Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) takes momentum to this weekend’s 71st running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the second race of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. This Saturday’s 12 hour will be MSR’s 10th consecutive year competing in the annual day-to-night event.
Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves return in the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Acura ARX-06. At Daytona, Braun made his debut with the team, joined by regular season co-driver Blomqvist and MSR NTT IndyCar Series drivers Simon Pagenaud and Castroneves.
MSR, which now fields a new Acura hybrid-powered LMDh in the revitalized IMSA GTP category, will be looking to become the third team to sweep the Florida endurance classics since 1998, and first team in six years.
The Ohio-based team came to Sebring in a similar position last year. After winning Daytona in a Acura DPi, MSR took fifth at Sebring – missing a podium by only 0.663-seconds – to build momentum that eventually carried the team to the title. MSR also placed a season-best third in the 2021 event.
Blomqvist will be clocking in lots of laps this weekend, competing in both the IMSA Twelve Hour and WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring. Blomqvist drove for MSR at Sebring last season, racing to a fifth place finish in the team’s Acura DPi. He also ran in the Sebring 12 hour in 2019 when he placed seventh in GTLM.
Braun has raced 12 times at Sebring, scoring three victories on the airport-based circuit. He won in PC in 2014 and 2016 in addition to taking the LMP3 victory in 2021. Braun captured PC poles at Sebring International in 2013 and 2016.
This will be Castroneves’ sixth start in the 12 Hours. Castroneves made his Sebring debut in the American le Mans Series in 2007 racing in LMP2 which saw the Brazilian finish third. The last four events at Sebring for Castroneves were onboard an Acura DPi machine, with a best finish of fourth in 2019.
Driver Quotes:
Tom Blomqvist:
“Sebring is one of, if not the toughest races on the calendar. The track is demanding on the car, the drivers and the team. No stone can be left unturned to get a result here. The team has been doing a ton work behind the scenes to get us ready for this weekend, so let’s see what we can do.”
Colin Braun:
“I’m really excited to get going in Sebring. We had a great test at the track a few weeks back where we were able to run through some different setup packages. That helped us understand more about the capabilities of the powerful tools in the Acura LMDh car. Sebring has been a fantastic track for me, so I can’t wait to get to work.”
Helio Castroneves:
“Sebring is one of those places that I have not had to privilege to win at yet. I have know this track my entire racing life and I am hoping we can change that this year. We had some good tests here with the team, so now we will see where that puts us this weekend.”
Source. Sunday Group
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