Monterey, CA

  • Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande score fifth place with #93 Acura ARX-06
  • Progress halted for #60 Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun following on-track contact

The first regular-length sprint race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season came with some setbacks for the #60 and #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian ARX-06s.

After starting from fifth (#60) and eighth (#93) on the grid for the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, both machines made quick progress through the field, with Tom Blomqvist and Nick Yelloly running as high as third and fourth early in the race.

The #60 ARX-06 encountered issues following their mid-race driver change and pit stop, as Colin Braun was clipped by the #40 GTP machine in the Corkscrew, sustaining damage to the rear of the car. He was handed a mechanical black flag and had to come down pit lane for repairs shortly thereafter, dropping him to the back of the field and out of contention.

As Renger van der Zande took over the #93 machine from teammate Yelloly, he maintained pace and consistently ran in fifth throughout his stint. While he fended off attacks from competitors and managed his tires through traffic, he went on to hold fifth position at the line.

TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Acura Race Results
Finished 5th - #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. Nick Yelloly, Renger van der Zande.
Finished 11th - #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun.

Quotes
Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished fifth: "I think with fifth place we maximized everything that we could. It's clear that we don't have the pace that we need at the moment to fight with the other manufacturers, but as a team we can be super happy that we are performing and executing well. We always can improve from a car balance point of view—we have a test in a few weeks and hopefully we can get the Acura sorted even more and be a bit closer to them in the next event in Detroit. Acura won it last year so I think we should have a good base to roll out fast and then try and get back on that podium."

Renger van der Zande (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished fifth: "I'm really proud of the team and I think we maximized our package. We did a few days in the simulator to prepare which helped us find some things out that made the car better. We also had two days of testing here. I think this is the position that we finished and we couldn't do much better than that."

Tom Blomqvist (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 11th: "Very disappointing result for us. We had a good first stint and we were running third and then it all just kind of fell to pieces for us. It's a shame because it would have been nice to stay running at the front and have a good result today. We just didn't have the pace regardless. The two Porsches are just in a league of their own. We'll leave this weekend behind us and learn from the mistakes and try to improve."

Colin Braun (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 11th: "It was a disappointing race but Tom did a good job early on. We had a bit of a long stop, which put me out ahead of a few guys. They were on warm tires and I was on cold tires, so I got passed a bit there. And then one of the Wayne Taylor cars had a bit of a run and then got just barely on the inside and hit the left rear tire down the Corkscrew. We had a puncture and that was pretty much our race over. It looked like we were in a good spot and then unfortunately it all unraveled."

David Salters (President, Honda Racing Corporation USA): "I want to say a massive thank you everyone at Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian, and all the guys and gals on the #60 and #93 cars. The drivers were great, the team was great, we executed very well. We had one slight bump in the road, but generally it's difficult to know what to say after that. I think there needs to be some serious reflection as to what is going on within the series."

Next
The 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be heading to the Midwest for the fifth round of the season, taking on the Detroit Grand Prix in a doubleheader with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Acura and HRC US social media content and video links can be found on: