Long Beach, Calif. (7 April 2025) – Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s (“Acura MSR”) two-car GTP lineup heads to the streets of Long Beach for the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. With the American Honda and HRC (Honda Racing Corporation US) headquarters in nearby Torrance, Acura MSR is hoping to put on a show for the manufacturers home crowd on Saturday (5:00pm ET, USA and Peacock, SiriusXM Channel 206).
Acura MSR has a big weekend of action ahead of it with both of the team’s IMSA and INDYCAR programs competing on the 1.968-mile temporary street course. It will be the first time since 2023 that the team will have both of its programs competing on the same weekend.
With back-to-back podiums in the IMSA season’s first two rounds, Acura MSR’s consistent start includes a second place finish for the No. 60 Acura MSR w/ Curb Agajanian ARX-06 in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and a third place for No. 93 Acura MSR w/ Curb Agajanian ARX-06 in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Drivers of the No. 93 Acura, Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly, look to continue the momentum of their third-place Sebring finish, which marked the first podium for HRC in their expanded role of calling strategy and race-engineering the entry.
And van der Zande is no stranger to success on the Long Beach street circuit, with two wins and five podiums in eight starts, including the GTP win in 2024. Yelloly contributed to a past podium finish as well, which bodes well for the duo as they tackle the 1.968-mile temporary street course.
Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun are looking to bounce back from a troubled Sebring, which saw their No. 60 knocked out of contention due to pit lane contact late in the race. In addition, they’re also looking for Long Beach redemption. In 2023, Blomqvist was hit from behind going into turn 1 at the start of the race, and the pair ultimately went a lap down to finish P6.
While Blomqvist hasn’t had much luck in his three IMSA Long Beach outings, Braun’s last podium on the street circuit was an ALMS win in 2013.
The 100-minute sprint race will have flag-to-flag coverage on USA and Peacock this Saturday, April 12th at 5:00pm ET. Live IMSA radio coverage can also be accessed on SiriusXM channel 206. Qualifying will be streamed live on Peacock, Friday at 8:05pm ET.
Meyer Shank Racing Team Quotes:
Renger van der Zande: “Long Beach is a track I have some great memories from. Obviously won it a couple times and a lot of podiums. But I’m looking forward to racing here with the Acura brand and meeting everyone who works (for HRC) in California. And we’ll give it everything to fight for the win at our home race.”
Tom Blomqvist: “It’s a big race for us and one of the highlights on the calendar. It’s fun bringing the race to the fans and going downtown. For us as drivers, racing on a street circuit is always a thrill and somewhere we feel you can extract more and enjoy a bit more risk. We had a difficult end result in Sebring and obviously want to try and make amends. The team has been working flat out and we are confident we’re always going to be in the fight. It’s a very short race, so a big emphasis on qualifying and track position. It’s only an hour and 40 minutes, so you have to be pretty faultless with your execution.”
