ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA

January 26, 2025

Tom Blomqvist

Colin Braun

Scott Dixon

Felix Rosenqvist

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. We are pleased to be joined by our runner-ups in the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona in the GTP class in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX 06.

From your left to right, Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, and Felix Rosenqvist.

For Tom, this is his fourth podium in four Rolex 24 starts. He has two wins and now two second place finishes.

For Scott, this is his seventh Rolex 24 podium from 22 starts in the race.

Colin, this is his 10th podium at the Rolex 24 in 23 starts.

Felix, this is his first Rolex 24 podium; fourth appearance in the Rolex 24. We'll go straight to questions.

Q. Tom, can you talk about those closing laps and getting Matt, and did you think you had anything potentially for Felipe?

TOM BLOMQVIST: I mean, somehow in the race we actually struggled a lot more pace. 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 kind of struggled to be honest the whole race. The Porsches were extremely strong. We were good maybe the first few 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.

Yeah, last stint, the car was just better. Not much to say, really. 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 I think to be honest that was the best we probably could have done today.

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 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.

Q. Scott, 22 starts here at this race. How does the competition out there compare to the other 21?

SCOTT DIXON: Definitely very different over the years. I think from what we've seen from when I first started here in 2004, a lot has changed. A lot has changed. The cars are very different to drive and the racing is sort of different, too.

But the competition level I think is very much the same. It's definitely one of the toughest races you come to just to try to get everything right across the board.

There were a few kind of situations that we probably would have normally tried to get out of, or not have happened, but I think for all of us, honestly, it was a fairly smooth race. It's just what it was today.

I think every year it's a little bit different to who's going to be strong, who's not. Yeah, and you hope for a little bit better. Obviously for a win.

Q. Colin, stellar stint from you. At one point you were the dominant car on track. Where was the Acura at that stage in performance?

COLIN BRAUN: Yeah, that's a tough question. I think there was definitely stages of the race where people were using tires in different places where it just ebbs and flows. There were times when you were out of sequence, times when you were in sequence.

I feel like our car was strong for sure at certain points in the night. It just seemed like we could get in a good rhythm and hit a good fuel number, and I think given the fact, like Tom talked about, our rear tire deg was kind of the biggest thing we were working around, you almost found performance by just using that fuel number to kind of help slow the whole thing down, help your exits.

Overall, super happy. Great day. On we go.

Q. The other Acura, No. 93, had a suspension issue during the night, and I was just wondering did you guys' team -- were you worried that this might be an issue that would recur in the 60, or did you feel like it was more unique to the wear and tear of the 93?

TOM BLOMQVIST: Yeah, we'd been told -- as you guys probably saw, there was a number of suspension failures from other cars and other manufacturers. But yeah, I'm guessing we assumed that it was from the new Bus Stop.

The curbs can be quite aggressive through there so we were told to take it a little bit easier through there.

But yeah, I didn't really (indiscernible) the last few stints because we weren't going to have much chance. That was probably our strongest corner on the track, so we had to make the most of that.

But yeah, we were told.

Q. Tom, it's documented the team is a lot bigger this year. Do you think it functions smoothly as well as could be expected in the first weekend in this version?

COLIN BRAUN: Yeah, I think to come away with a second, that close to winning the race and executing well as a whole group, obviously the 93 car had good pace. They had that suspension issue, but they did a super good job, too.

I think considering all the other GTP teams have been together for a few years here and we're kind much reassembled and adding people, I think we have a lot of blue sky, a lot of potential to tidy up a few things here and there and continue to be stronger and stronger. A heck of a first race.

I think when we all went to the first test in November when we got the cars, I think if you would have said we'd come here and finish second, we'd all have been signing up for that. So great job for sure.

TOM BLOMQVIST: To add to Colin's thoughts, and there are new people who are new to IMSA as well. IMSA is very unique. The rules are very different to Europe.

So there's certainly little areas where I think we can improve. There's one extra car but it seems like there's three times more people. I think you can only go up from here.

Q. Tom, how close were you to catching Nasr in the final stint?

TOM BLOMQVIST: That's a difficult question. He had a little gap and he knew there was only a few laps to go once I kind of got into second place. 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.

Yeah, I think honestly we had really good pace there at the end. I think 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 yeah, when I knew I had a chance, I just kind of gave it everything, and thankfully we managed to get one of them. Yeah, very grateful for that.

Q. Felix, just wanted to get some insight into the emotion that was going on around the team and the awning on the pit wall as Tom was obviously fighting to the front because it was a gripping finale.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: It was cool. As Tom said before, I think at one point in the race, we didn't really think we had it, and you never give up. At that point everything was just turned back on and everything was just starting to stand up in the pit box and the engineers were fired up and they were looking at five different scenarios.

But in the end, it was just a sprint race, which is pretty cool. It was just a good old who gets first to the flag. I thought it was really cool to see from Tom, like he has found speed out of thin air it seemed like, and everyone just got excited.

Yeah, I'm really positively surprised how cool racing in GTP is. I've never done it before, and it's something else for sure.

Q. Were you surprised how intense it was throughout? The restarts in particular seemed really aggressive.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Absolutely. It's like a sprint race. It's just like INDYCAR every restart. People are going on the high line and going tight. You leave a little gap and someone is there immediately. I feel like every year it just gets a little bit more towards that direction. It was definitely a shock to the system the first stint, managing that.

But it's really cool. Really good racing.