Pataskala, Ohio (6 March 2024) – Spring is a season of rebirth and rejuvenation and Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) is building its 2024 racing team around that philosophy as it brings an entirely new driver lineup to the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES campaign.
Entering its third season of fielding two full-time INDYCAR programs, MSR heads into the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg race weekend with an all-new driver lineup that will take the green flag this Sunday (12:00pm ET, NBC, SiriusXM Ch. 218).
2019 INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year Felix Rosenqvist will make his debut with MSR and will drive the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda. Rosenqvist’s car will be running a special livery this weekend which will feature Rock Icon Bon Jovi’s SiriusXM Radio station (SiriusXM Ch. 312). In addition to being on the No. 60 for both St. Pete and Thermal’s $1 Million Challenge, Jon Bon Jovi will be attendance on race day in St. Petersburg as a guest of MSR and SiriusXM. Jon Bon Jovi will get the thrill of a lifetime as he will ride in INDYCAR’s Fastest Seat in Sports and lead the field to the green flag on Sunday.
The Swedish driver has made 79 starts since his rookie campaign and he earned his first series victory at Road America in 2020 and raced to four top-five finishes in 2023.
Rosenqvist earned 18 top-10 finishes over the last two seasons and qualified on the front row for the 2023 Indianapolis 500 to set a career-best in the Memorial Day classic. He has also won five poles in his career, including leading qualifying at the season-ending event at Laguna Seca a year ago.
Rosenqvist will be joined by a driver with just three INDYCAR SERIES starts to his credit, but a look at Tom Blomqvist’s racing resume shows him to be more than qualified for his first campaign. Blomqvist will take the reins of the No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda for the full-season after making starts at Toronto, Portland and Laguna Seca in 2023.
The English-born Blomqvist – who put on nine pounds of muscle this off-season to handle the rigors of the year – comes to INDYCAR after running most of the last six years in sportscars. Blomqvist raced with MSR in IMSA for the 2022 and 2023 seasons where he clinched the 2022 DPi Championship and brought home back-to-back Rolex 24 victories in both years.
Despite his relative lack of seat time in the INDYCAR SERIES, Blomqvist is an accomplished open-wheel racer, winning the 2010 Formula Renault UK crown and placing second in the 2014 European F3 championship where he finished ahead of current Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen.
And while Castroneves is stepping away from full-time driving chores, the popular Brazilian will continue to have a strong involvement, attending all the races as engineering support as well as working closely with the team’s sponsors and partners. Castroneves will get back in the car for this year’s Indianapolis 500 in his recently announced Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian No. 06 Clevelend-Cliffs machine, as he looks to become the first driver to win five Indianapolis crowns.
MSR will open the 2024 campaign on the streets of St. Petersburg, a 1.8-mile, 14-turn course where the team was dealt some early-season bad luck as both team entries were involved in a multi-car crash on the very first lap.
The 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will air on NBC on Sunday starting at Noon ET. Saturday’s qualifying will be shown live on Peacock beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. SiriusXM will also host live IndyCar Radio coverage of both sessions on XM Ch. 218.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:
Felix Rosenqvist:
“I’m super pumped to get the season started! There are a lot of new things going on, but it’s all exciting. We’ve been strong in testing and we’re all ready to see what we can do when it matters. I think we all have been itching to get to the track and get the season started, and now it’s finally here. Let’s go!”
Tom Blomqvist:
“The wait is finally over! It’s finally time to get my first proper INDYCAR weekend started. It’s been nice to have the time to reflect on a couple of INDYCAR outings I did at the end of last season and to figure out what I can do better heading into my first full-season campaign. I haven’t had the track time I would have liked, but that’s all part of the challenge in INDYCAR. I feel as prepared as I can be and I’m just excited to get this season underway. St. Pete looks like such a cool event and I’m just ready to soak up the energy and get after it.”
