Dane Cameron qualifies his Acura ARX-05 fourth for Meyer Shank Racing
Filipe Albuquerque to start fifth in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura prototype
Till Bechtolscheimer, Gradient Racing pace Acura NSX GT3 qualifying
LONG BEACH, CA (September 24, 2021) – Dane Cameron led the way for Acura today in qualifying for Saturday’s IMSA Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and will start his Meyer Shank Racing ARX-05 prototype from the outside of the second row, fourth. His co-driver in tomorrow’s 100-minute WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race will again be Olivier Pla.
Championship points leaders Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor will start fifth in their Wayne Taylor Racing Acura following today’s practice and qualifying sessions.
In the production-based GTD class, Till Bechtolsheimer led the trio of Acura NSX GT3 Evo’s running this weekend in Long Beach, and will start 10th with co-driver Marc Miller. Defending GTD champions Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher will start 13th In their Compass Racing NSX, while Andy Lally and co-driver John Potter will start 16th for Magnus Racing with Archangel.
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Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Qualifying Results
4th overall – #60 Dane Cameron, Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi
5th overall – #10 Filipe Albuquerque, Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi
10th GTD – #66 Till Bechtolsheimer, Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo
13th GTD – #76 Matt McMurry, Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo
16th GTD – #44 John Potter, Magnus with Archangel Acura NSX GT3 Evo
Quotes
Dane Cameron (#60 Meyer Shank Racing ARX-05) qualified fourth; race co-driver will be Olivier Pla: “A good rebound from this morning, with the unfortunate incident in the first practice [when co-driver Pla made contact with the wall]. But I think we’ve had a pretty good car throughout the day. Both Oli [Pla] and I were quite happy with the handling. It seems like all the turbocharged cars are a bit off from the normally aspirated cars here, which is a bit of a shame. But we were kind of the ‘best of the rest’ of the turbo group, and sometimes that’s all you can do. So we’ll see if we can make some magic happen tomorrow [in the race]. A big ‘thank you’ to all the Meyer Shank team, they had a really long day today with two practice sessions and qualifying all in the same day, so a really big ‘thank you’ to them.”
Matt McMurry (#76 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) qualified xxth in GTD, co-driver will be fellow defending GTD champion Mario Farnbacher: “Qualifying today was a bit tough. There was a traffic jam almost every lap going into the last corner. I think we’ve improved the car a ton since we first arrived here this morning and I think me and Mario [Farnbacher, co-driver] are ‘there’ now. We have a fast car and know the track now. We’re plenty quick, but didn’t play the traffic [in qualifying] quite 100% right, so we’ll have some work to do in the race to get back up to the front.”
Fast Facts
Acura Motorsports and its performance arm, Honda Performance Development, have recorded a total of nine sports car victories at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, second only to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for Acura and HPD.
This total includes three Long Beach wins for Acura, and six victories under the HPD umbrella. The victories all came in a consecutive, six-year period from 2008-13, and included “doubles” [wins in both LMP1 and LMP2] in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Where to Watch the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Live US television coverage from the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach begins at 5 p.m. EDT Saturday on the NBC Sports Network. Live flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Sports Gold TrackPass, on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App with NBCSN authentication.
Fans can listen to audio commentary via IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and 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 Long Beach can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).