Meyer Shank Racing announced on Friday morning that the team’s sportscar ace Tom Blomqvist would be shifting to the team’s IndyCar program next season.
MSR has signed Blomqvist to a multi-year deal, and is the first of the team’s two full-time entries to have a confirmed driver for the 2024 season.
Blomqvist has been making a name for himself recently in IMSA, driving in the top prototype class for the past three seasons.
He earned the championship in his first year with MSR in 2022, and has won two races this year if one includes the Daytona 24 Hours victory that was all but stripped due to a tire pressure infraction.
The 29-year-old will make the move back to open wheel cars next year, a discipline that he learned well while contesting Formula Renault, Formula 3, and most recently Formula E in the 2020-21 season.
Blomqvist drove his first career IndyCar race with MSR earlier this year, filling in for Simon Pagenaud at Toronto and impressing with his ability to gain pace throughout the weekend.
“Firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to Mike [Shank] and Jim [Meyer] and all the partners – AutoNation, SiriusXM, Arctic Wolf, Clopay and Cleveland-Cliffs – for believing in me and giving me this opportunity,” said Blomqvist.
“It’s been a good ride the last two years in IMSA, but I’ve been itching to make the step up to IndyCar and this is an opportunity I’m eager and motivated to make the most of.
“IndyCar is an incredibly competitive series and I’m under no illusions in how difficult this championship can be, but I am extremely motivated to make the most of this exciting new challenge.
“This opportunity only arose since joining Mike and his team, then just kind of proving to them that I was capable and worthy of getting given the shot in IndyCar. I’m super, super grateful for that. I’m extremely excited.
“It’s been a while. I’ve been doing something so different for so long, but I think time will tell. I’m pretty confident I’ll figure this thing out.”
Blomqvist will be taking over Helio Castroneves’ seat, with the long-time veteran shifting to a minority ownership role within the team.
He will still get a chance to earn a fifth Indianapolis 500 win, however, as MSR will field a third car for the race next season.
Castroneves admitted that changing his role away from a full time driver will be difficult, but he’s committed to helping the team evolve and grow in whatever way he can.
“We started these discussions with Tom and Helio, we’ve been talking to Tom for a long, long time about what his next step would be,” said MSR co-owner Jim Meyer at the press conference to announce the changes.
“I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people out here. The only people I don’t think he will surprise are me and Mike.
“We began talking with Helio, I don’t know, more than a couple months ago. We had a couple of great conversations about what Helio wanted, what we thought was really good for our sponsors, what’s great for Meyer Shank Racing.
“Helio will also take on a role, I don’t know, it’s bigger than an ombudsman. It’s driver coach, it’s ambassador, and frankly it’s providing and helping us get to this next level that we want to get to in IndyCar racing. We’re really pleased to be able to make this announcement today.”
It is not yet known which of the team’s two cars Blomqvist will drive, or who will partner him in the second full time entry.
Castroneves will start his 388th IndyCar race on Saturday, alongside Linus Lundqvist, who is filling in for a recovering Simon Pagenaud and will start his second race.
