Tag: Felix Rosenqvist

Meyer Shank confirms new multi-year Rosenqvist deal

There was never any doubt that Meyer Shank Racing and Felix Rosenqvist would continue their relationship into 2025, and thanks to a new contract extension, the Swede, who posted MSR’s most competitive season to date, has the security of knowing …

There was never any doubt that Meyer Shank Racing and Felix Rosenqvist would continue their relationship into 2025, and thanks to a new contract extension, the Swede, who posted MSR’s most competitive season to date, has the security of knowing he’ll be in the No. 60 for years to come.

For Rosenqvist, who moved to the team from Arrow McLaren ahead of the 2024 season,  the extension speaks to the faith team owners Mike Shank and Jim Meyer have in the 32-year-old.
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“We’ve extended him for a couple more years,” Shank told RACER. “He did everything we asked of him. We, as a team, made a 30 or 40 percent gain in our performance this year. Between the two cars, we were in the top six in qualifying, if you include (the non-points) Thermal race, 15 times. Last year it was zero.”

The Ohio-based team starts a new technical alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing — winners of four of the last five championships — which reunites Rosenqvist via MSR with his first IndyCar team. Rosenqvist’s teammate will be announced at a later date.

“The only thing we’re missing is the big finishes, but we’re getting there,” Shank said. “And I’m confident with Felix here and this new deal we’ve got going for us, it’s going to start happening.”

XPEL GP at Road America Saturday end of day recap

RACER’s Marshall Pruett recaps qualifying at Road America for the XPEL Grand Prix, and interviews Marcus Armstrong, Kyffin Simpson, Felix Rosenqvist, and Nolan Siegel. RACER’s Trackside Report at Road America is presented by Radical Motorsport. As …

RACER’s Marshall Pruett recaps qualifying at Road America for the XPEL Grand Prix, and interviews Marcus Armstrong, Kyffin Simpson, Felix Rosenqvist, and Nolan Siegel.

RACER’s Trackside Report at Road America is presented by Radical Motorsport. As one of the world’s most prolific sports car manufacturers, Radical Motorsport sets out to create a race-bred thrill-a-minute driving experience on the racetrack. Radical Cup North America is the continent’s premier Radical championship offering exhilarating multi-class Le Mans style racing for a fraction of the price. Click to learn more.

Top Honda qualifying result validates MSR’s IndyCar rise

Evidence of Meyer Shank Racing’s stellar start to the IndyCar season was on display again over qualifying weekend at the Indianapolis 500 where the team fired the No. 60 Honda with Felix Rosenqvist into ninth position among the field of 33. More …

Evidence of Meyer Shank Racing’s stellar start to the IndyCar season was on display again over qualifying weekend at the Indianapolis 500 where the team fired the No. 60 Honda with Felix Rosenqvist into ninth position among the field of 33.

More importantly, it was the first time in the Pataskala, Ohio-based program’s history where it was the fastest Honda on Pole Day as the smiley Swede displaced the 15 other Honda-powered cars presented by their rivals at Andretti Global, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

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“This was my number one thing,” Shank told RACER. “I knew we didn’t have pole speed. I knew that. But I said, ‘Guys, what do we need to be the No. 1 Honda team?’ That means a lot to me. And they did it with the 60 car with Felix and I’m so grateful.

“It just shows that our overall execution, with Adam Rovazzini running the show, has really gone well and gotten the people on the same page. And it’s honestly getting stronger. It’s a big thundercloud motivation going in the right direction from where we were last year, and I’m super proud of it. It’s probably the proudest thing I’ve done so far this year. I’m not kidding.”

Winners of the Indy 500 in 2021 with Helio Castroneves, MSR has spent the ensuing years chasing its second IndyCar victory. Between Rosenqvist in ninth, the returning Castroneves who starts 20th, and rookie Tom Blomqvist who’s lined up in 25th, MSR has some great options to achieve success on Sunday.

The fruits of its technical alliance with Andretti Global are also clear to see as MSR has made use of the Andretti-supplied race engineers and setup information to lead both camps heading into the 500.

