Nick Yelloly grasped pole position for Meyer Shank Racing’s #93 Acura ARX-06 for the IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix sprint race at Road America.

Meyer Shank Racing Acura fought with RLL BMW for the GTP class pole position in a close battle for the fastest times, thus knocking out the front two rows.

The result was an incredibly close margin between the top four, with Yelloly having set his 1:48.628 lap time just 0.053 seconds ahead of Sheldon van der Linde’s #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (1:48.681).

Just two thousandths behind van der Linde was his #24 BMW team-mate, Dries Vanthoor, who was unable to take a fifth pole position of 2025 but took third with a 1:48.683 time.

Colin Braun claimed fourth in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura (1:48.708), followed by Matt Campbell’s #6 Porsche Penske 963 (1:48.960) and the highest-placed Cadillac V-Series.R, the #31 Whelen machine of Jack Aitken (1:49.118).

Three-thousandths behind him was the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque (1:49.121).

Felipe Nasr put the #7 Porsche Penske in eighth place (1:49.171) in front of Jordan Taylor’s #40 Wayne Taylor Cadillac (1:49.263).

Lastly, towards the back of the GTP class, Ross Gunn put the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie in 10th (1:49.309) and Gianmaria Bruni closed the field in the #85 JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche (1:50.367).

Hyett and ‘Spike’ command LMP2 with pole at Road America

Spike the Dragon, the #99 AO Racing Oreca 07, took the honours over 13 other Oreca 07 LMP2s with credit to PJ Hyett’s potent benchmark of 1:53.240.

Hyett therefore took a back-to-back Road America pole position, having claimed it last year, as George Kurtz’s #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca (1:53.906) took second position.

Daniel Goldburg qualified third in the #22 United Autosports USA Oreca (1:54.323), despite having his fastest lap time voided due to causing a red flag in FP1.

Tonis Kasemets, 2022 IMSA Prototype champion, put a strong first-ever qualifying for the debuting Team Tonis #61 Oreca team with a second-row start owed to a 1:54.377.

Steven Thomas took fifth position (1:54.685), also with his fastest time voided, ahead of Tobias Lutke’s #18 Era Motorsport Oreca (1:54.908).

Phil Fayer – the final of the free practice red flag-instigators – took seventh in the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca (1:55.108).

Luis Perez put the #88 AF Corse Oreca in eighth place (1:55.117) ahead of Naveen Rao’s #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca (1:55.410) and Jeremy Clarke’s #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca in 10th (1:55.459).

The 2-hour and 40-minute sprint race commences Sunday, 3 August at 13:10 local time / 19:10 BST.

READ MORE IN THE GTD PRO / GTD REPORT – DragonSpeed claims GTD Pro class pole position at Road America

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Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande took victory for Acura and Meyer Shank Racing at Detroit in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, from the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac and #6 Porsche Penske car.

Yelloly started the car from pole, but it wasn’t a simple victory, with the car slipping as low as fourth at one point.

Yelloly retained the lead from his teammate, Tom Blomqvist, in the sister #60 Acura ARX-06, at the start of the race. The Briton was holding back Sheldon van der Linde in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 and Nick Tandy in the #6 Porsche 963, who soon switched places after a short caution for debris.

Blomqvist, then, held back his countryman Tandy as Yelloly made his escape, in a British 1-2-3 at the front of the field.

It would stay this way until Blomqvist pitted, the earliest of the GTPs to pit, with his teammate Colin Braun rejoining seventh. Over the next few laps, this triggered other GTP pit stops, with Blomqvist’s teammate Yelloly pitting from the lead shortly after.

This promoted Tandy to the lead, with Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R second and Dries Vanthoor in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 third.

Tandy pitted on lap 31, handing Albuquerque the lead. The Portuguese driver had a 27-second gap to the leading pitstopper, Felipe Nasr, who had replaced Tandy in the #7 Porsche. Renger van der Zande, who had replaced former leader Yelloly, sat third behind Nasr.

When Albuquerque stopped to hand over to teammate Ricky Taylor, the American was able to rejoin second, mere seconds behind Nasr. This, then, was a ginormous overcut, showing the benefit of staying out and pitting late — Albuquerque started that car eighth.

Caution shakes things up

Nasr looked good for the win, keeping a good gap to Albuquerque. But a caution with 36 minutes to go, for on-track debris from one of the many car contact incidents on the narrow street course, bunched the field up.

