Honda offers apology after Armstrong misses out on Road America victory

Honda Racing Corporation US president Davis Salters has registered a public apology to Meyer Shank Racing and driver Marcus Armstrong who was leading with three laps remaining at Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix when the motor in his car began to degrade and failed shortly after a breakthrough victory was surrendered to eventual winner Christian Lundgaard.

“Racing is sport and sport has its highs and lows,” Salters said after the Road America race taken by Lundgaard in his Chevy-powered Arrow McLaren entry. “We experienced both this weekend. Pole position and four cars in the Firestone Fast Six showed the hard work of our marvelous drivers and teams and our HRC associates yet again. In the race we were very competitive and, up to the very end of the race, leading and in a great position. But then we failed with just three laps to go whilst leading.

“The racer in me would always rather fail, which happens unfortunately, whilst leading, but I am extremely sorry to Marcus and the valiant MSR team, just heartbreaking and we are extremely sorry for distress caused to Marcus and the team. We will investigate and find out what has happened. We push things to the limit, so we are always managing risk with very highly stressed components. We will find out what went wrong, learn and come back fighting. We win together and we lose together.”