IMSA: Honda DP returning for Road America

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The Starworks Motorsport-run Riley-Honda Daytona Prototype will return to competition in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship next weekend at Road America.

"We're very grateful for all the efforts HPD and Riley has put into this program," Starworks owner Peter Baron told RACER. "When you look at how far off we were last time out, I was fully amazed and delighted that we just ran two days of testing without a single issue. I cannot thank HPD and Riley enough for all their hard work."

The Honda DP's first (and last) outing took place at Sebring in March where cooling for the P2-derived twin-turbo V6 engine limited its performance. Revised intercooler ducting was recently approved by IMSA which has helped to lower the temperature of air being fed to the 3.5-liter powerplant, and given Baron and HPD a cause for optimism.

The final driver lineup has yet to be set, although it's believed factory Porsche P1 driver Brendon Hartley, who co-drove with Scott Mayer to victory for Baron at Road America last year, and at least one Honda-affiliated IndyCar driver, could be in the car.

"It took a bit longer than we hoped and would still like to do a bit more testing, but we need to get out there and get racing miles on the motor before we get to the Rolex 24 at Daytona," Baron added. "We feel comfortable after such an incredibly successful test this past week to now bring the car out to compete again. Now that the reliability has been sorted, now we need to work on the performance and the best place to see where we are is on track with the other DPs."