| Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis Bring Home the Title for the No. 60 Acura in the Final Year for DPi Competition October 12, 2022By Jeff OlsonIMSA Wire Service  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The season began with a rousing win. It ended with a championship. The final season of the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class became a showdown between two Acura teams – Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing. The two battled door-to-door through 10 races, eventually reaching the final round separated by just 19 points. It ended as it started – with Meyer Shank Racing celebrating. When Tom Blomqvist crossed the finish line first Oct. 1 in the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, it marked a third DPi championship for Acura, which won six of the 10 DPi races on the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule. For Blomqvist, who joined Oliver Jarvis as the full-time drivers of the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05 in January, the Rolex 24 At Daytona was a loud introduction. “I was speechless after the race,” Blomqvist said after teaming with Jarvis, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud to win the Rolex 24. “I mean, I dreamed of it. Did I believe? Yes, but you never know. It’s 24 hours of relentless racing. And every time I jumped in the car, at moments I felt really comfortable. At moments I was, like, ‘Man, I can’t get this car to work.’” Spoiler alert: He got the car to work. Over the next nine races, Blomqvist and Jarvis turned consistency into a championship trophy, winning only one more race but piling up five consecutive second-place finishes and the Petit victory to claim team, driver and manufacturer championships. It wasn’t easy, no matter how it added up. Jarvis, the DPi veteran who has seen his share of DPi duels, empathized with WTR co-drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor as Petit Le Mans ended with MSR winning the race and the championship over the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05. “I’ve been on the receiving end where I led a few years back and had an issue and failed to be leading, so I know how it feels,” Jarvis said. “They had a fantastic year, so full credit to them, but for Meyer Shank to come away with a championship is something really special.” The intense competition in the DPi class this season – the last before Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) becomes the top prototype class in 2023 – was exemplified by the fact that the points lead changed after every race. The two Acuras exchanged it exclusively through the final seven events. After the opening 1-2 finish at Daytona, the two Acura teams stumbled in the next round. Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Neel Jani combined to win the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts in the No. 02 Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R as the No. 10 Acura finished fourth and the No. 60 MSR Acura finished fifth. Cadillac would remain in the points chase to the end, albeit peripherally as the season wound down. The No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac and co-drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande won three races and finished third in the final standings. After the disappointment of Sebring, three wins in four midseason races put Wayne Taylor Racing back in front. The third of those victories – a wild run to the finish by Albuquerque in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June – flipped the points in the No. 10 team’s favor. More importantly, it continued Acura’s gains on Cadillac. “It’s very tight,” Taylor said after the victory at Watkins Glen International. “The nice thing that we’re going to take out of it is that we continue to build a gap to Cadillac. At the end of the day, we really want to bring a championship for Acura.” The key to MSR’s championship may have been as simple as scouting. Blomqvist had experience in prototypes, including a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) win in the 2018 24 Hours of Spa, but the 2022 season marked his first foray into the WeatherTech Championship’s top class. Team co-owner Jim Meyer explained Blomqvist’s “discovery” at the Rolex 24 postrace press conference. “Tom doesn’t know this,” Meyer said as Blomqvist listened. “But the first time he tested for us, Mike called me and said, ‘We’ve got our guy. We’ve got our guy.’” Just as Blomqvist had shown in the season-opening victory, the team was ready for anything the season had to offer. “Every stint here is just flat out,” Blomqvist said after the Rolex 24. “You’re managing so many things. You feel like you’re racing nose to tail from literally the green light. So, it’s very different from what I’m used to, and honestly, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.” Nine races later, with a trophy in hand, he wasn’t alone. |