“I’m proud of the steps we’ve made as a team, but let’s not get it twisted, because we still heavily rely on them technically,” Shank said. “For where we’re at right now, their program is very, very good and the Andretti technical group has risen this year from last year. If you just take our chassis and aero group, it is better than last year, there’s no question in my mind.

“Michael Andretti and his group with [COO] Rob Edwards and Eric Bretzman that runs the technical side, they have been nothing but great partners to us, and I’m grateful to them – I’ve told them that. I think we had some stuff on our side that we needed to clean up from last year, and we did and all the groups are just working really good together.”

The 2024 Indy 500 is MSR’s most ambitious effort to date in IndyCar. The veteran sports car team dipped its toes in the IndyCar waters in 2017 with a one-off entry at Indy, and gradually moved towards going full-time in 2020. It added a second car on a part-time schedule in 2021 – winning on its debut with Castroneves – and grew to two full-time entries in 2022.

Fielding three cars this May is a first for Shank’s outfit, and he even reunited Castroneves for the one-off by pulling his Indy-winning chief mechanic Matt Swan back from his regular position as shop manager for the team. Shank made the same move with Swan in 2021, which worked to great effect, and so far, the potential pitfalls of expanding to three cars at Indy have been avoided.

“You add a third car – and it’s the first time we’ve ever run three – it can get into a death spiral, right?” Shank added. “With this group, and the great people at HRC [Honda], and the people we have like Matt Swan running that thing, pulling him out of moth balls again, it’s been really refreshing and really awe inspiring, to be honest with you.

“But we’re only talking qualifying. We’ve got to go and execute in the race here in a couple of days and put all the work that everyone’s done to good use.”

Fast break strategy beats the savers at Barber

After the go-fast approach lost out to the fuel-save tactics of Scott Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing on the streets of Long Beach, the opposite approach proved the winning hand for this week’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Barber Motorsports Park. After …

After the go-fast approach lost out to the fuel-save tactics of Scott Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing on the streets of Long Beach, the opposite approach proved the winning hand for this week’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Barber Motorsports Park. After one full-course caution played into the hands of the fuel savers — led this time by Ganassi’s Alex Palou — another with 35 laps to go provided an opportunity for the three-stopping cars to stay out and run harder as the two-stop cars had to pit for fuel.

Those included Palou’s rookie teammate Linus Lundqvist (pictured above), who seemed as happy at being on the side of the speedsters as he did about his first trip to the podium in third place behind fellow two-stoppers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power of Team Penske.

“I think for the first time ever I was not on the save-fuel strategy. I was not the one being passed, which was nice,” said Lundqvist.

“Obviously we had a bit of everything in that race for us. We started quite far back, in 19th. In the beginning it was just about basically saving fuel as much as we can, see what we can do later in the race. The team kept telling me to hit your number, you’ll reap the reward at the end. That definitely happened.”

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In the end, Palou also had to give way to the two-stopping Felix Rosenqvist, who was on the faster alternate rubber for his final stint. The fourth-place result for Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda moved the Swede into up to fifth in the drivers’ standings.

“P4, I’d say we’d take that any day,” Rosenqvist said. “We didn’t feel quick initially and we had some challenges early on in the weekend, but after that we kept improving and improving.

“I think our strongest part of the weekend was the race. We were on a massive fuel save and pretty much everyone around us tried to do a three-stopper, so it was hard to keep everyone behind. I’m happy we stuck to that strategy because it gave us a couple of spots in the end, even if we were not on the winning strategy. We made the most out of it and a lot of points on a weekend where we weren’t the favorite.”

Mike Shank on Rosenqvist’s rise

IndyCar team co-owner Mike Shank and new driver Felix Rosenqvist have struck up a fast and successful relationship in the first few races of the season. Shank tells us the how and why behind the positive chemistry with the Swede. Check it out below, …

IndyCar team co-owner Mike Shank and new driver Felix Rosenqvist have struck up a fast and successful relationship in the first few races of the season. Shank tells us the how and why behind the positive chemistry with the Swede. Check it out below, or click here to view.

