Front Row Start for Acura at Road America
• Ricky Taylor qualifies Acura ARX-05 prototype second
• Fifth front-row start for Acura Team Penske in 2018
• Katherine Legge qualifies her Acura NSX GT3 seventh in tight GTD field
ELKHART LAKE, WI (August 4, 2018) – Ricky Taylor led the way for Acura Saturday at the classic Road America road course, qualifying second in his Acura ARX-05 prototype in preparation for Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase.
Taylor’s effort marked the fifth front-row qualifying result for Acura Team Penske in eight races this season, including poles at Long Beach and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Acura Team Penske Prototype
Acura Team Penske’s Ricky Taylor battled JDC-Miller Motorsport’s Robert Alon for qualifying honors throughout the brief, 15-minute prototype qualifying session. When the checkers flew to end the session, Taylor was second, just two-tenths of a second off the pole time around the 4-mile Road America circuit. Helio Castroneves will share driving duties tomorrow with Taylor in the #7 Acura ARX-05.
In the #6 Acura Team Penske prototype, Juan Pablo Montoya qualified fifth while dealing with understeer in the car he will share with Dane Cameron in tomorrow’s two-hour, 40-minute race.
Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3
In GTD, Katherine Legge qualified her #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 seventh in a short qualifying session interrupted by a Red Flag, halting on-track activity at the seven-minute mark due to a crash in Turn 12. Legge, who had been conserving her tires for later in the session, was left a disappointed seventh in the car she will share in the race with Alvaro Parente.
The #93 MSR Acura of Justin Marks and Lawson Aschenbach had its qualifying session hobbled by electrical issues with Marks at the wheel, and qualified 10th.
Quotes
Ricky Taylor (driver, #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) qualified second: “The Acura Team Penske guys did a really good job [preparing for qualifying]. We’ve been looking for a little bit of [additional] pace this weekend, so really hats off to the guys for putting their heads down, sticking with it, improving the car and giving us a good car for qualifying today.”
Katherine Legge (driver, #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3) qualified seventh: “I have to take responsibility for that [qualifying result]. I thought I had all the time in the world, and wanted to save my tires for another lap. In reality, I should have finished that lap because the red [flag] came out next time round [to effectively end GTD qualifying]. It’s hugely disappointing, and not where the Meyer Shank Racing Acura deserves to be at all. It’s a huge weekend for us, being in the thick of both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships. But “the fat lady hasn’t sung’ yet. We have a long race to run tomorrow.”
Where to watch the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase
The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, August 5, with live television coverage on Fox Sports 1 and the Fox Sports Go app.
Fans can listen to audio commentary via IMSA.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.
Video recaps from this weekend’s Acura racing activities at Road America will be posted on the “Honda Racing/HPD” YouTube channel. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.