By Curt Cavin
Former driver Michael Shank is a student of sports car racing history and, of course, open-wheel cars at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the organization he co-owns, Meyer Shank Racing, won the 2021 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge with Helio Castroneves driving the car.
Thus, it was attention-getting when moments into the news conference to announce Tom Blomqvist’s move to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for next season, Shank invoked the name of Mark Donohue.
“If you go back and look at the history of (IMS) … I don’t know how many (drivers) have come from sports car (racing’s) upper ranks to come to INDYCAR and give it a go,” he said. “We’re seriously proud of this.
“Tom, we welcome you.”
Blomqvist, who turns 30 in November, is ready to become sports car racing’s shining light in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. This is significant because unlike Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Hunter-Reay, among other NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers who excel in sports car races, Blomqvist transfers disciplines in a different direction.
Blomqvist’s recent background is rooted in sports cars, from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to the World Endurance Championship. He won the IMSA championship in the GTP class in 2022. He also triumphed in the past two Rolex 24 At Daytona races, sharing a car with a pair of “500” winners, Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, in addition to Colin Braun, his teammate in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks on Sunday, Sept. 17 on the IMS road course. The son of 1984 World Rally champion Stig Blomqvist of Sweden, he also has considerable experience in Formula E.
Like most international drivers, Blomqvist’s early goal was to drive in Formula One. Now, as one of the top sports car drivers in the world, he has an all-new aspiration: To win the “500” as Donohue did in 1972 with Penske Racing.
“I’ve got a huge challenge ahead of me, a very steep learning curve,” said Blomqvist, whose first NTT INDYCAR SERIES test was last year at Sebring International Raceway. “Obviously, I’m a racer; I’ll figure it out.”
He said the test at Sebring showed him that sports car racing isn’t that different.
“The DPis and these (GTP prototypes) are still high-downforce machines – they’re still relatively quick,” he said. “Our lap times on the old cars weren’t that much different, maybe a couple of seconds different (in a lap). From a speed perspective, it wasn’t too bad. Physically, it was more brutal on the body, on the arms especially. Luckily, my neck was OK from the (prototypes).
“But it was nice to be back in a single-seater – different driving styles, of course. It didn’t take long to adapt, and I really enjoyed it.”
Jim Meyer, who joined Shank’s Ohio-based organization in 2018, said Blomqvist has the right attitude to make the transition from sports cars. He cited a moment after NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying in Toronto in July, when Blomqvist qualified 20th in a 27-car field for his first series race. Meyer and Shank were “really pretty happy.” Blomqvist was not.
“Tom looked at us both and said, ‘I’ve never started 20th before – it’s not good enough,’” Meyer said. “I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’”
Blomqvist didn’t get to make amends for the performance as he was collected in the race’s first-lap accident. He bounced off the Turn 1 wall as Jack Harvey and Ryan Hunter-Reay came together to his right. But he got a taste of what’s to come, and he is excited about it.
“It’s obviously a step up in terms of career trajectory,” he said. “That’s something I’m really excited about.
“Also, kind of coming back to my roots. It’s been almost eight, nine years since I last stepped foot properly in a single-seater series. It’s something I grew up with – the goal of obviously chasing that Formula One dream. I kind of sidestepped that for quite a while.
“This opportunity only arose since joining (MSR in 2022), then just kind of proving to them that I was capable and worthy of getting the shot in INDYCAR. I’m super, super grateful for that.”
In addition to being fast in the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 GTP car, Braun said Blomqvist brings considerable experience with the hybrid system used in IMSA, and he thinks that will be a benefit to MSR as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES moves in that direction in 2024.
“He comes with a lot of background from Formula E, where he has a lot of experience with energy management,” Braun said. “He’s been a huge asset on that side to get me and everyone (at MSR) up to speed on how to use the system, learning how we can make it apply in the race.”
Blomqvist knows he will need help in his transition to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and he is happy that Castroneves, a winner of 31 series races and four “500s,” will be there as a team advisor and minority partner. Castroneves said he would be there to “hold your hand.”
Said Blomqvist: “Thanks, boss.”
Tickets are available at IMS.com for the inaugural TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks on Sept. 15-17, the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at IMS since 2014.
Originally posted on indianapolismotorspeedway.com