In an instant, then, the three-second or so gap was eliminated, and at the restart, Nasr’s rivals were tenths, not seconds, behind him.

R. Taylor in second was keen to take the win, and on lap 71 at turn 3, he saw his chance. He got his car to the apex, but in doing so pushed Nasr wide, with the two making front-to-rear contact. While the Brazilian initially was able to hold the position, at Turn 4, R. Taylor would sweep to the inside and take the lead.

Nasr then lost the momentum and slipped to fourth, with van der Zande and Nasr’s Porsche teammate Mathieu Jaminet overtaking him in subsequent corners. A review from race control took no action on R. Taylor’s rather robust challenge for position.

R. Taylor, then, led from van der Zande’s #93 Acura, with the two duking it out for the win. And with just minutes left, van der Zande made his move, a clean pass up the inside to take the lead and the win in General Motors’ and Cadillac’s backyard.

Jaminet was third for Porsche, the German manufacturer’s four-race winning streak over. Fourth was Nasr, while fifth went to #24 BMW’s Philipp Eng. Sixth was Colin Braun, stung by an early pitstop which was not the winning strategy in the #60 Acura, with seventh going to Marco Wittmann in the #25 BMW.

Eighth was Ross Gunn and Roman de Angelis in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie, while ninth went to Jordan Taylor in the sister #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. The third Cadillac was 10th, Earl Bamber at the wheel of the #31 Action Express Cadillac, while 11th was Tijmen van der Helm in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche.

See here for full results. READ MORE – Ford’s Mike Rockenfeller beats Corvette to IMSA Detroit sprint victory

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Acura’s Nick Yelloly took pole for the IMSA Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit, with the Briton in the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 setting a 1:05.762.

In fact, it was a 1-2 for Acura, with Yelloly’s teammate Tom Blomqvist in the #60 machine second, 0.146 behind. Third was Sheldon van der Linde in the #25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, three tenths off Yelloly.

Early on it looked like the battle for pole would once again be between the two German manufacturers in IMSA GTP class, BMW and their rivals Porsche. 

Nick Tandy, in the #7 Porsche 963, and his BMW rivals, S. van der Linde and the South African’s teammate Dries Vanthoor in the #24 BMW, were the early fastest.

The three traded fastest laps between themselves for the first half of the session. This culminated in S. van der Linde topping the pile, with a 1:06.351, with Tandy second and D. Vanthoor third.

S. van der Linde then went quicker with a 1:06.328, but Yelloly came in with a 1:06.276 to go quickest.

He then kept improving, getting his lap time down to 1:05.762 with his final lap. S. van der Linde, Tandy and D. Vanthoor couldn’t match this, but Blomqvist came close, with a 1:05.981.

The two Acuras, then, were the only cars to get under 66 seconds around Detroit. Third was S. van der Linde, 0.316 off Yelloly.

Fourth was D. Vanthoor, his run of four consecutive IMSA poles coming to an end in fourth. Fifth and sixth were the two Porsches, #6’s Matt Campbell ahead of Tandy in the #7. However, Tandy will lose his fastest lap for causing a red flag in practice, which may drop him back.

Seventh, eighth and ninth were the three Cadillacs, in their backyard and hometown of Detroit. Jack Aitken, in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R, was just over a second off Yelloly, while the two Wayne Taylor Racing-run cars were eighth and ninth, with Filipe Albuquerque in the 310 car ahead of Louis Deletraz in the #40 machine.

10th was Gianmaria Bruni in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche 963, while 11th went to Roman de Angelis in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie, almost two seconds off Yelloly.

READ MORE – Seb Priaulx takes IMSA Detroit pole, Ford knocks out front row 

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Nick Yelloly, co-driver of the #93 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06 GTP, explained the risk of clipping the walls around the Detroit Street Course.

“I’m looking forward to the race in Detroit (on 31 May),” he told the media, including Motorsport Week, in a pre-event press conference.

“I tend to like street circuits. Last year was IMSA’s first time there with GTP cars — it was very bumpy, difficult to pass.

“Also tricky to extract a lap time, mainly due to the bumps.

“Very, very narrow as well, so easy to make a mistake and clip a wall and particularly with the cars being relatively long for such a tight and twisty circuit.

