LEXINGTON, OHIO (15 May 2022) – Home-track favorite Meyer Shank Racing came on the short end of a 1-2 finish for Acura in Sunday’s Lexus Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio after crossing the line just 2 seconds behind the No. 10 Acura in Round 5 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Picking up where they left up in the most recent event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-05 of Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist scored a second-consecutive runner up finish in the third sprint format race of the 2022 season.
Jarvis started third and held that position before pitting at the 40-minute mark, anticipating a potential caution that failed to materialize. The race had one caution near the midway point, with Blomqvist holding second at that point. Twice, Blomqvist was forced to make split-second decisions to avoid significant incidents when cars spun in front of him in the four-class event.
Running in podium contention with one hour remaining in the two-hour, 40-minute race, Blomqvist lost two positions in traffic to a pair of competitors. At that point, MSR decided to adjust strategy and make its final pit stop early. Falling to sixth with the undercut, the team cycled back to second with 37 minutes remaining when the competition pitted.
From that point, Blomqvist made several charges to close in on the race leader in heavy traffic, turning the fastest lap of the race (1:12.264-seconds) for the second-consecutive event. Only 0.590-seconds back with 12:30 remaining, Blomqvist was forced to settle for second in the run to the checkered flag.
Entering the weekend tied for the DPi championship, the Pataskala-based team of Jarvis and Blomqvist are now second, 32 points back with five races remaining. Next up for the WeatherTech Championship will be the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle Park, set for Sunday, June 4.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes, Mid-Ohio:
Oliver Jarvis:
“I’m really gutted with this result. We had such a quick car. I think we had the better of the No. 10, it just didn’t quite go our way. Second is a good result, but we really wanted to get Mike [Shank] and the team a home win. We’ve got a great car, and we’ve got to keep pushing for the rest of the year. We’re still in it for the championship.
Tom Blomqvist:
“Close again, but not quite enough. That was a crazy race, actually. We were running good, the car looked quick. We got caught out at our first stop, we stalled, basically. We looked like we had the lead going out of pit lane, we just got that wrong. That put us back in third. We had good pace. On the restart I struggled a bit with the tire buildup, but I still managed to hold the position because the car was quick. Then I got caught in traffic in one corner and two Cadillacs managed to get by. The team did a great strategy to bring me in early. I did some good out laps and managed to clear them again. They saved my ass there! Two little errors in the race possibly cost us the win. The positive is, we have a very quick car the last few races. We just have to iron out our mistakes and the wins are going to start coming.”