Acura Road America Preview

Acura Motorsports and HPD have recorded seven victories at Road America, dating to 1993, when Parker Johnstone and Dan Marvin drove their Comptech Racing Acura Spice SE92P to the Camel Lights class victory.

In 2008, David Brabham and Scott Sharp took their Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b to the LMP2 victory at Road America. After Acura had stepped up to the LMP1 class in 2009, the company scored a double victory in 2009, with Brabham and Sharp claiming the overall win in their new Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-02a. Owner/driver Adrian Fernandez and Luiz Diaz won LMP2 and finished third overall in their Acura ARX-01b.

Level 5 Motorsports drivers Christophe Bouchut, Diaz and Scott Tucker combined to win the LMP2 category in 2011, piloting a Level 5 Motorsports Lola-HPD B11/40 Spyder.

HPD posted another double triumph at Road America in 2013. In a wet/dry contest, the Muscle Milk/Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03c, driven by Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr, claimed the overall and LMP1 victory. In LMP2, it was Level 5 Motorsports again taking the class win, with Simon Pagenaud and Scott Tucker driving an HPD ARX-03b

The combination of Acura Motorsports, Team Penske and the Acura ARX-05 DPi resulted in a sweep of IMSA’s season-long championships in 2019, claiming the Manufacturers’, Teams’ and Drivers’ championships.

Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya combined for three race wins and four additional podium finishes to claim the 2019 Drivers’ Championship in the #6 Acura Team Penske entry. Teammates Helio Castroneves and Ricky Cameron complied five podium finishes in their #7 ARX-05 to help Acura secure the Manufacturers’ title.

The Acura ARX-05 is the latest in a line of endurance prototypes to be fielded by the company, dating to 1991, just five years after the launch of the Acura brand. Based on the successful ORECA 07 chassis, the ARX-05 DPi features Acura-specific bodywork and utilizes the race-proven, production-based Acura AR35TT twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine.

Fielding a pair of Acura NSX GT3s, Meyer Shank Racing took the Drivers’ and Team championships in GTD in 2019, with drivers Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman scoring one win (with endurance co-driver Justin Marks) at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, and four second-place finishes in 10 races to claim the Drivers’ Championship for Farnbacher and Hindman, and the teams title for MSR.

Highlighted by a second-place finish for the MSR/Heinricher Racing NSX GT3 of Alvaro Parente and Misha Goikhberg at the WeatherTech 240 at Daytona International Speedway earlier this month, Acura is currently third in the early-season GTD Manufacturers’ Championship standings, only two points out of first. Ten manufacturers take part in the competitive GTD category, including Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG, McLaren and Porsche.

Starting at the WeatherTech 240 at Daytona earlier this month, the Texas-based Gradient Racing organization is fielding an Acura NSX GT3 Evo in GTD Sprint Cup completion for drivers Marc Miller and Till Bechtolscheimer. The pair finished a solid 10^th in their IMSA debut at the WeatherTech Daytona 240, improving to seventh at two weeks ago at Sebring International Raceway.

Live US network television coverage from Road America begins at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 2, on the NBC. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the NBC Sports App and NBC Gold with NBCSN Trackpass authentication. Practice and qualifying action can be found at IMSATV.com.

Fans can listen to audio commentary via com, RadioLeMans.com and Sirius XM Radio; and follow the race live via in-car cameras, IMSA Radio and timing & scoring available worldwide on IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile device App.