Tom Blomqvist puts the Meyer Shank Racing on the front row in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying for Saturday’s Detroit Grand Prix
10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 lines up third in the hands of Ricky Taylor
Aidan Read qualifies #51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 fifth in GTD
DETROIT, Mich. (June 3, 2022) – Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist led the charge for Acura in today’s qualifying today on the Belle Isle Park circuit, and will start his #60 Acura ARX-05 on the outside of the front row, second, for Sunday’s one-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race in Detroit.
The #60 Acura will line up just ahead of the Wayne Taylor Racing #10 ARX-05, which qualified third in the hands of Ricky Taylor and will be co-driven by Filipe Albuquerque. Blomqvist will partner Oliver Jarvis in MSR’s effort to claim their second victory of the year, following a win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona to kick off the season in January.
In the production-based GTD class, the #51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 qualified fifth in the hands of Aidan Read, who will share driving duties tomorrow with IMSA veteran and former Touring Car champion Ryan Eversley.
IMSA Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Acura Qualifying Results
2nd overall – #60 Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi
3rd overall – #10 Ricky Taylor, Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi
5th GTD – #51 Aidan Read, Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
Quotes
Tom Blomqvist (#60 Meyer Shank Racing ARX-05) Qualified 2nd: “I think that was a great effort from the team, really. We made good steps with the car throughout today, and this was my first time here so I think I was getting better and better with every lap. So we’ve got to be happy with the job we’ve done, because I think we’ve made such huge improvements with the car, not only today, but throughout the last few events. And it’s really starting to show. So now the focus is on [the race] tomorrow.”
Ricky Taylor (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05) Qualified 3rd: “Decent is a good word to describe it. I’m not very happy with myself after the qualifying, I think I made a little mistake on my best lap—the only lap we had the pace for the pole. It’s definitely a shame. Track position is really important here, so I think the opening lap is going to be critical. There’s only 16 total cars on track, so you won’t have the same amount of opportunities in traffic and a lower potential for yellows, so we’re going to have to make the most of the moments on track and in the pits with the strategy. So I think the first opportunity, the first lap, is going to be exciting because everyone is going to be looking to make up as many spots as they can. And, we’re on the right side of the start at least to hopefully make our way up!”
Aidan Read (#51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22) Qualified 5th in GTD: “That was definitely our best qualifying of the year, so I’m really proud of this team. I’m glad that we’ve been able to put together a good car this week. We’ve been bouncing around the top five for most of the day and ended up in the top five. I think our car is strong here—and we’ve shown glimpses of top-three speed. It was a bit of a tough day, we tagged the fence early in practice, and the walls are so tight here it felt like we were kissing the wall every other lap from them on. It’s been hard on the car and hard on the guys, and they’ve worked really hard to make sure we have a good car. I gave it everything out there and we ended up with our best qualifying of the year. Now, to rest up, to come back, and race tomorrow. We start in the top five, so now we just have to finish there. That’s the goal.”
Fast Facts
Acura Motorsports has recorded four previous victories on the streets of Belle Isle Park, including the 2019 event, won by Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya aboard their Acura ARX-05 prototype; consecutive GTD triumphs for the Acura NSX GT3 in 2017-18; and another overall win for the Acura ARX-01b prototype in 2008.
Acura and Honda Performance Development – the North America racing arm of Honda Racing and Acura Motorsports – come to the Detroit Grand Prix seeking to continue a run of major race wins. Acura has won the two most recent IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship events of 2022, and opened the season with a second consecutive win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
In 2021, HPD became the first engine build firm to win both the Rolex 24 at Daytona overall and the Indianapolis 500 in the same calendar year. The company repeated that feat in 2022, with Meyer Shank Racing leading a 1-2 finish for Acura at Daytona and Marcus Ericsson scoring Honda’s third consecutive victory – and 15th win – at the Indianapolis 500.