RACER’s Trackside Report at the Alabama Indy Grand Prix is presented by Radical Motorsport. As one of the world’s most prolific sports car manufacturers, Radical Motorsport sets out to create a race-bred thrill-a-minute driving experience on the racetrack. Radical Cup North America is the continent’s premier Radical championship offering exhilarating multi-class Le Mans style racing for a fraction of the price. Click to learn more.

IndyCar starting lineup for Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

Check out the IndyCar starting lineup for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on the Streets of Long Beach this weekend!

The Streets of Long Beach is next up for the NTT IndyCar Series, and Meyer Shank Racing will lead the field to the green flag. [autotag]Felix Rosenqvist[/autotag] won the pole for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach this weekend. Will Power will join Rosenqvist on the front row for Sunday afternoon’s event. It is the driver of the No. 60 car’s first pole position of 2024.

Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta will follow the two drivers on the second row. Most notably, Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward, Romain Grosjean, and Rinus VeeKay all qualified 10th or worse for Sunday’s event. Theo Pourchaire, who is replacing the injured David Malukas in Long Beach, qualified in 24th place next to Jack Harvey

The full starting lineup is available below.

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach starting lineup:

  1. No. 60 Felix Rosenqvist
  2. No. 12 Will Power
  3. No. 2 Josef Newgarden
  4. No. 26 Colton Herta
  5. No. 28 Marcus Ericsson
  6. No. 10 Alex Palou
  7. No. 45 Christian Lundgaard
  8. No. 9 Scott Dixon
  9. No. 11 Marcus Armstrong
  10. No. 27 Kyle Kirkwood
  11. No. 3 Scott McLaughlin
  12. No. 15 Graham Rahal
  13. No. 7 Alexander Rossi
  14. No. 5 Pato O’Ward
  15. No. 66 Tom Blomqvist
  16. No. 77 Romain Grosjean
  17. No. 8 Linus Lundqvist
  18. No. 21 Rinus VeeKay
  19. No. 30 Pietro Fittpaldi
  20. No. 78 Agustin Canapino
  21. No. 20 Christian Rasmussen
  22. No. 6 Theo Pourchaire
  23. No. 16 Jack Harvey
  24. No. 14 Santino Ferrucci
  25. No. 41 Sting Ray Robb
  26. No. 4 Kyffin Simpson
  27. No. 51 Nolan Siegel

Harder Firestones making Long Beach an epic slideshow

If you love the sight of IndyCar drivers fighting oversteer, Friday and Saturday at the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix have been a gift as most of the field has dealt with sideways moments at multiple points on each lap. The snaps of opposite lock have …

If you love the sight of IndyCar drivers fighting oversteer, Friday and Saturday at the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix have been a gift as most of the field has dealt with sideways moments at multiple points on each lap.

The snaps of opposite lock have persisted after the street circuit’s surface improved overnight as rubber was ground into the corners, so what’s causing the constant sawing at the steering wheels?

“It’s not really the track grip, right?” Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood told RACER. “We’re doing the same lap times as what we did last year, if not quicker in qualifying. I think it has to do with the tire. It’s just a stiffer tire in general. They’ve made it more durable and that just causes you to have bigger snaps and it’s less forgiving, in a sense. That’s what it’s mostly due to.”

 

Polesitter Felix Rosenqvist also points to the harder Firestone tires—ones designed with higher durability — as the cause of the fun.

With Firestone having made harder tires to cope with the extra weight that was meant to be carried with IndyCar’s new-for-2024 hybrid energy recovery systems that have been delayed until summer, drivers are hustling cars around Long Beach with lighter cars that lack a tire that’s matched to their mass.

“I think also the tires are pretty hard right now for the weight of the car we have because we’re in a bit of a window here where we’re waiting for the hybrid,” Rosenqvist said. “When the tires are cold, it’s a bit icy and it’s easy to lose the rear. I feel like they get there eventually. My steering wheel was upside down out of Turn 5. I guess that’s good for you guys to watch.”

