Long Beach, Calif. (4 April 2022) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) will return to North America’s longest-running street race this weekend, when it takes both its NTT INDYCAR SERIES and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship programs to the coast of Southern California for the 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The MSR with Curb-Agajanian Acura sports car team will compete in a 100-minute race on Saturday, a welcome sprint after tackling Florida’s two endurance classics, winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona and taking fifth in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
MSR’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES team runs in its second street-course race of the 2022 campaign, coming off the high-speed oval race at Texas Motor Speedway after opening the season in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.
Meyer Shank Racing Looking for Strong IMSA Run at Acura’s Home Race
Driver Lineup:
Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis: No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Acura ARX-05 DPi
Tune In:
Saturday, April 9, 2022 on USA Network and Peacock (5-7 p.m. ET)
SiriusXM Ch. 202
MSR opened the WeatherTech Championship season by winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona, with Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis joined by Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud. The team went on to place fifth in the grueling Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring last month and are now hoping to make up championship ground on the streets of Long Beach.
Jarvis competed in three IMSA races at Long Beach in the DPi category. He finished fourth in 2018 and 2019, and fifth in 2021. Blomqvist made his Long Beach debut in 2019 running in the GTLM ranks which saw him finish seventh.
MSR ran in four Prototype races at Long Beach. The team finished fifth and ninth in its debut outing in 2006. MSR drivers, John Pew and Ozz Negri made a front row start in 2014 and the team finished sixth in 2015. Last year, MSR qualified fourth in the Acura DPi, but an accident with 10 laps remaining resulted in a sixth place finish.
MSR IndyCar regular (and sports car endurance driver) Castroneves holds the Long Beach DPi qualifying record, 1:11.332-seconds set in 2019 onboard the Acura DPi.
Driver Quotes:
Oliver Jarvis:
“With Long Beach being Acura’s home race we would love to deliver their first home win, but as we have seen from the past few seasons this is a track very much suited to our competitors. With that in mind, we know it won’t be an easy task but that won’t stop us from giving everything to make that home win become a reality. Aside from great racing, Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is such a fantastic event all round and one I look forward to every year.”
Tom Blomqvist:
“First off, Long Beach is a cool event and it’s cool to be sharing the paddock with INDYCAR. And it’s even more special that its Acura’s home race. It’s always a great turnout with it being right in the city center and I love street tracks. I think it’s going to be a bit of a difficult race. Obviously going into that race we are realistic with our expectations, but we have the tools and we just need to make sure we make the most out of what we have. Hopefully we can have a good result and bounce back from Sebring.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Pagenaud and Castroneves Both Long Beach winners
Driver Lineup:
Helio Castroneves: No. 06 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda
Simon Pagenaud: No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda
Tune in:
Sunday, April 10, 3 p.m. ET on NBC
SiriusXM Ch. 205
Simon Pagenaud finished eighth in the the second round of IndyCar competition at Texas Motor Speedway in March and now looks to build on that result in Long Beach. The 2016 IndyCar champion and 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner has raced nine times at Long Beach, winning in 2016 and placing second in 2012. Pagenaud most recently finished fifth in 2021.
Aside from his IndyCar success the street course, Pagenaud also won both of his IMSA (then ALMS) starts at the circuit, in 2009 and 2010.
Helio Castroneves ran in four Champ Car races at Long Beach, finishing second in 2000 and raced to his first Long Beach win in 2001. Castroneves has 10 IndyCar starts in Long Beach, finishing second in 2015 and third in 2016.
As part of his six race IndyCar season with MSR last season, Castroneves raced in Long Beach and qualified third for the season-ending race. After leading for 14-laps, Castroneves was poised for as strong result, but an uncharacteristically long green flag did not play into the team’s strategy with the Brazilian finishing 20th.
Driver Quotes:
Helio Castroneves:
“We’re looking forward to the Grand Prix of Long Beach – we had great pace last year and we had great potential in the race after qualifying third. Unfortunately, strategy didn’t work out too well for us, but we learned from it. Now coming back around six months later, we are looking forward to a great result with the AutoNation / SiriusXM car. We are looking really, really strong. I think MSR might impress a lot of people.”
Simon Pagenaud:
“Long Beach is one of my favorite tracks. I have been very fortunate there with great success. I’m very excited to be going there with Meyer Shank Racing for the first time. They had a great weekend the last time I raced there, so I am expecting great things on the street course like St. Pete. Obviously, looking towards good execution all week long and trying to finalize the speed we have and transform it into a great result. We’ll see how we can do, but I’m really excited to be going to the west coast.”
