Daytona Beach, Fla. (23 January 2025) – Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian (“Acura MSR”) qualified second and sixth in Thursday’s qualifying for the 63rd edition of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Both cars briefly held the pole on the final lap of the abbreviated session.

Nick Yelloly put the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 on the pole for a few seconds after time expired in the 15-minute session, before being bumped back by 0.291-seconds. He will co-drive with fellow full-season driver Renger van der Zande, Alex Palou and Kakunoshin Ohta in the endurance classic.

It was a session of heartbreak for Tom Blomqvist, who captured the Rolex 24 pole for MSR in 2023. With Thursday afternoon’s qualifying held in chilly conditions on a slick track, competitors in the lead GTP class spent the opening minutes gradually getting up to speed. A spin by a competitor with 10:31 remaining led to a red flag, with the green flag returning with less than six minutes on the clock.

Blomqvist moved up to second with two minutes to go, and then moved to the provisional pole on a lap of 1:34.432-seconds with only 16 seconds remaining. Working on a fast final lap, he went side-by-side with another competitor exiting Turn 6, the cars nearly touching as they reentered the superspeedway’s high banks. With his chances of a fast lap dashed, Blomqvist pitted, slipping down to sixth in the running order. He will co-drive the No. 60 Acura with Colin Braun, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist.

MSR returns to the opening event of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after an absence of one year, looking to extend its victory streak after winning the 2022, 2023 and 2024 events. Both cars are set for the entire 2025 campaign.

MSR arrived at Daytona quick and ready, with Blomqvist posting the fastest lap in the opening session of last weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 test. On Thursday morning, the Acuras were 1-2 in the final practice session before qualifying. Blomqvist was fastest, with a lap of 1:34.576-seconds, followed by Nick Yelloly, 1:34.752-seconds.

On Wednesday evening, team owner Mike Shank received the annual Phil Hill Award at the Road Racing Drivers Club’s annual dinner. Racing legend and RRDC President Bobby Rahal made the presentation, for the person voted by the membership for outstanding service to road racing.

The Rolex 24 At Daytona is set to air live on NBC on Saturday, January 25th at 1:30pm ET. Flag-to-flag coverage can be viewed on Peacock TV as well as live radio coverage on SiriusXM Ch. 207.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing Quotes:

Mike Shank: “Super happy for the 93 car to come out of the box and be P2 like that. Tom would have been P1 I’m pretty sure, he just got caught up with the Lamborghini unfortunately with limited time – it’s just the way it goes. The cars look strong for the race, so I’m anxious to get to Saturday.”

Nick Yelloly: “P2 on the grid and pretty good qualifying for the first time with Acura. I think we’re relatively fortunate that we were able to get that lap in at the end. Great job from the team and HRC for putting such a good package together in the short span of time that we have had. It’s definitely better to qualify up at the front than in the back and we’re looking forward to going racing.”

Tom Blomqvist: “It’s unfortunate what happened with the Lamborghini. I was on quite a good lap and I tried to pass him and he tried to squeeze me down. It was unfortunate for both of us. I had to make a split second decision the lap prior whether I should back off that lap or go for another. I think we had a good car and I think pole position was definitely in the cards for us today. It’s a long race so it’s ok.”