Ohio race team prepares new hybrid prototype for Rolex 24

COLUMBUS − The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series will be kicking off its 2023 season on January 28 in Florida with the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada that is organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The new season usually starts with the Rolex 24-hour race, which is a sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach.

"It's traditionally the start of all motorsports activities in the world in January," said Michael Shank, the team owner of Meyer Shank Racing based in Pataskala, back to defend their 2022 victory. "All the major car companies race in the race."

Meyer Shank's Acura ARX-06 LMDh will compete in the 24-hour race's top class, the Grand Touring Prototype, against Cadillac, BMW and Porsche entries.

There will be four other race classifications on the track competing simultaneously in their own category, including Corvettes, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Mercedes-Benzes and Lamborghinis.

Meyer Shank Racing won the Rolex 24 race last year, which was the 60th anniversary. The team of drivers for their No. 60 car this year include Tom Blomqvist, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves and Colin Braun.

One of the new features this season will be the change to hybrid prototype racing.

"This is the first time we'll be using electric and gas engine in the history of the sport," Shank said. "It's just where our world is going. The education of automobiles in general is a huge thing right now. One of the steps of that is hybrid cars. You have an internal combustion motor and a battery pack."

"Obviously, the cars are brand new this year. We have a new hybrid element to understand and manage," said Blomqvist. "For us drivers, we have a lot more tools inside the cockpit that could help us with the tuning and performance of the car."

One of the difficulties of switching over to hybrid-powered prototypes Shank says is getting accustomed to the technology of it all.

"Only Formula 1 has more technology — but not much," Shank said. "There's a lot of technology you have to use and systems to manage. It's just new to everybody in the sport. We have reliability issues and performance issues we have to overcome. You know 24 hours of straight runs is really, really difficult. So, it's hard to keep going but we'll do the best we can to develop this new car over the course of the season."

Blomqvist also talked about the challenging aspects that he, along with other fellow drivers, are trying to get used to when driving the new hybrid prototypes.

"As a driver, you need to be able to adapt to the new demands of the car, the characteristics of the car and how to maximize the performance of the car," Blomqvist said. "For me, I've been learning every time I get in the car and my teammates as well. From a driver's perspective, the braking is quite different because now we have to deal with an electric motor and spend energy on the breaking. The braking I would say is the most difficult for a driver because some elements are unnatural."

Blomqvist then shifted his focus on his excitement regarding getting back racing.

"I'm just looking forward to getting back racing," Blomqvist said. "We haven't raced since October. So, it's been a few months. The goal for us is to obviously defend our title, win the Rolex and go for another. We love to compete, fight and race."

The Meyer Shank Racing team is in Daytona for a test weekend Jan. 19-21 and will be on the grid when the races starts Saturday, Jan. 28.

jsimpson@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ohio race team's new hybrid prototype readies for Rolex 24 at Daytona