist’s fast time—set on the very last lap of the qualifying session – bettered Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 by a slight 0.083 seconds. The top eight GTP cars were separated by only 0.815 seconds.

“That was one of the most difficult sessions I’ve done because my tires weren’t exactly fully, fully ready and I didn’t have much of a good reference to go off of, so I was glad to win that one,’’ Blomqvist said of his fourth career Motul Pole Award and first for the Rolex 24.

Ricky Taylor qualified third in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport (1:34.198, 136.054 mph) and will start alongside the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-LMDh on the second row. Sebastien Bourdais turned a best lap of 1:34.262 (135.961 mph) in the No. 01, one of two GTP cars entered by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Meyer Shank Racing paced the first four practice sessions of the weekend leading up to qualifying. But the pole appeared in jeopardy when Nick Tandy went off course in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport, bringing out a red-flag stoppage with Blomqvist sitting in seventh place. Once the track was cleared, it left time for a single flying lap for each car when the green flag returned.

“Thankfully that was just enough time for one lap,” Blomqvist said. “I don’t really know how I did it, but my lap was made easier because the car has been quick all weekend and I know what I had underneath me.”

Blomqvist, who pitted to change Michelin tires early in the session, conceded he was worried about getting a crack at the pole position during the red-flag stoppage.

“I was actually a bit bummed because I thought it was kind of done for us, and then they said, ‘You’ve got one lap,’” Blomqvist of the team radio chatter. “I didn’t know what to expect, so I just kind of went for it on the out lap and had to get past one car and make a legitimate move on the out lap.

“I was lucky I had such a smooth running in terms of the car being so good and really didn’t have to do too many changes to the set-up. I knew what I had but today the track conditions were very different with the wind and the heat, so I just had to virtually send it and rely on my instincts.

“Thankfully, I managed to survive that,’’ he added smiling. “That was a fun day.’’