“So I enjoyed it last year – I felt comfortable and had solid pace. Looking forward to seeing what we can do.”

During last year’s running of the 100-minute sprint race, one of the incidents involved JDC Miller MotorSports #85 Porsche 963 GTP with Richard Westbrook at the wheel.

Jack Aitken prompted Westbrook’s yellow Porsche to spin and cause a temporary blockage, during which the #85 driver carried out a multi-point turn to continue, which led him to label the downtown Detroit circuit as “not suitable for prototypes“.

Yelloly continued: “Some of the performance engineers have experience from the Wayne Taylor car that won last year.

“Their pace seemed particularly strong in the race, maybe not so much in qualifying, from my recollection.

“I think we had a pretty decent car also in Long Beach, which bodes well, being another street circuit with maybe not the same characteristics completely, but a street circuit is a street circuit.

“So I’m hoping to do a good job with my teammate Renger [van der Zande] and try and get back on that podium.”

READ MORE – Bobby Rahal: BMW–RLL GTP future relationship talk ‘premature’

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Motorsport Week delved into five key, developing stories to follow in the upcoming 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship season.

The 24 Hours of Daytona is one of the key events on the global endurance racing calendar and takes place on 25-26 January.

IMSA is set to host the 63rd running of the historic event as the second round, the 12 Hours of Sebring, is even older with its 73rd edition on 15 March.

This unique pair of two races in the motorsport ‘Triple Crown of Endurance’ sets IMSA apart from other championships owing to their iconicity and intensity.

Since the merger of the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series, it marks IMSA’s 12th SportsCar campaign of thrilling multi-class racing across sprint and endurance events.

Whilst many of the same teams and drivers are ready and reset for another season, a manifold of new talking points bring intrigue and excitement for this year.

READ MORE: Examining the 63rd 24 Hours of Daytona entry list

Meyer Shank Racing’s anticipated return

Changes have taken place in the headline GTP category for this year.

Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) are back in Cadillac machinery and their two Acura ARX-06s are both enabling Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) to make their IMSA comeback.

Prior to their absence last year, they had one Acura ARX-06 in the first GTP season whilst WTR ran the other machine.

Meyer Shank Racing won the last ever 24 Hours of Daytona in the DPi era in 2022 before they took another victory at the start of the GTP era – albeit under controversial circumstances.

A mixture of talented names will pilot the two Acuras, including former BMW driver Nick Yelloly, reigning Petit Le Mans winner Renger van der Zande and Japanese racing sensation Kakunoshin Ohta.

Their driver lineup is compelling in the prediction around which teams will stand out not only to win, but take the title by the end of Road Atlanta.

MSR are undoubtedly contenders in both of these areas against the might of Porsche Penske.

Lamborghini partners with Riley

The exotic Italian automotive manufacturer are finally making their first 24 Hours of Daytona appearance this year in partnership with Riley Motorsport after their split with Iron Lynx.

Lamborghini has condensed their LMDh project into one entrant competing in the IMSA Endurance Cup, like last year, but without any means to the WEC’s Hypercar category.

Their project last year was a challenging debut season in two of the world’s most prominent international multi-class racing championships.

Le Mans marked their only WEC points finish in 10th position (two points), admittedly impressive for the SC63 LMDh’s first 24-hour race.

Underwhelming results characterised the IMSA campaign with retirements at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis, as well as having finished three laps down on the race winner at Road Atlanta.

In spite of this trend, their genuine showcase of competitive pace in the wet at Indianapolis was a distinctively high moment for the team. As the wet caused chaos during the first of six-hours, the #63 Lamborghini fought for the lead for the first time – even though they retired due to contact with another GTD car.

In this excitement, one must not ignore that outing and so a rain-soaked Daytona race could enable Lamborghini to fight once again with great pace.

Their split with Iron Lynx was the result of unseen frustrations from the four total retirements across the IMSA and WEC projects.

Perhaps with Riley, they can now use their former struggles to propel into progress throughout the five endurance races at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.

PR1 Mathiasen solo once again

PR1 have won four LMP2 drivers’ and teams’ titles – finishing runner-up in 2022 amidst the success; plus another from last year’s collaboration with Inter Europol.

Meanwhile the Centenary Le Mans-winning outfit and well-known Polish bakery chain Inter Europol are pursuing an independent IMSA entry this year.

