Editor's Note: The lead item in this notebook was written between the end of qualifying and when the No. 60 was found to have failed to comply within LMDh bodywork tolerances and sent to the rear of the GTP field on Sunday's starting grid.
Tom Blomqvist seemed to know the question about his Indianapolis Motor Speedway history was coming.
Sixteen months ago, the former NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver spun in the first corner of his first Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, taking 2022 champion Marcus Ericsson with him to the outside wall. Pietro Fittipaldi’s race ended then, too.
“Not the most enjoyable day,” Blomqvist said Saturday in his return to the Racing Capital of the World.
However, the IMS road course allowed Blomqvist a moment of professional redemption. Driving the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 of Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian, he won the pole for Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, the penultimate race of this IMSA SportsCar Championship season. The green flag for the six-hour race is set for 11:40 a.m. ET.
Blomqvist made eight NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts over two seasons with the team owned by Jim Meyer and Michael Shank, and the stint didn’t meet expectations. The champion of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship saw no finishes better than 15th, and he was pulled from the car after the Indy incident.
Blomqvist returned to sports car racing last year for a couple events – he drove for the Whelen Cadillac Racing -- before rejoining MSR for this season. This year, he is paired with Colin Braun, another driver whose NTT INDYCAR SERIES career didn’t go as well in 2024 as he would have liked. Braun competed in the season’s first two events with Dale Coyne Racing.
Blomqvist has captured the season’s past four poles, and the two combined to win the most recent six-hour race at Watkins Glen International (June 22).
Blomqvist said he can separate the two moments at this venue – the accident in the “500” and Saturday’s pole – because “this is such a different event.”
“It’s not like I’ve come back here (renewing) my INDYCAR career,” he said. “(But winning the pole) is special. Obviously, (IMS) is a pretty incredible place.”
Storylines Abound at IMS
Fifty-three cars will compete in the third TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, with Turn 1 generally the place where the action is the fiercest.
The field is split nearly equally among the four classes. GTP has 12 prototypes, the same number of competitors as LMP2. There will be 11 GTD PRO and 18 GTD cars. In qualifying, the prototypes were separated by less than a second.
The field includes some of the best drivers in motorsports, Sebastien Bourdais among them. The four-time INDYCAR SERIES champion will drive Tower Motorsports’ No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07 that takes the green flag 10th in class and 22nd overall with John Farano at the wheel.
Many drivers have experience competing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES or INDY NXT by Firestone. Romain Grosjean, who is hoping to return to the former in a full-time role in 2026, qualified ninth in the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63.
One car that stands out is the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie, which uses a V12 engine that has a particularly sweet sound. The shape of the machine that finished a season-high sixth in the series’ most-recent race at Road America is also especially eye-catching.
Vasser Sullivan Trying To End Season Strong
Two races remain this season and amazingly, Vasser Sullivan Racing still does not have a class victory in either GT Daytona Pro or GT Daytona.
Team principal James “Sulli” Sullivan said it will be important for the 2023 GTD PRO champions with a rich NTT INDYCAR SERIES history to get back to victory lane either Sunday at IMS or in the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 11 at Road Atlanta.
“We’re looking for a win and a podium to try and elevate the energy (of the organization),” said Sullivan, whose group won the “500” in 2013 with Tony Kanaan driving. “The most important thing is a win.”
In GTD PRO, the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 of three-time INDY NXT by Firestone race winner Aaron Telitz qualified 11th in a wildly competitive class. Frankie Montecalvo will line up two positions behind him – 10th in class – in the team’s No. 12 machine. Montecalvo shares the car with NTT INDYCAR SERIES veteran Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson.
McLaren Takes Michelin Pilot Victory Late
Saturday’s two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge was decided in the final 90 seconds.
The McLarens of Michael Cooper (Ibiza Farm Motorsports) and Jesse Lazare (Motorsports in Action) had spent much of the race’s final stages battling each other as they hoped for leader Robert Noaker (Kohr Motorsports) to make a mistake in No. 60 Ford Mustang, but one didn’t seem to come. Until …
Racing down Hulman Boulevard, Noaker appeared to take the less-traveled path to protect the inside line approaching Turn 7 and that’s when Cooper capitalized. Cooper kept the No. 44 McLaren Artura GT4 on the outside, giving him the preferred path through Turn 8. And with that came the chance to lead the race for the remaining lap and a half.
With Noaker sliding a bit wide, Lazare and his No. 21 McLaren Artura GT4 snatched the second position McLaren’s 1-2 sweep.
Behind them was a tightening of the championship standings.
Jan Heylen, who along with Copeland Motorsports teammate Luca Mars entered the weekend with a 240-point lead, suffered a big drop in points due to late-race contact from Jeff Westphal of CarBahn with Peregrine Racing. The last contact between Heylen and Westphal came in Turn 1 with 22 minutes remaining, and it cut the left-rear tire of Heylen’s No. 23 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EV02.
Heylen was livid. Westphal escaped without penalty and finished fifth.
With Heylen, who two decades ago spent driving INDYCAR SERIES cars owned by Dale Coyne and Eric Bachelart, finishing 19th, the championship pursuit will be tight at the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Heylen and Mars lead Westphal and Sean McAlister by 100 points and Nate Cicero and Jenson Altzman of McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport by 120 points.
Michelin Pilot Challenge Notes
- Zach Veach’s race never got started as smoke billowed from the rear of the CSM’s No. 16 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CD ahead of the green flag. Frustration was immediately evident from the team based in Brownsburg, Indiana, and the driver who has made four starts in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Veach was to have started the season’s penultimate race from the sixth position.
- Jaxon Bell, the son of former NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver and current FOX and NBC broadcaster Townsend Bell, had a strong showing in Copeland Motorsports’ No. 23 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO. It appeared Bell was going to have the overall lead, but he got caught by the pace car during a mid-race caution and lost a lap. Still, the 23-year-old driver came charging back, getting to eighth place before needing a stop for fuel with three minutes remaining. He and teammate Ford Koch finished 13th.
- In the TCR class, eight-time INDYCAR SERIES race winner and 2002 Indianapolis 500 pole winner Bruno Junqueira was looking for a strong finish in the Touring Car division only to have damage to the left front of Baker Racing’s No. 56 Audi RS3 LMS TCR.
