Tom Blomqvist has been one of the quickest drivers in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competing in the top level GTP category. We caught up with him just prior to the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where he filled us in on his transition from IMSA GTP to the NTT IndyCar Series with Meyer Shank Racing (MSR). It’s a fascinating conversation as he candidly talks about the challenges of switching categories and the key differences between the two types of race cars. It’s a real insiders look at the technical side of racing in layman’s terms. Enjoy!
NOTE: At Long Beach, he qualified 15th while his teammate was on pole. Blomqvist finished in 22nd while Rosenqvist finished 9th. Unfortunately for Tom, the opening lap of the Indy 500 saw him spin and crash with other cars involved. After that, he was replaced as a driver on the team. However, the team owners still believed in his immense talent and retained him for the year. Starting this weekend at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, he’ll be back behind the wheel of an MSR GTP car looking to score another Rolex 24 win.
By Larry Mason
Copyright © 2024 Larry Mason
Tom Blomqvist waves to the fans at Long Beach just prior to the start of the 2024 Acura Grand Prix.
Blomqvist exits the fountain area under the shadows of swaying palm trees on his way around the challenging street course at Long Beach.
Blomqvist gets some air time hammering the curbs exiting Turn 5. Notice the size of the sidewall of the rear tires especially on these 15-inch wheels. His IMSA GTP car is running on 18-inch wheels with a much lower sidewall.
Sorry for the blurry photo, but as you can clearly see, Blomqvist was pushing to and past the limits of adhesion to extract the most out of his race car. A quick off at the Turn 9 escape road and he was back on course rapidly.
Blomqvist sits on pit lane during the Sunday morning warm-up as a TV crew and his own crew member look on. During his qualifying session, he just missed advancing into the Fast 12 by just over a couple tenths of a second.
Interview and photos Copyright © by Larry Mason (unless otherwise noted)