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Penske, Acura confirm DPi program
IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will boast the addition of a major new program next season following today's long-expected confirmation that Honda Performance Development and Roger Penske's title-winning team have joined forces to field a pair of Acura Daytona Prototype internationals.
In an interesting twist that would have been hard to imagine during the American Le Mans Series' late-2000s golden era, the former LMP2 rivals have become allies with the creation of the Acura ARX-05 DPi project that will debut in January of 2018 at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The expertise of HPD and Team Penske will be aided by the French ORECA outfit, which will serve as the program's chassis supplier utilizing its ORECA 07 model as the basis of the car set to carry custom Acura bodywork and the venerable 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 "AR35TT" powerplant.
The nomination of the program's full- and part-time driver roster, which should include Indy 500 winners Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves, will follow later in the year.
"Roger Penske is already an important part of the Acura family as one of our great Acura dealers, and now it is a thrill to have him as part of the Acura Motorsports family as well," said Acura vice president and general manager Jon Ikeda. "We look forward to building on the success of the race-winning NSX GT3 program, and couldn't be more thrilled to return to the prototype category of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a partner like Team Penske."
The unveiling of the ARX-05 DPi is scheduled for Monterey Car Week, which spans Aug. 11-20 in the coastal Californian region.
"We are excited to join forces with the Honda Performance Development family and represent the Acura brand with two prototypes starting in 2018," said Roger Penske, whose team will commence testing with the ARX-05 in the coming weeks. "Sports car racing has been an integral part of Team Penske's heritage, from our first race at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1966 to running the American Le Mans Series in the late 2000s.
"Reviving a Team Penske sports car program has always been a goal for us, but to do so required strong and successful partners like Honda and Acura. It's great to extend our relationship from the dealership to the race track and we are excited to come back to IMSA and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship."
In an interesting twist that would have been hard to imagine during the American Le Mans Series' late-2000s golden era, the former LMP2 rivals have become allies with the creation of the Acura ARX-05 DPi project that will debut in January of 2018 at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The nomination of the program's full- and part-time driver roster, which should include Indy 500 winners Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves, will follow later in the year.
"Roger Penske is already an important part of the Acura family as one of our great Acura dealers, and now it is a thrill to have him as part of the Acura Motorsports family as well," said Acura vice president and general manager Jon Ikeda. "We look forward to building on the success of the race-winning NSX GT3 program, and couldn't be more thrilled to return to the prototype category of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a partner like Team Penske."
The unveiling of the ARX-05 DPi is scheduled for Monterey Car Week, which spans Aug. 11-20 in the coastal Californian region.
"We are excited to join forces with the Honda Performance Development family and represent the Acura brand with two prototypes starting in 2018," said Roger Penske, whose team will commence testing with the ARX-05 in the coming weeks. "Sports car racing has been an integral part of Team Penske's heritage, from our first race at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1966 to running the American Le Mans Series in the late 2000s.
"Reviving a Team Penske sports car program has always been a goal for us, but to do so required strong and successful partners like Honda and Acura. It's great to extend our relationship from the dealership to the race track and we are excited to come back to IMSA and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship."
Evolutions of the ARX-01 series continued, starting in 2010, and of particular interest for the new ARX-05, the ARX-01d featured Acura's first move from naturally-aspirated V8 engines to the family of twin-turbo V6s that won championships in America and Europe, and have grown into today's AR35TT.
Looking ahead, HPD can expect to receive renewed interest from every professional driver looking for a new or different home. And with the shortage of DPis available for purchase, HPD's longstanding practice of making its cars available for sale would be welcome within IMSA's marquee class.
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