INDIANAPOLIS — With the end of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES in sight, Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) is eager to head to the second of three straight races to close out the season on a high note. In saying that, they announced on Monday that Tom Blomqvist will be rejoining the MSR INDYCAR squad for the final two races of the season, starting off with the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland on September 3rd (3:00pm ET, NBC, SiriusXM Ch. 160).
Blomqvist will fill in for Simon Pagenaud who continues to recover from an accident at Mid-Ohio earlier this year. Pagenaud has not been medically cleared by the INDYCAR medical team to run the final two races at Portland and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
“Obviously the circumstances are quite tricky with Simon’s recovery and the whole situation surrounding the 60 car – I know the whole team and myself included are thinking about him as he recovers,” Blomqvist said via a team release.
Blomqvist, who was recently announced as the first full-season MSR INDYCAR driver for 2024 – made his INDYCAR debut earlier this year in Toronto. The 2022 MSR IMSA DPi Champion is hoping to get a full race distance under his belt this time around after a first lap incident in Toronto took him out of the race.
The inaugural outing was a challenging one for Blomqvist, taking on one of the most difficult street courses on the INDYCAR calendar and with no prior practice or simulator work to prepare for his debut.
This time around Blomqvist will have the opportunity to clock in some time on the sim as the Brit aims to come into the weekend with a new set of eyes and confidence behind the wheel. Also, there’s an open test in Laguna Seca as well so he’ll get some good seat time in this next venture.
“I’ve got to thank Jim (Meyer) and Mike (Shank) for getting me in the car and looking ahead now to next season having been confirmed to drive with MSR next year,” he continued. “It’s a good thing to be getting these races under my belt before the season and working in preparation for my full program in 2024. I got a brief test in Toronto under very challenging circumstances – without any real preparation whatsoever.
“Now I’ve got a little bit more understanding and knowledge and I’m hoping it’s going to be easier this time. I’m going to have the opportunity to get into the simulator and I know a little bit more of what to expect in terms of the way the weekend runs. I don’t know Portland at all and I know everyone has been racing flat-out in the summer. It’s still going to be an absolutely huge challenge. The series is so, so competitive and I am still new to these cars. I’m not putting any pressure on myself and I’m just going to go out there and do my best. Hopefully I can do Mike and Jim proud and make progress with every session. Hopefully after these next two events I can be happy and put in some strong performances and go into winter break with more knowledge on the series and be able to build on this.”
This move makes the most sense in the fact that without any IMSA duties interfering with these 2 races, why not? Let him get some seat time now.
Plus, I think it also shows that maybe Linus Lundqvist isn’t a part of their future for 2024. Rumor is that he’s heading to another team in the paddock for next season so I can see MSR not wanting to give that said team seat time for their driver. Why would they?
Why not just go ahead and put Blomqvist in this ride and off you go?
My concern is for Pagenaud. He goes from 190 straight starts to missing the entire second half of the season (9 races). This has to throw up warning signs for Pagenaud who’s still struggling to get cleared.
He felt fine after his Mid-Ohio crash but the onset of symptoms after is what has me worried.
At this point, I mean what more does he have to prove anyways on rushing back?
The problem is, there’s an open seat next season at MSR for 2024 and Pagenaud is a free agent. Does he come back? Does he want to?
Pagenaud is a damned good driver and an even better person. In the most competitive era of motorsports, he’s a series champion and Indy 500 winner. You can’t mention Pagenaud’s name without champion being associated with it. As good as he is on the track, he’s an even better human off of it as a great husband to his wife and father to his kids.
It’s why he’s not rushing this and frankly, whom could blame him. The focus now is a return to the grid in 2024 and hopefully, he finds a landing spot. Whomever signs him will be getting a good one.
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