Acura rolex 24 preview

Rolex 24 at Daytona
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL
Green Flag at 1:40 p.m. Saturday, January 29
NBC, NBC Peacock and USA Network
Radio Le Mans and IMSA.com

Acura Motorsports at Daytona
Acura returns to Daytona International Speedway and the IMSA season-opening Rolex 24 as defending race champion, and pole qualifier for this year’s 60th running for sports cars at Daytona. The Wayne Taylor Racing duo of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor, part of the defending race-winning lineup in 2021, took their Acura ARX-05 to victory in the 100-minute sprint race that set the starting field for this weekend’s Rolex 24.

The WTR lineup of Albuquerque, Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi claimed victory in last year’s twice-around-the-clock Rolex 24 contest, 20 years after Acura’s first Daytona class win in 1991.

This will be Acura’s eighth Rolex 24 as a prototype manufacturer (1991-93, 2018-22). In addition to the overall win last year, and in 2016 under the HPD/Honda banner. Acura won the Camel Lights class at Daytona in 1991 and again in ‘92.

Acura first took part in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 1991, winning Camel Lights with Comptech Racing and drivers Parker Johnstone, Steve Cameron and Bob Lesnett driving a Spice Acura SE90P. Acura repeated as Camel Lights winner in 1992, with Comptech drivers Johnstone, Cameron and Jimmy Vasser [who also won Honda’s first Indy car championship in 1996].

Running an Honda Performance Development prepared, production-based Honda V6 engine, Tequila Patrón ESM won the Rolex 24 overall in 2016 with Pipo Derani, Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown driving a Ligier JSP2-Honda.

Acura ARX-05
For 2022, the Acura DPi effort at Daytona again will be spearheaded by a pair of IMSA championship and Rolex 24-winning teams: Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing.

Wayne Taylor Racing is a two-time IMSA championship team and four-time winner of the Rolex 24 (2017, 2019 and 2020-‘21). The diver lineup for the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 includes defending Michelin Endurance Cup champions Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, and Alexander Rossi; joined by veteran endurance racer Will Stevens.

Following a four-year program racing and developing the Acura NSX GT3 Evo into a two-time IMSA GTD championship winner, Meyer Shank Racing is also a previous Daytona victory, winning the 50th running of the Rolex 24 in 2012. Driving the #60 Sirius/XM AutoNation ARX-05 will be veteran IMSA race winner Oliver Jarvis, second-generation racer Tom Blomqvist, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, and fellow Indy 500 victor Simon Pagenaud.

Type S graphics on both Acura ARX-05s reinforce the Precision Crafted Performance ties connecting Acura racing and production cars. Acura has recently announced production plans for Type S models of the NSX super car, TLX performance sedan and MDX sport utility vehicle.

Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
For 2022, Acura’s IMSA GTD effort in the Michelin Endurance Cup – the four endurance rounds of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – will be headed by Gradient Racing’s #66 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.

The Gradient driver lineup includes two-time IMSA GTD champion Mario Farnbacher, partnered with HPD Academy graduate and 2021 Formula Regional Americas champion Kyffin Simpson; and the returning Till Bechtolsheimer. Veteran professional Marc Miller rounds out the driver quartet for the Rolex 24.

Acura’s production-based sports car racing program dates to 1986, the same year the brand debuted as the luxury and performance division of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Victories and championships quickly followed, starting in the IMSA International Sedan series, where Acura won the Manufacturers’ Championship in 1987. The effort culminated in 26 victories and three consecutive Camel Lights Championships from 1991-93 for the Comptech Racing Acura-Spice and driver Parker Johnstone.

The Acura brand returned to IMSA sports car racing in 2017, with Meyer Shank Racing fielding a pair of new Acura NSX GT3s. Acura scored a pair of race victories and five podium finishes in a highly-successful debut season, then scored another pair of victories and finished second in the 2018 GTD championship. Developing the NSX GT3 Evo, MSR went on to win IMSA GTD championship in both 2019 and 2020, with Farnbacher taking the drivers’ title in both seasons.

Where to Watch the Rolex 24 at Daytona
Television coverage of the 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona starts Saturday, January 29, at 1:30 p.m. EST for the opening hour on NBC. Television coverage moves to USA Network from 4-7 p.m.; 10 p.m.-3 a.m. and 6 a.m.-12 p.m. on Sunday. Coverage concludes with the final hours of the race on NBC from 12-2 p.m. Sunday. Live flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the NBC Peacock streaming service.

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 Rolex 24 at Daytona are available on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), on Twitter at (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD).

Acura Motorsports 2022 Rolex 24 Lineup

10 DPi Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05

Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens, Alexander Rossi

60 DPi Meyer Shank Racing SiriusXM AutoNation Acura ARX-05

Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud

66 GTD Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22

Mario Farnbacher, Till Bechtolsheimer, Kyffin Simpson, Marc Miller