HRC USA rules out privateer Acura GTP for IMSA in 2027 - but it might race elsewhere

Honda Racing Corporation USA President David Salters has definitively ruled out the possibility of a privately-funded IMSA GTP effort racing in 2027, in his first media session since announcing the pause of the factory Acura ARX-06 program.

“Like all things, we evaluate where we are regularly,” Salters explained on Friday at Laguna Seca. “It was time to evaluate where we are with GTP. And for a whole load of reasons, it was time to pause.”

‘Pause’ was the language that HRC US chose when, days after winning the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, it announced that it will depart GTP as a factory progeam to bring the Acura brand to a more prominent role in the IndyCar Series.

He expressed a hope that the 2030 regulations will re-emphasize cost control, while also openly lambasting the current trend of regular and frequent Evo “joker” updates for top-class prototypes across both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“What does ‘pause’ mean?” Salters said. "We’ve got lots of other exciting things to look at and do. But we need to see what happens with the regulations for 2030.

“To be very straightforward, it will be very good if there is convergence, and it will be very good if there isn't Evos. There's no point having a series with the thing I'm not meant to talk about (Balance of Performance) and Evos; the two things are in opposition.

“You've got to control costs. It's got to be sustainable. It's not something that's romantic and hopeful; it has to be sustainable for the future.” 

Indeed, Salters confirmed that developing an Evo package – such as the one Acura introduced for the ARX-06 this year – could consume as much as 25 percent of the budget.

“There wasn't meant to be Evos in LMDh at the very start," he said. "To be very blunt, we did not sign up for Evos. All of a sudden, the cost is difficult, then it becomes more and more costly, and you have to start thinking about things.

"What was meant to happen – and DPi had this – is if you were in difficulty, it was there as a Joker to get parity, but not as an arms race thing. It's become an arms race now. Every year, people are doing Evos. It was originally meant to be a tool to help in that scenario, but for whatever reason, it changed.

“Hats off to IMSA, there's normally very good racing because of BoP and things. So then, we're here to entertain fans, with close, good racing, where the drivers should make the difference and the teams that run the cars make the difference. We need to keep that in mind. 

“You have to make it sustainable economically. It's not just the romance of racing, I run it as a business. You have a budget, you have to be within it, you have to have a certain return, and you have to entertain the fans. We've got to get all those things right.”

But while the door is closed on a privateer IMSA or WEC program for 2027, saying that the chance for the former is “zero,” Salters confirmed that he and HRC US are open to supporting potential privateers in the Asian Le Mans Series.

Indeed, HRC US has been in talks with multiple interested teams who could bring the ARX-06 to Asia for the winter championship – and it could even keep the Acura badge when it races beyond the borders of North America.

That link-up could potentially come as soon as the 2026–27 season when the Hypercar class launches in the Asian Le Mans Series, though the instability in Asia due to the U.S./Israel war on Iran may complicate plans for the upcoming season.

“We're open to offers there,” Salters said of the prospects of racing in Asian Le Mans. “We love this car! It’s our car, with (chassis supplier) ORECA, it looks cool, sounds cool, that's our engineering. 

“We're open to that, but it has to be fully-funded. I can only imagine that happening in one place at the moment.”

Honda/Acura is still part of the roundtable discussions to shape the 2030 top-class prototypes, and while their departure, following those of Alpine, Lamborghini, and Porsche (from WEC) has led to worries that the highest level of prototype racing is in peril of another looming crash, Salters feels hopeful that sports car racing at this level is in a good place, and will continue to be even if Honda is not part of it in the short-term.

“John (Doonan), IMSA have done a fantastic job, Pierre (Fillon), Thierry (Bouvet), the ACO – look what we all made! Let's celebrate that," Salters said.

“I sincerely hope our thing doesn't reflect on the state of things, it's just one of our decisions. We have to make decisions."

On any regrets that Salters may have had about not seeing the ARX-06 race at Le Mans like its fellow LMDh challengers from Porsche, Cadillac, and BMW, he continued: “You're talking to the racing guy here – of course. I've also won the Indy 500, I've won Monaco, it would be nice to do the triple crown from a personal point of view. 

"I think that car would be great (at Le Mans), but it would have to make sense from a business point of view, from a ‘what's the return’ point of view, from an ‘are we learning’ point of view. We do this to develop our people and tech, and to do a good job for our fans. We need to go there knowing we can compete; we owe it to our fans to be in there fighting for it. 

“So far they haven't worked for us, but who knows for the future?"