Daytona Beach, Fla. (23 Jan. 2022) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) with Curb-Agajanian will be starting the 60th Rolex 24 At Daytona from the second row, coming off a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s 100-minute qualifying race to highlight the Roar Before the Rolex 24.
Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis co-drove the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Acura ARX-05 DPi that they will share with Indianapolis 500 champions Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud in the opening round of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Blomqvist started fifth and capitalized on the start by overtaking two cars ahead. Battling through heavy traffic Blomqvist was running third when he pitted at the 25-minute mark, turning the Acura over to Jarvis. Jarvis cycled to the lead, and held it for 16 laps until his pit stop with 37-minutes remaining. Returning to action in sixth, Jarvis worked back to third, but lost a position in the closing laps.
The weekend schedule includes four practice sessions in preparation for the opening round of the 2022 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. The race takes the green flag at 1:40 p.m. on Saturday on NBC.
Driver Quotes:
Tom Blomqvist: “I had a pretty good start and tried to gain some places – I think we got two at the start which always gives you a bit of confidence,” said Blomqvist, running his first race at Daytona. “We were running third there for a while, but the traffic out there is crazy. It’s definitely a little difficult to navigate early on when everyone is packed up. To be honest it’s what’s going to make or break your race, there is so much time to be gained and lost. It’s crucial to be smart about it because any mistake there is costly. For my first start with the team, I was happy with how it went and hopefully I can keep getting better and better and more comfortable.”
Oliver Jarvis: “Obviously P4 isn’t exactly what we were hoping for, but we learned a lot and at one point we led the race,” Jarvis said. “We had two great pit stops and the team did a superb job. We were gambling a little bit on a yellow and at the end there I had to save a lot of fuel and those on the alternative strategy got a little bit ahead. But it was great for Tom and I to get some race laps in the car and acclimatize ourselves with the team a bit more. We have some work to do for next weekend, but it’s a good start for us.”