Honda Racing–Detroit Grand Prix

Detroit Grand Prix
Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Mich.
12:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, June 1, 2019
NBC Sports Network
Radio Le Mans and IMSA.com

ACURA At Detroit
• Acura Motorsports has recorded three previous victories on the streets of Belle Isle Park, including consecutive GTD triumphs for the Acura NSX GT3 in 2017-18, and an overall win for the Acura ARX-01b prototype in 2008.

• Acura’s initial Detroit success came in 2008, the second year of the company’s LMP2 program in the American Le Mans Series. Franck Montagny and James Rossiter capped off a dominating performance to record Andretti Green Racing’s first overall victory in ALMS competition, and the first overall/LMP2 win for the Acura ARX-01b.

• Acura swept the top three positions at Belle Isle Park that year, with Scott Sharp and David Brabham finishing second overall and in LMP2 in their Highcroft Racing Acura; while Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagneaud rounded out the top three in their de Ferran Motorsports ARX-01b.

• Acura returned to sports car racing in 2017, and the new NSX GT3 scored its first GTD category victory in Detroit. Katherine Legge and Andy Lally started second, moved into the lead mid-race and went on to record Acura’s initial win in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

• Last year, Legge and co-driver Mario Farnbacher repeated as GTD winners, this time leading a 1-2 result for their Meyer Shank Racing Acura team. Teammates Laswon Aschenbach and Justin Marks finished second in their Acura NSX GT3.

ACURA TEAM PENSKE
• Acura Team Penske comes to Detroit on the heels of winning its most recent event in the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio earlier this month – following a 2-3 finish in Detroit last year.

• Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron combined to bring the Team Penske Acura ARX-05 prototype home first at Mid-Ohio, the first win of the 2019 season for Acura. Teammates Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor fought hard to a fifth-place finish after their ARX-05 was damaged in opening-lap contact.

• Last year in Detroit, Castroneves and Taylor finished second in their ARX-05, with teammates Montoya and Cameron third.

• After four of 10 races, Castroneves and Taylor are ranked second in the drivers’ championship, just four points out of first place. Teammates Cameron and Montoya are fourth, eight points back. Acura also is second in the Manufacturers’ Championship, four points out of first.

• 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.

• To celebrate IMSA’s 50th year of endurance sports car racing, both Acura Team Penske entries this year feature “throwback” orange and white liveries commemorating the consecutive IMSA Camel Lights Comptech Acura championship seasons of 1991-93.

MEYER SHANK RACING
• In the GTD category, Meyer Shank Racing returns to the site of the first win for the Acura NSX GT3 in 2017, and a 1-2 result for Acura and the team in last year’s race.

• Folllowing a second-place finish earlier this month at Mid-Ohio, Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman, drivers of the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 Evo, lead the GTD Drivers’ Championship with 84 points, four points ahead of their nearest competitors.

• For 2019, MSR has entered into a partnership with businesswoman/racer Jackie Heinricher and sponsor Caterpillar to field the #57 Acura NSX GT3 Evo for an all-female driver lineup anchored by the four-time Acura race winner Katherine Legge. Two-time IMSA GTD champion Christina Nielsen will co-drive with Legge in Detroit. Legge and Nielsen are currently eighth in the GTD Drivers’ Championship with 63 points each.

• After three of 11 GTD rounds, Acura is fourth in the GTD Manufacturers’ Championship with 85 points, 15 points out of first place.

• Competing in the GTD class of the sports car racing championship, the NSX GT3s race against seven other premium automotive brands, including Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

• Based on information generated from the global NSX GT3 Customer Racing Program, the Acura NSX GT3 Evo features performance gains, improved drivability, a 25 percent increase in engine life and greater component durability. The result is a racing platform designed to appeal to a wide range of professional and amateur drivers.