Blomqvist “Gave It All” in Final Stint for Runner-Up Finish

Photo: Joao Filipe/DPPI/Porsche

Tom Blomqvist said he “gave it all” in his closing stint to pass Matt Campbell and give Acura Meyer Shank Racing a runner-up finish in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, admitting it was the “best we probably could have done” in the race.

Blomqvist and co-drivers Colin Braun, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist rallied back from several setbacks earlier in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, including front bodywork damage after a brush with the tire barriers for Rosenqvist, as well as a drive-through penalty later in the running that delayed Dixon.

“Somehow in the race we actually struggled a lot more pace,” said Blomqvist. “We came into the race relatively confident, but for whatever reason we just struggled a lot to keep our rear tires under us.

“Even from Lap 1 you already knew it was going to be a tough stint. We struggled, to be honest, the whole race. The Porsches were extremely strong.

“We were good maybe the first few [laps] and then they would just pull away especially on the double stints they had a lot more pace than us, and when the traffic came they had such an advantage.

“We struggled so much for traction that they would just carve through traffic so much better than us.”

Blomqvist said the car was “just better” in the closing stint, where was able to pass the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell for second in the closing minutes after a back-and-forth battle with the Australian.

“I didn’t think I was going to have anything for them, but you never give up, and I think I gave it all I had, and to be honest that was the best we probably could have done today,” said Blomqvist of their second place finish.

“The guys did a fantastic job to get us in that position strategy-wise. We were always making the right calls generally at the right time, so that was good.

“But definitely [there’s] some work to do, a lot of lessons learnt, let’s say, from this race, and I think to be honest, if you asked all of us, we’re super happy with second because at one point we thought it was going to be a real long day.”

When asked how close he was to catching leader and eventual race winner Felipe Nasr in the end, Blomqvist admitted that it was a “difficult question.”

The winning margin was 1.335 seconds at the line between the No. 7 Porsche and No. 60 Acura.

“He had a little gap and he knew there was only a few laps to go once I got into second place,” said Blomqvist. “So I don’t know how much he was fully pushing. I’m sure he was, to give that gap. It’s always nice to have.

“I think honestly we had really good pace there at the end. I had a little bit of extra pace on them. It’s difficult to say. Maybe if there was 10 minutes more, we might, might have got to the back of them, but who knows.

“I think going into that stint, I didn’t actually expect to be able to fight them, but when I knew I had a chance, I just kind of gave it everything, and thankfully we managed to get one of them.”

Campbell, who took on two fresh Michelin Medium compound tires in the final pit stop, compared to four tires for the competition, said he just “couldn’t hold on” in the end.

“For us, unfortunately, we just ran out of tires,” he told Sportscar365.

“We didn’t have four new tires compared to the Acura and Car 7. We only had two, so it made life difficult pushing flat-out and we just couldn’t hold on. We would have liked more, but at the end of the day, unfortunately, we didn’t have more.

“I like good racing. Always, the goal is not to touch another Porsche, that’s number one. At least a Porsche won and that’s the most important thing at the end of the day.”

Jonathan Grace contributed to this report