Felix Rosenqvist had a stellar first season driving the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. The Swede produced two top-five finishes and six top-10s in addition to an NTT P1 Award at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Rosenqvist and teammate David Malukas, who drove the No. 66 Honda for MSR in the final 10 races after replacing Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castroneves, qualified 15 times in the top six and finished 10 times in the top 10 last season.
“I think it was great,” Rosenqvist said. “I’m really impressed by the team. It’s the most underrated team in INDYCAR. We’re probably the team that’s been rising the most from last year. We’re always going to take that even if we want more, especially given how the beginning of the season went.”
Rosenqvist qualified on the front row for the first three races of 2024, including The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge exhibition race. He finished fifth, third and ninth, respectively, in those races.
He qualified fifth and finished fourth April 28 at Barber Motorsports Park, started and finished 10th for the May 13 Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and qualified ninth for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
Unfortunately, a momentum-changing mechanical failure on Lap 55 of the “500” relegated him to 27th. He scored one top-10 finish over the next seven races.
Remarkably, Rosenqvist said the “500” is the moment that sticks out the most last season.
“First of all, we had a great car,” he said. “We were running really well; then we had an engine failure. But I think we did really well. We were the strongest Honda to that point. I loved Indy just as a fan, as well, because I watched most of it from the sidelines, and I thought I was just awesome race. I was really proud to be part of that, even if I wasn't in the race competing. That was a magical show.”
Rosenqvist dropped from fifth in points entering the “500” to 12th in the end but prefers the bigger picture. The car was 25th in entrant points in 2023 yet gained 13 spots in one season with Rosenqvist behind the wheel.
“We know what we need to work on for next year, especially during the races where we struggled to string a weekend together,” he said. “We'll be dangerous next year.”
Rosenqvist made the bold proclamation that speed isn’t an area where the team must gain to continue the ascension. The belief is the car is plenty fast. The improvement area is the details.
“Not going to lie, we had a lot of mechanical issues, which is not really the team to blame, but a lot of other things going on in the background,” he said. “And yes, they need to tidy all that stuff up. Pit stops, too, and I’ve done a few mistakes. It’s just so tough now that if you're not perfect, you're literally not in a top 10. Just need to do more perfect weekends, and we'll be right there.”
MSR entered an alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2025 season and has ties with the organization that won four of the last five championships.
The team also added third-year driver Marcus Armstrong - giving it two former Rookie of the Year winners in the lineup next season. Armstrong won the 2023 Rookie of the Year honors for Chip Ganassi Racing and brings 13 top-10 finishes in 29 career starts.
Rosenqvist won the award in 2019, also as a Chip Ganassi Racing driver. He earned his maiden NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory a year later at Road America for the organization. He joined Arrow McLaren from 2021-23 before coming to MSR last season.