Acura Team Penske, Acura NSX GT3 Teams Roll into Sebring
• Acura Team Penske seeks to convert Daytona speed to Sebring prototype victory
• Michael Shank Racing looking to build on GTD points lead with Acura NSX GT3s
• CJ Wilson Racing joins Acura NSX GT3 effort; HART makes second GTD start
SEBRING, Fla. (March 14, 2018) – Acura’s largest effort since rejoining the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2017 will take to the track this weekend for the 66th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, as the manufacturer seeks both overall and GTD class victories on the historic central Florida airfield circuit.
Two Acura Team Penske ARX-05 prototypes and four GTD category Acura NSX GT3s – from Michael Shank Racing, the Honda of America Racing Team [HART] and CJ Wilson Racing – will make up the Acura attack for Saturday’s 12-hour endurance racing classic.
“At the Rolex 24 [season opener] in January, our Acura Team Penske ARX-05s definitely had the speed to challenge for the victory,” said Art St. Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development. “After qualifying one car on the front row, leading several times and running 1-2 at the 12-hour mark, a collision and a relatively minor mechanical issue ended up delaying both prototypes. We’re definitely looking to improve our results this weekend at Sebring.
“Our Acura NSX GT3 program continues to go from strength to strength. All three GTD cars finished at Daytona, with the Michael Shank Racing #86 finishing on the podium in second, and taking the North American Endurance Championship points lead. For Sebring, we’re extremely pleased to welcome CJ Wilson Racing to the Acura Motorsports family. Along with the strong HART organization, we will now be fielding no fewer than four Acura NSX GT3s this weekend, more entries than any other manufacturer in this very competitive category.”
Acura Team Penske
The combination of Acura Motorsports and Team Penske brings together a pair of organizations with a long history of success in sports car racing under the Acura Team Penske umbrella. The Acura ARX-05 is the latest in a line of endurance prototypes fielded by the company, dating to 1991, just five years after the 1986 launch of the Acura brand. Based on the very successful ORECA 07 chassis, the new ARX-05 prototype features Acura-specific bodywork and utilizes the race-proven, production-based Acura AR35TT twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine.
The six drivers sharing Penske’s two Acura ARX-05 prototypes – Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Dane Cameron, Ricky Taylor, Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal – account for five Rolex 24 overall victories, three WeatherTech Championship titles, five Indianapolis 500 wins, two IndyCar Series championships, and seven Formula One trophies.
Acura NSX GT3 Teams
Michael Shank Racing returns with its pair of NSX GT3s seeking to add to the victory total for the Acura supercar in the GTD category. The two-car MSR effort includes a stellar lineup of proven winners, including Katherine Legge, Lawson Aschenbach, Alvaro Parente, Justin Marks, Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher.
Former all-star pitcher CJ Wilson joins the Acura Motorsports GTD effort at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The CJ Wilson Racing Acura NSX GT3 features another strong driver lineup