Autos
PHOTOS: Meyer Shank Repeats, Acura Makes Rolex 24 History with First GTP Win
Published
8 months agoon
By
FNN NEWS
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (IMSA) – The debut of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s newest class not only lived up to expectations, but arguably outperformed it with one of the most dramatic runs to the Rolex 24 At Daytona overall victory in recent memory. It all unfolded in front of a rapt international television audience and a record crowd at Daytona International Speedway.

The full Meyer Shank Racing team celebrates in Ruoff Mortgage Victory Lane after the GTP Hybrid Acura ARX-06 wins the 61st Rolex 24 At DAYTONA at the Daytona International Speedway Sunday, January 29, 2023. Photo: Harry Castiblanco/Florida National News.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist drove the pole-winning No. 60 Acura ARX-06 to a 4.190-second victory, to win the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class win in the first race with hybrid-powered prototypes. It was the second consecutive and third overall Rolex 24 victory for the Meyer Shank team, which led a race-best 365 of the 783 laps, crossing the stripe 4.190 seconds ahead of Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 from Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport.

The full Meyer Shank Racing team celebrates in Ruoff Mortgage Victory Lane after the GTP Hybrid Acura ARX-06 wins the 61st Rolex 24 At DAYTONA at the Daytona International Speedway Sunday, January 29, 2023. Photo: Harry Castiblanco/Florida National News.
The Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-LMDh cars from Chip Ganassi Racing finished third (with driver Renger van der Zande in the No. 01) and fourth (Earl Bamber in the No. 02). The top four cars were separated by 11.176 seconds after 24 hours of racing on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course.
“I knew we had a fantastic car, unbelievable,’’ said an excited Blomqvist, who won the 2022 Rolex 24 in his first race with Meyer Shank and went on to collect the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class championship. “I just have to say, a massive ‘well done’ to everyone who’s been a part of this project.

Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 GTP Hybrid Acura ARX-06 crosses the finish line first at the conclusion of the 61st Rolex 24 At DAYTONA at Daytona International Speedway Sunday, January 29, 2023. Photo: Harry Castiblanco/Florida National News.
“What a car we’ve built and I’m so grateful to be able to drive that and be trusted with the duty to take it to the finish. Amazing, I was a bit nervous because the (No.) 10 car was definitely the second fastest car when it came down to it. But yeah, we held it off and had to take it to another level to secure this victory.’’
Blomqvist shared the car in the race with Colin Braun, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, the latter duo also part of last year’s Rolex 24 triumph. Today’s victory, in fact, is Castroneves’ third straight in the iconic race, tying late sports car legend Peter Gregg for most consecutive overall victories in sports car racing’s renowned season opener.

At driver Helio Castroneves’ behest, the Meyer Shank Racing team climbs the fence in celebration after winning the 61st Rolex 24 At DAYTONA at Daytona International Speedway Sunday, January 29, 2023. Photo: Harry Castiblanco/Florida National News.
“This team is amazing. This is absolutely a dream come true,’’ Castroneves, the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner said after once again convincing his teammates and team owners Mike Shank and Jim Meyer to climb the track fence in celebration. “So happy to start the year like that and keep it going.’’

Colin Braun, Simon Pagenaud, Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castoneves receive the prestigious Rolex 24 watch after winning the 61st Rolex 24 At DAYTONA at Daytona International Speedway Sunday, January 29, 2023. Photo: Harry Castiblanco/Florida National News.
Pagenaud, Castroneves’ teammate on the Meyer Shank IndyCar team, was also all smiles, earning his second straight Rolex winner’s watch.
“I think I’m getting used to it,’’ he joked, adding, “I’ll tell you what, it was tough out there but it was fun. I’m going to savor this one.”
The MSR No. 60 Acura led the final 97 laps despite having to repair the gearbox midrace and worrying whether it would indeed make it to the end. It marks the third straight Rolex 24 overall victory for Acura, which also won with the WTRAndretti team in 2021.
Nine hybrid prototypes made the highly anticipated debut of the GTP class in the race. All but one were still running at the finish, including the top six overall finishers, an impressive outing for a car making its first competitive showing in one of the longest, most grueling events on the schedule.
The celebratory feeling went from track to pits to company brass. The first win in a totally new car elicited both relief and confidence. The finish of the race, the reliability and competitiveness a good sign for all.
“It feels unbelievable,’’ said David Salters, president of Honda Performance Development (HPD), which developed the race winner. “The real privilege is to work with those people (Acura teams) and achieve days like today. We all know it doesn’t happen all the time. Was it worth it? It’s been two years and I think it’s the best thing I’ve been involved in in my whole life.

The full Meyer Shank Racing team celebrates in Ruoff Mortgage Victory Lane after the GTP Hybrid Acura ARX-06 wins the 61st Rolex 24 At DAYTONA at the Daytona International Speedway Sunday, January 29, 2023. Photo: Harry Castiblanco/Florida National News.
“If that isn’t a demonstration of precision-crafted performance, I don’t know what is,’’ Salters added. “It’s a landmark moment. It’s the pinnacle of sports car racing.”
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2023 DAYTONA 200: Josh Herrin Claws Back from Penalty to Snatch Victory
Published
6 months agoon
March 11, 2023
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (FNN) – Josh Herrin rallied back from the 7th position in a ten-lap restart to defeat Josh Hayes by .070 seconds in the 81st running of the DAYTONA 200, the annual single-man motorcycle endurance race.
Josh Herrin started strong and held the lead for most of the race. Two racers crashed out early, but things didn’t really get disruptive until the race got down to less than 10 laps remaining.
The most notable crash of the race was Herrin’s contact with Richie Escalante, who had been keeping up with Herrin for the majority of the race. The contact sent Escalante sliding off the track–and out of the running–with just eight laps to go. Escalante attempted to lift the bike up to get back on it, but there was no chance remaining for him to get back in the race. Seeing his chance of victory lost, he slammed his gloves to the ground as he removed them.
The call of whether the contact was an intentional push or race incident was tricky because when played back in slow motion, the collision looks incidental since Escalante had leaned in a bit too far and then just barely lifted back up at the last second while Herrin went wide in the turn as he was sometimes doing throughout the race. However, when played back in real time, it looks like Herrin intentionally went wide to knock Escalante out. The collision went under review.
Despite the brief break after Escalante’s crash, Herrin regained the lead. With five laps remaining, Teagg Hobbs crashed into Jason Waters, causing a red flag. After the red flag period, Herrin got penalized for his collision with Escalante by dropping six positions to the number seven spot. Five laps were added, making it a 10-lap race for the restart.
Ultimately, Herrin was penalized six positions to start at seventh for the restart. Herrin confessed he wasn’t sure he could make it to the end, given the amount of pain he was in, but he heard the struggling conditions of several other racers, since they couldn’t switch out tires during the red flag period, and give it all he had.
“After 15 years of trying I finally got it right,” Herrin said. “This is by far my favorite event that I ever get to race. It’s the one race a year where we really see the teamwork that goes on.”
_______________________________________
Mellissa Thomas is Editor for Florida National News. | mellissa.thomas@floridanationalnews.com
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