Rosenqvist beats Power to pole at Long Beach

Felix Rosenqvist put Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 Honda on pole for the 49th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, beating Will Power by 0.0039s. It is the sixth pole of his IndyCar career, but MSR’s first. Team Penske’s Power and Marcus …

Felix Rosenqvist put Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 Honda on pole for the 49th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, beating Will Power by 0.0039s. It is the sixth pole of his IndyCar career, but MSR’s first.

Team Penske’s Power and Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global elected to start the Firestone Fast Six on alternate tires, and the Penske driver produced a 1m06.3993s before pitting for a second set of alternates while Ericsson’s first effort was just 0.0046s adrift.

Penske’s Josef Newgarden then grabbed P1 with 1m06.1059, but Rosenqvist jumped to the top with a 1m06.0172s on his fourth lap, despite a huge slide out of Turn 5. Power’s final effort fell less than four thousandths short but was content to end up on the front row, the Australian admitting he couldn’t think of anywhere on the track where he could have done better and shaded Rosenqvist.

Newgarden made it two Penskes in the top three, ahead of Colton Herta and teammate Ericsson — who adopted his teammate’s setup. The only Chip Ganassi Racing entry to make it to Q3, Alex Palou, will start sixth, but set the fastest time of the session in Q2, a 1m05.9103s, which equates to 107mph around the 1.968-mile circuit.

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Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan was just two-hundredths short of making it into Q3, but shaded Ganassi’s Scott Dixon, whose teammate Marcus Armstrong — who topped Q1 Group 1 — will roll off ninth.

Defending Long Beach pole winner and race winner Kyle Kirkwood was surprised to get eliminated in Q2 after having been quickest this morning, but dirty air from the car ahead spoiled the final part of his fastest lap, leaving him 10th. Another rapid entry to not make the Firestone Fast Six was the third Penske of Scott McLaughlin, who finished qualifying in 11th, just ahead of Graham Rahal (RLL).

Surprising exclusions in Q1 were Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren, who finished seventh in Group 2 and Group 1 respectively. O’Ward sounded puzzled, saying he wasn’t unhappy with the car, it was just slow. Their IndyCar debutant teammate, F2 champion Theo Pourchaire, will start 20th after producing a brave lap that left him only 0.52s off O’Ward.

Neither Rinus VeeKay nor Christian Rasmussen got through to Q2, a disappointing result given the pace the Ed Carpenter Racing cars showed in practice.

Agustin Canapino caused a yellow with a spin in Q1 and lost his best lap, while his Juncos Hollinger Racing teammate Romain Grosjean was only hundredths faster but will start from the eighth row.

RESULTS

Long Beach circuit changes draw rave reviews after first practice

The city of Long Beach received nothing but praise from the two fastest IndyCar drivers on Friday. “Turn 8. That’s the corner,” said Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, who was fourth in the No. 60 Honda. Offseason grinding of the bump-laden …

The city of Long Beach received nothing but praise from the two fastest IndyCar drivers on Friday.

“Turn 8. That’s the corner,” said Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, who was fourth in the No. 60 Honda. Offseason grinding of the bump-laden corner that feed onto the long back straight made the blast through Turn 8 a pleasantly fast experience as Rosenqvist and former teammate Pato O’Ward found in his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevy.

“There used to be a bump there last year,” O’Ward said after going P1 with a lap of 1m06.6874s. “You had to wait after the hump, then come into power. Now that the hump is gone, it’s a lot quicker. That is definitely somewhere where I found quite a bit of lap time compared to last year.”

The interesting note to go with O’Ward’s comments is the nearly identical lap he delivered in 2023 of 1m06.6999s in the same Friday session. Although the improvement to Turn 8 certainly helped to shorten the elapsed time it took to get to Turn 9, the track was visibly dirty, which likely conspired to hide the circuit’s full potential.

“Turn 8 was quite a big difference,” Rosenqvist added. “You can carry a ton of speed… I think they’ve done a good job.”

Turn 5, a site of more than a few problems last year, also received some improvements by the city which pleased the Swede.

“They did a curve modification that seemed to work well for us,” he said. “So yeah, all good.”