The Acura, built to LMDh regulations, has been the fastest car in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, outpacing rivals Cadillac and Porsche. The car has endured some setbacks, including crashes that have blunted its race results since scoring a 1-2 finish at Daytona 24 Hours. Although Honda Performance Development (HPD) has strong ties to its Japanese parent company, Honda Motor Co, only Honda Motor Co can sign-off any international activity at F1, MotoGP, or Le Mans level.
When asked if he was frustrated by not taking the ARX-06 to Le Mans this year, HPD president David Salters replied: “Yes and no. I think we’re quite ready. It [Le Mans] is a different animal, so we’d need to learn that. You never know where you’re going to be.“ Salters says that the car’s strong showing at Daytona and Sebring gives him confidence that the ARX-06 would be well suited to the arduous challenges of Le Mans.
“This car can do 24 hours, which is point number one for endurance racing,” he said. “And it’s not slow – we’ve made a good car, because we put a lot of effort into it. One of the things I’m most proud about that car is that it sailed through 24 hours at the first attempt.”
Although Honda Motor Co is interested in the ARX-06, the situation is complicated by Acura being an American-only brand. Salters says that discussions are ongoing, but it’s up to Honda Motor Co to sort out since it’s a global matter.
Salters says that the car has a lot to offer, making it well suited to endurance racing. It’s not slow, and it’s built to withstand the challenges of a 24-hour race. Although he’s envious of Porsche Penske Motorsport, which runs two 963s in WEC along with a pair of cars in IMSA, Salters says he’s not envious of them right now.
Salters says the Acura is a new car and is like an LMP1 car underneath. It doesn’t cost $100 million like a traditional LMP1 car, but it’s still challenging to make a fleet of these cars. The supply chain issues that all teams suffered with the LMDh common components made it difficult to get the cars to the grid.
Salters wants to ensure that they do a good job for Honda or Acura when they’re ready to go to Le Mans. Although part of him wants to go, the engineer in him sees that they still have a lot to do in the US.
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