5:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, July 18
NBC Sports Network, NBC Trackpass and IMSATV.com
Radio Le Mans and IMSA.com
ACURA, HPD AT SEBRING
Acura Motorsports and its performance arm, Honda Performance Development, have recorded a total of eight victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring, including three class wins for Acura, four LMP2 class wins under the HPD umbrella, and an overall win in 2016.
This weekend’s two-hour, 40-minute contest is an addition to the 2020 schedule as a result of adjustments made to the calendar in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acura’s initial victory at the rugged airport circuit came in 1993, when Comptech Racing brought its Acura Spice prototype home first in the Camel Lights division, and fifth overall in the 47-car field. Three-time Camel Lights champion Parker Johnstone anchored the driver lineup, with co-drivers Dan Marvin and Ruggero Melgrati.
In 2007, Acura returned to endurance sports car racing for the first time since ’93, and promptly won the LMP2 class – finishing second overall – in the debut of the Acura ARX-01a prototype in the hands of Andretti Autosports drivers Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta and Tony Kanaan.
Acura won the LMP2 category again at Sebring in 2009, with Lowe’s Fernandez Racing finishing third overall in its Acura ARX-01b driven by Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz.
HPD supplied customer teams in the LMP2 category from 2010-2016, scoring class wins at Sebring in 2011, 2012 (in both the American Le Mans Series and World Endurance Championship races) and 2013.
In 2016, HPD and partner team Tequila Patron ESM scored an overall victory at Sebring in a Honda-powered Ligier JSP2 co-driven by Pipo Derani, Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown.
ACURA TEAM PENSKE
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 prototype sports cars 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 production-based Acura AR35TT twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine.
ACURA NSX GT3 EVO TEAMS
Fielding a pair of Acura NSX GT3s, Meyer Shank Racing took the Drivers’ and Team championships in GTD, 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.
For the GTD class, this weekend’s race at Sebring is part of the Sprint Cup Championship, for shorter races on the 2020 schedule, and is not part of the overall WeatherTech SpotsCar Championship. As a result, the Meyer Shank team will not be present in Sebring this weekend, but will return for the next round, July 31-August 2 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Starting at the WeatherTech 240 at Daytona earlier this month, the Texas-based Gradient Racing organization is fielding an Acura NSX GT3 Evo in IMSA GTD Sprint Cup completion for drivers Marc Miller and Till Bechtolscheimer. The pair finished a solid 10th in their IMSA debut at the WeatherTech Daytona 240. The Gradient team is focusing on the GTD Sprint Cup championship, and will lead the Acura NSX GT3 Evo effort at Sebring this weekend.
WHERE TO WATCH
Television coverage from Sebring begins at 5:30 p.m. EDT Saturday on the NBC Sports Network. 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.
Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the NBC Sports App with NBCSN authentication.
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.
Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from the WeatherTech 240 will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD). Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, the YouTube videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.