As reigning champions once again, PR1 have put themselves as a benchmark with a completely new driver lineup for this year.

Rodrigo Sales and Mathias Beche will run the full season, including two sprint events whilst Benjamin Pedersen will assist at the endurance races, and Ben Keating for the Daytona opener.

LMP2 is a category filled with quick and capable lineups and so PR1 will need to overcome their opponents with consistent points finishes and cunning driving.

Inter Europol’s #43 Oreca are amongst the protagonists as they will aim to win their second 24-hour race and also project themselves as title contenders.

Could PR1 take their six championship title in seven years? Even more so, the pressure is on to perform at Daytona and Sebring.

Paul Miller Racing doubles BMW GTD Pro charge on Corvette and Ford

In the GTD Pro competition, two-time GTD champions Paul Miller Racing are stepping up their game with another BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Their sole win last year came at the VIRginia International Raceway sprint event, though it was their performances at the endurance races which earned them the Endurance Cup title.

Corvette and Ford fielded brand new cars for the season and procured their high and low moments whilst learning their new packages.

The BMW M4 is a capable machine as exemplified by the team’s dominant GTD campaign in 2023.

An EVO package will continue its potential and two cars sets the team up for representing BMW in a GT works setting against the two Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs and two Ford Mustangs GT3s.

Paul Miller Racing recently confirmed talented driver rosters in the #1 and #48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO entrants as the Roar Before the 24 testing on 16-19 January is fast approaching.

AO Racing were a key force in the GTD Pro category against Heart of Racing (HOR) but now it is time for BMW, as the only Germanic manufacturer with two class entries, to kindle another fight for the championship starting with a Daytona win – especially after Paul Miller Racing suffered a wheel-related issue after a pit stop towards the end of last year’s Daytona 24.

As a result, Sheldon van der Linde nursed the unfastened wheel and his car back around into the pit road, though the team still grasped third place in the end.

READ MORE: Dan Harper set for IMSA GTD Pro debut with Paul Miller Racing

Robert Wickens in GTD sprint competition

One of the more uplifting IMSA stories this year is about Robert Wickens’ return to the SportsCar Championship since his sole appearance at the 2017 running of Daytona with Starworks Motorsport, though it was an incident-filled affair resulting in a P23rd finish overall.

During his debut IndyCar campaign in 2018, Wickens suffered a dramatic accident at Ponoco Raceway which led to him becoming paraplegic after injuring his spinal column.

In 2022, he returned to racing in the IMSA Pilot Challenge after a careful initial recovery process by utilising adapted hand controls, developed by Bosch.

He co-piloted the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR with Harry Gottsacker towards the drivers’ title in the following year, and they were a runner-up in the 2024 season.

Wickens will be joined by a co-driver in the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette – fitted with hand controls – for the five GTD sprint races: Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Road America and the VIR.

Out of his six podiums last year, he took his only win at home as a proud Canadian so this year he will finally be able to compete in the heat of the SportsCar Championship’s feisty prototype and GT classes once again.

***A bonus mention to the newest car

You might wonder why HOR’s single Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP entrant has not been mentioned in this piece, although it was in the WEC version.

It is an undeniable if not highly intruiging project to follow in the upcoming Endurance Cup schedule but is one which has not finalised its pre-homologation testing and development phase.

Their IMSA racing endeavours will begin at the gruelling 12 Hours of Sebring on 15 March, the second round of the 2025 season.

In between now and then, their V12 racer will be finalised and their as yet confirmed driver lineup of three will take on the challenge in two months time.

The ‘hype’ is certainly real but before the newest race car takes the spotlight, the mighty Daytona 24 Hours season-opener is first and foremost.

READ MORE: United Autosports announces full driver lineups for Daytona 24H

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Max Verstappen got his first taste of an Acura ARX-06 GTP car in a recent promotion demonstration ahead of the Las Vegas GP this weekend.

The reigning triple Formula 1 world champion piloted a Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) Acura during a demonstration at the Las Vegas Speedway.

Filming took place yesterday, Tuesday 19 November, as part of an upcoming promotion film for the Acura brand and their Honda Civic Hybrid road car.

Both the Acura GTP and IndyCar, plus an IndyCar-powered Honda CRV, were present – all of which utilise hybrid powertrains.

Verstappen attended along with his F1 teammate Sergio Perez and RB drivers Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda to sample the race cars.

