Acura MSR takes hard-fought fifth, seventh at Petit Le Mans

BRASELTON, GA (11 October 2025) —  Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian (“Acura MSR”) saw a promising start to the Motul Petit Le Mans wind up with a top finish of P5 in the final race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign.

Acura entered the event trailing by only two points in the battle for the GTP Manufacturer’s Championship and got off to a strong start, leading the opening two-hours, 17-minutes of the 10-hour endurance classic.

Tom Blomqvist captured the Motul Pole Award (and track record) in qualifying, and led the opening 53 laps in the No. 60 Acura ASRX-06. After his pit stop, he paced another 26 circuits. Colin Braun then took over and ran as high as second before turning the car over to Scott Dixon, who ran in the top five throughout his stint. The car encountered a mechanical issue during Dixon’s second stint, and the pace was not the same after.

Nick Yelloly qualified third in the No. 93 Acura ARX-06, raced easily in the top-five and led five laps before Renger van der Vande took over. Both Yelloly and van der Zande tackled difficult triple tire stints in the first half of the race, with the goal of running hard through the field in the back half. The strategy was working to plan until, during van der Zande’s final stint in the final hour, the right front wheel seemed to come loose and they had to make an extra pit stop. Midway through the race, Tristan Vautier’s stint found him running as high as fifth.

While both cars were running out of the top five with two hours remaining, the pair fought back to contention as van der Zande ran fourth and Blomqvist fifth before pit stops with one-hour, 18-minutes remaining.

Even with mechanical issues, Blomqvist was up to third, when he needed a splash for fuel with 13 minutes on the clock. He was back to fifth at the 10-minute mark and held that position at the finish. Blomqvist and Braun unofficially finished tied for third in the Michelin Endurance Cup, one point behind the leaders.

The No. 93 needed the above-mentioned unscheduled stop with 48 minutes remaining, dropping van der Zande to 11th, and he came back to take the checkered flag in seventh.

Acura MSR is set to return with a two-car GTP program for the 2026 WeatherTech Championship season, that opens with the Jan. 24-25 running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Tom Blomqvist: “Yeah, it was a long day. We were quite unlucky there. Something broke on the car about halfway through,  and we just struggled from that point onwards. Lost a lot of time and positions to the leaders and there were no yellows to make it back, so it was a disappointing end. There was some good performance in the car this weekend and we would have had a chance to win. It was a long year, but lots of good results overall. It is great to have this new program going strong and hopefully next year we can come back and go win the whole thing.”

Colin Braun: “Obviously, it was a tough day in the end. We had a bit of a mechanical issue that cost us a good shot. Everything was looking pretty good until about 2/3rds of the way through. From there it was just sort of survival, just trying to do our best and work around it. Everyone did a great job trying to drive around the issue. At the end, it was all we could do, but we were in a position to fight all day. We had good pit stops, good strategy, and we stayed out of trouble. I think we did all the things we could do on our end.  Scott and Tom did a great job in the car, but sometimes it is just not your day. We’ll be ready for next season!”

Scott Dixon: “Love running with this team and the experience is always good. It’s really fun to do Petit and to drive with Acura, and MSR as well. Started off strong, but ended up a tough day as we struggled in my second stint and made it difficult to drive.  But all in all, everyone did a great job. Sometimes there are just things that you can’t control, but now just looking forward to starting a new year and seeing how we can do in Daytona.”

Nick Yelloly: “Unfortunately had a few issues towards the end that didn’t allow us to fight where we wanted to be. But I really enjoyed this year. To come up just short to Porsche in the manufacturer’s fight, I’d say it was a very positive first year and certainly something to build for 2026. The MSR boys and girls have been great all year and I think we can go home and do a load of notes and be ready to come back better and stronger. We’ll take it to them for both the drivers and the team championships next year.”

Renger van der Zande: “I mean, what a drama weekend for us! There were just too many little things going on to really have a good result. At the end of the day, I don’t think we had the pace of the 31 Cadillac or maybe not even the Porsches. But with the technical issues, we were out of contention to fight for the victory or the championship. It is what it is. We learned a lot this year and I’m really proud of the crew. We can learn and get better, and we will be stronger and ready to win next year.”

Tristan Vautier: “I’m very grateful to be here, and to everyone who made it happen for me to be here this weekend.  When it is not your day, it’s just not your day. We had a lot of things go against us this weekend–we were not very lucky, to be honest. But it was great to give my best to try to help HRC win the title. It was awesome working with the team, the engineers and my teammates. They have a great team at MSR and I hope to work with them again.”