WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (22 June 2025) — Acura Meyer Shank Racing (“Acura MSR”) took the lead on the final lap to score its second-consecutive late-race victory in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, with Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun winning a chaotic Sahlen’s Six Hours of Watkins Glen in the No. 60 Acura MSR w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06.

Blomqvist was running third when the green flag waved with three laps remaining for a two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. He drove his way to the front when the two cars ahead of him were forced to pit for fuel, and he scored the first victory of the season for the No. 60 Acura ARX-6 by 1.880-seconds.

Teammate Nick Yelloly – coming off a thrilling closing-minute charge to victory in the No. 93 Acura on the streets of Detroit – was forced to pit coming to the final green flag while running second. He joined Renger van der Zande and Kakunoshin “Kaku” Ohta for a sixth-place finish.

The event was marked by 10 cautions and several sudden swings in the weather early in the race, with more than three hours run behind the safety car. The opening hour saw on-and-off downpours after competitors began the race on slick tires, with the event ending in brutal heat under sunny skies.

Braun had to deal with a number of challenges throughout his opening three-hour stint, ranging from the early rain to hot temperatures. He had light contact in the Inner Loop on the second lap, had a windshield wiper malfunction during the brief deluge, and even had trouble with his belts. After working his way up to third, a communications miscue under yellow saw him miss the wave-by and drop back to 10th. From there, he got back up to seventh before turning the Acura over to Blomqvist.

Blomqvist was up to fourth when the green flag waved following the ninth caution with one hour remaining. He took third two laps following the restart, and seemed headed to his second podium of the campaign (second in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona) before a short caution in the final 10 minutes set up the two-lap shootout.

Pole-winner van der Zande led the opening laps before falling to third. He raced back to the front and led 33 laps before turning the car over to Ohta. The Japanese driver led a lap, then ran second for the remainder of his 55-minute stint. Yelloly got in, and was in a position to repeat his Detroit charge before running too low on energy near the finish.

Next up for Acura MSR is the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America on August 3, with only three events remaining on the GTP schedule.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Tom Blomqvist: “Great for everyone on MSR, HRC and Acura. The guys did a fantastic job committing to that strategy and putting the odds in our favor to win that race. Obviously we were able to execute and I’m really happy with the job I did as well. Really stoked for everyone at Acura Meyer Shank and the 60 guys. We had really big fuel targets and that’s what enabled me to get to the end and the others not. Really proud of the effort, it wasn’t looking great for us and we had a few mistakes at the beginning, but we made the most of the day to be there at the end. This is a result that we deserve for Colin and our crew, everyone has been working super hard. The 93 won last time and now it was great for us to win as well. We’re just getting better and better every race, so hopefully more to come.”

Colin Braun: “What a great result. Obviously super proud of everyone at Acura, HRC and Meyer Shank Racing. What a great day; I don’t exactly know how we got to the end result, but wow, so proud of everyone. It all came together at the end and Tom did a great job, the MSR guys did a great job on the pit stops and the stand did an amazing job getting every ounce of energy we had available to work there at the end to be able to stay out. Awesome day and we’re just so happy.”

Nick Yelloly: “P6 after the final two or three hours in the car. Unfortunately we just didn’t have the fuel like the 31 car to do the extra lap or so, so we were a bit disappointed about that. That’s the type of racing we have where you have to push it right to the limit and we got it slightly wrong today. But on the other hand the alternate strategy with the 60 Acura, they managed to win the race. Back-to-back wins for Acura and great for the manufacturer championship. Overall disappointing to be fighting for the lead and then dropping back to sixth, but that’s motorsport and we’ll get back at it at Road America in a few weeks time.”

Renger van der Zande: “What great speed we had in the car obviously very, very happy for the 60 car to win. We unfortunately were not the ones to win it. We were in the top two or three for most of the race, so it’s a bit bittersweet of course. At the same time we can be very proud of the group for having a second victory this year for Acura. Let’s celebrate this win, learn from everything that happened today.”

Kaku Ohta: “The car was fantastic and we had great pace throughout the entire race. We had a chance to win and at least podium, but sometimes you just get unlucky. We unfortunately couldn’t make it to the end and had to pit just before the finish, so we’ll have to check some of the data. I’m really happy with my stint and my teammates did a great job. Big thanks to everyone at Honda, Accura and MSR for having me back this weekend.”