IndyCar Laguna Seca
Blomqvist's "brain capacity" pivotal for IndyCar's new hybrid – Shank
The experience gained running in the GTP class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship should aid Tom Blomqvist’s transition to the IndyCar Series’ new hybrid era, according to Meyer Shank Racing co-team owner Mike Shank.
Joey Barnes
Published: Nov 21, 2023, 3:44 PM
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Blomqvist joined MSR’s IMSA program in 2022, vaulting out of the gate to win the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona en route to the DPi title.
This past year saw an evolution as IMSA’s top category became infused with hybrid technology and became known as GTP. Even with the change, though, Blomqvist helped lead the team to another victory in Daytona before padding two more wins and finishing third in the 2023 standings. He also added a trio of IndyCar Series starts to his resume, too, subbing in for the injured Simon Pagenaud in MSR’s #60 Honda.
The Briton is set for a full-time switch to North America’s premier open-wheel championship with MSR in 2024 – the same time IndyCar will introduce hybrid technology.
While Blomqvist will have the opportunity to lean on incoming team-mate Felix Rosenqvist, Shank “absolutely” believes some of the learnings Blomqvist had during his time in IMSA should add value despite a lack of IndyCar experience.
“In my opinion, there's many, many fast racing drivers out there and some of those guys require 10/10ths of their brain power just to put that fast lap,” Shank told Motorsport.com.
“The truly great drivers have another gear or another step that they can manage more inputs than less.
“GTP is a great example of that. Tom can handle going fast and managing all the controls that we have, and that's going to be a new element to IndyCar. Tom has that brain capacity. So does, for example, Colin Braun, his co-driver (during the 2023 season). Colin has that brain capacity.
“Many drivers that you and I know today, and GTP even, it takes a 100% just to get the speed. When you ask them to start managing the chassis with all the controls we have, it gets all messed up.
“Tom has got that brain capacity to manage more systems and that's another reason I chose him because I think we'll have a bit more of that.”
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Shank noted that one of the things yet to be figured out is if the series will operate with a manual or automatic regeneration and deployment.
“We don't know exactly how it's going to be,” Shank said.
“For me, the more complicated it is for the driver, the better because my two guys have a lot of electric experience and can handle it. That's my thought on it, but let's see where they end up. They could do an auto regen, which everybody regens the same, and then that makes it easier.”
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