IndyCar legend and four-time Daytona 24 Hours winner Scott Dixon joined Meyer Shank Acura GTP driver Colin Braun to assist the F1 drivers.

MSR are preparing for their comeback to the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the 2025 season.

Wayne Taylor Racing ran the Acura GTP package during 2024, before their return to Cadillac prompted MSR to utilise a pair of GTP entrants.

Verstappen has previously declared interest in the 24 Hours of Le Mans where LMDh and LMH machinery compete together for the overall win in the Hypercar class.

Although the ARX-06 is an eligible car for Le Mans, Acura has yet to pursue the historic event although their chassis partner Oreca currently works with Alpine.

He will have the opportunity to become a four-time champion at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, the 22nd round of the 2024 F1 season.

READ MORE: Meyer Shank Racing finalises IMSA 2025 Endurance Cup drivers

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Meyer Shank Racing has finalised Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon as their 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship Endurance Cup pilots.

MSR has completed their full lineup for next year, following their existing confirmation of full-season drivers.

Four-time 24 Hours of Daytona winner Dixon will assist Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun in the Endurance Cup rounds.

MSR IndyCar driver Rosenqvist completes the #60 Acura ARX-06 GTP lineup solely for Daytona next January.

Meanwhile the #93 Acura will feature triple IndyCar champion and reigning back-to-back champion Alex Palou in the endurance races.

This includes Daytona alongside Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly.

“I’m super excited about the opportunity to join Acura MSR and HRC for the IMSA endurance races next year,” said Palou.

“It will be pretty cool to work with some of the drivers that I know very well and to see what we can do at the Rolex in January.

“I have to thank Mike [Shank] and HRC for this opportunity and I’m ready to get going in Daytona.”

Rosenqvist, who drove the 2024 edition with United Autosports, added: “It’s a dream come true for me to race at the Rolex and in the top category.

“It’s a very natural fit as I’m racing for the same team and manufacturer as my ‘daytime job,’ and I know all my teammates really well.

“It’s a big project and I’m doing my best to be as prepared as possible.

“I’m looking forward to getting going in January.”

Talent and experience on Meyer Shank’s return

Six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon concluded: “I’m really looking forward to running the Rolex this [upcoming] year.

“I have almost joined Meyer Shank Racing and Mike a couple times in the past, but it didn’t work out.

“I’m really excited to join Acura MSR and their partnership with HRC makes it easier, there are a lot of familiar faces and people that I have worked with over the years.

“That’s also true on the Meyer Shank side as well with a lot of people who I have worked with earlier in my career.

“A lot of familiar faces on the driver side too with Felix [Rosenqvist], Tom [Blomqvist], Colin [Braun] and obviously I was teammates last year with Renger, so I’m really looking forward to that side of it.

“Goal number one is just to win and hopefully we can do that out of the gate at Daytona.

“It’s a fun race and I love doing the endurance races.

“I’m just really excited to get going and from what I’ve seen so far it’s quite the outfit and excited with what Acura has done.”

Meyer Shank Racing are preparing for their IMSA return after missing the 2024 season.

They won the 2023 running of Petit Le Mans after controversially winning the season-opener.

Their driver line-up incorporates experience and talent with all drivers having competed in the most recent running of Daytona.

Dixon and Palou drove in Chip Ganassi Cadillac machinery as Blomqvist drove in Action Express Racing’s Cadillac.

With two Acuras at their disposal, Meyer Shank are set for their IMSA comeback at the Daytona season-opener.

READ MORE: Wayne Taylor Racing confirms Cadillac machinery for IMSA 2025

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Meyer Shank Racing has signed Marcus Armstrong to partner Felix Rosenqvist for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series campaign.

Armstrong joins Meyer Shank after two seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing.

The New Zealander earned Rookie of the Year honours in 2023, contesting a Road Course only schedule and finishing 20th in the Drivers’ standings.

In 2024, a full-season schedule saw Armstrong score four top-five finishes and one podium result.

Chip Ganassi Racing is downsizing from a five-car to a three-car entry in 2025 and Armstrong has quickly found a new home with Meyer Shank Racing.

“I’m very proud to be joining Meyer Shank Racing in 2025,” said Armstrong.

“I had a great feeling when I met both Mike Shank and Jim Meyer, their passion for performance and meticulous work ethic was obvious from our first conversation and I want to thank them both for this opportunity.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone at MSR over the off-season with the goal of hitting the ground running at the first race of the season in St Pete.

“This year I got closer to where I want to be performance-wise, including oval racing for the first time and I’m looking forward to continuing to push up the order with MSR.

“We want to be at the front, fighting for wins and I believe we have the recipe to do it.”

Meyer Shank had multiple driver changes before Armstrong signing

Meyer Shank started the 2024 campaign with rookie Tom Blomqvist at the wheel, who lost his drive after a disastrous opening-lap crash at the Indy 500.

Helio Castroneves stepped in for Blomqvist on an interim basis until David Malukas completed the 2024 campaign in the No.66 entry.

With Malukas joining AJ Foyt Racing in 2025, Meyer Shank Racing had a seat to fill and co-owner Mike Shank commented on his new acquisition.

“We’re very excited to welcome Marcus onboard,” said Shank.

“He’s really shown a lot of growth and consistency in his first two years in INDYCAR, which is really difficult to do. This series is probably one of the most competitive series out there and he has proven himself to be a real contender.

“We are going to do everything we can to give him the car and the tools to produce results next year.”

READ MORE: Rosenqvist sad to lose ‘impressive’ team-mate Malukas to Foyt in 2025

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Meyer Shank Racing announced on Monday that the team has extended Felix Rosenqvist’s already lengthy IndyCar contract well into the future.

Rosenqvist began driving for the team at the start of the 2024 season, moving over from a three year stint with Arrow McLaren to drive for MSR.

The Swede’s contract was originally announced as two seasons in length, which already gave him a home through the conclusion of 2025.

This week’s announcement extends the 32-year-old’s contract out even further, showing how much confidence the team has in his driving abilities after their first year together.

“Thrilled to commit my future to Meyer Shank Racing,” Rosenqvist posted on social media. “Let’s create some big moments, next year and beyond!”

Rosenqvist completed his sixth IndyCar season this past weekend, and had the best start to the season of his career with his new MSR team.

He started off the season strong with a second place qualifying effort in St. Pete, and followed that up with a pole on the streets of Long Beach.

He also earned two top five finishes in the first three races of the season, but then failed to earn another throughout the rest of the season despite qualifying near the front multiple other times.

Rosenqvist will now be staying with MSR for at least the next couple seasons, giving him a lengthy period of stability to build on.

The driver of the team’s second car has not yet been announced, but it is known that he will have a new team-mate as David Malukas is set to move to AJ Foyt Racing next year.

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The NTT IndyCar Series took to the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida for the first practice session of the new year, and it was Felix Rosenqvist who put in the fastest time of the session.

Rosenqvist is driving for Meyer Shank Racing this season, and wasted no time showing the rest of the field that he is comfortable in his new ride.

The Swede lapped the 1.8-mile course in 1 minute, 0.339 seconds in the final minutes of practice, and was nearly half of a second clear of the competition.

Pato O’Ward was the second fastest driver of the day, putting in his fast time with just 18 laps turned on the course.

Marcus Armstrong was third, just fractionally slower than O’Ward. Will Power and Rinus VeeKay rounded out the top five positions, making for five different teams in the first five positions.

Overall, times were a little faster than last year’s opening practice session, despite multiple changes affecting the performance of the cars.

Lighter gearbox and chassis components have lowered the weight by 25 pounds over last season, but Firestone has brought a harder tire this year.

The tire compound change forced drivers to make more adjustments than the lost weight, with many noting that it now takes three to four laps to get them up to temperature, even when using the softer alternate tire.

A new practice format was trialed, which involved splitting the field into two groups and alternating which times they were allowed to turn laps.

There was an opening 20 minute stint that worked as normal, but then the two groups took turns for 10 minutes at a time through the remainder of the session.

The change allowed drivers to have a better chance of finding clear track in order to run fast laps, and also helped to bring cars past the fans more consistently throughout.

Typically drivers will spend nearly half the session on pit road anyway making adjustments, so splitting the field more evenly across the session appears to have little downsides.

Although there were no damaging wrecks, there were a few red flags due to drivers sliding long into the runoff areas.

Some were able to get their car spun around, but others, such as Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson, needed assistance from the track crew to get going again.

Drivers and teams will spend the evening poring over data from today’s running, then will be back on track Saturday morning at 9:30 AM Eastern Time for the second practice of the weekend.

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