Jan 7, 2018 – DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

• “Roar before the 24” three-day open test marks final runs prior to season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway
• Team Penske Acura ARX-05 prototypes run fourth and fifth in qualifying session to determine Rolex 24 pit and garage allocation
• Michael Shank Racing secures fourth, Honda of America Racing Team fifth in GTD qualifying for Acura NSX GT3s

An expanded Acura Motorsports effort for the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship made its public debut this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, with a pair of Acura ARX-05 prototypes and three Acura NSX GT3s featuring in final pre-season preparations at the “Roar Before the 24” open test.

Acura Team Penske and the Honda of America Racing Team (HART) joined the returning, 2017 race-winning Michael Shank Racing organization as the combined Acura Motorsports program completed three days of testing, capped by a qualifying session to determine pit and garage allocations for the season-opening Rolex 24.

Acura Team Penske
With the new Acura ARX-05 prototypes still clad in “carbon fiber black” testing colors, former series champion Dane Cameron led the way for the Penske organization with a fourth-place run in the 15-minute qualifying session on Sunday.  Cameron will be paired for the season in the #6 Acura ARX-05 prototype with former Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya, with former IndyCar series champion Simon Pagenaud joining the lineup for the Rolex 24 and other long-distance events.

Driving the #7 Acura ARX-05, defending series champion Ricky Taylor posted the fifth-fastest lap in his qualifying run.  Taylor will be joined for the season in the cockpit by three-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves, with IndyCar race winner Graham Rahal joining the driver lineup for the long-distance rounds of the series.

Acura NSX GT3 Teams
Michael Shank Racing returned with its pair of NSX GT3s to start the new season on a positive note, with Alvaro Parente running fourth fastest in the GTD class to lead the Acura effort.  He will be joined in the #86 Acura at the Rolex 24 by 2017 two-time race winner Katherine Legge, rising star Trent Hindman and NASCAR race winner A.J. Allmendinger.

Another Acura veteran, Ryan Eversley, took the Honda associate-led #69 HART NSX GT3 to the fifth-fastest GTD time during their 15-minute qualifying session.  HART plans a partial season of GTD competition in 2018, with Honda associate Chad Gilsinger joining Eversley behind the wheel.  For the Rolex 24, the two will be joined by Sean Rayhall and John Falb, who also partnered in 2017 to win a pair of LMP3 races in the European Le Mans Series.

Driving the #93 Michael Shank Racing Acura, Lawson Aschenbach finished the brief qualifying session in 12th.  The multi-time sports car racing champion will be joined by veteran sports car and NASCAR driver Justin Marks for the season; with race winners Come Ledogar and Mario Farnbacher coming on board for the Rolex 24.

Next
This week’s test at Daytona International Speedway completes official preparations for the January 27-28 Rolex 24, the twice-around-the-clock endurance contest that kicks off the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Video recaps from this weekend’s Acura WeatherTech SportsCar Championship test at Daytona International Speedway are being posted on the “Honda Racing/HPD” YouTube channel.  Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the video packages can be found in the 2018 HPD Trackside Video Playlist at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.

Quotes
Art  St. Cyr (President, Honda Performance Development) on this week’s test: “It feels good be back on track, and officially welcoming our two new teams, Acura Team Penske and the Honda of America Racing Team, who join with the returning Michael Shank Racing to make up the Acura Motorsports program in the 2018 WeatherTech Championship.  This is the culmination of a five-year plan to return the Acura brand to pinnacle motorsports highlighted by our return to prototype competition with Team Penske and the new Acura ARX-05.  In GTD, the racing-winning Michael Shank Racing effort is joined in our Acura NSX GT3 ranks by H.A.R.T., made up primarily of associates from Honda R&D Americas and Honda of America Manufacturing.  We had a good three days of testing.  Obviously, this being the beginning of the season, we’re still working out some bugs, but we’re looking forward to the Rolex 24 in just a few weeks.”

Dane Cameron (driver, #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) fifth in Roar Before the 24 qualifying: “I think everything went great.  We ran through our test plan and that’s important.  The race weekend goes by pretty fast, so the Roar is the best time to get your prep work done, run the night [practice] laps, all that kind of stuff.  The Acura ARX-05 ran flawlessly, so I think everyone’s in the groove now, working hard but having fun.  There’s always a little bit more [speed] to find, but I think we’re in great shape for the race in a couple weeks’ time.  Acura Team Penske is the best in the business.  I think we’re ready to go.”

Ricky Taylor (driver, #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) qualified sixth in prototype:  “A fantastic weekend, I think.  We really worked through a lot, and we made more and more gains every session.  The biggest thing, I think, is we worked out so many ‘new car bugs’.  Everything was reliable through this weekend’s test, and that gives us good confidence ahead of the ’24’.  I think we’re well prepared.”

Alvaro Parente (driver, #86 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3) qualified fourth in GTD: “I feel like this is a good start and we have had some really nice test days in preparation for the [Rolex] 24 with our Acura. All of the guys have been doing well and we have all been having a lot of fun. We will continue to keep working to make improvements. The main thing is getting the car as stable and quick as possible for the race.”

Ryan Eversley (driver, #69 Honda of America Racing Team Acura NSX GT3) qualified fifth in GTD: “What a great test!  Our HART NSX program didn’t miss a beat, and we’re now running in the top five on pace.  We struggled with the setup at the start of the test, but the Mike Shank crew really helped us out and got us pointed in the right direction.  That’s the way it works in the HPD camp.  We’re one big family and I like that.”

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Roar Before the 24 Open Test 
Circuit:       Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL
Weather:     Partly sunny, cool, 52 degrees F

Prototype Qualifying:

POS	CAR NO	CLASS	CLASS POS	DRIVERS	TEAM/CAR/SPONSOR
1	31	P	1	Mike Conway Felipe Nasr Eric Curran Stuart Middleton	Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi
2	90	P	2	Tristan Vautier Edward Cheever Matt McMurry	Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac DPi
3	5	P	3	Joao Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque Christian Fittipaldi	Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi
4	10	P	4	Ryan Hunter-Reay Jordan Taylor Renger van Der Zande	Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac DPi
5	6	P	5	Simon Pagenaud Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron	Team Penske Acura DPi
6	7	P	6	Graham Rahal Ricky Taylor Helio Castroneves	Team Penske Acura DPi
7	22	P	7	Nicolas Lapierre Johannes van Overbeek Luis Felipe Derani	Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi
8	55	P	8	Jonathan Bomarito Spencer Pigot Harry Tincknell	Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi
9	78	P	9	Alex Brundle Antonio Felix da Costa Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen Ho-Pin Tung	Jackie Chan DCR JOTA ORECA LMP2
10	85	P	10	Robert Alon Simon Trummer Austin Cindric Devlin DeFrancesco	JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2

GTD Qualifying:

POS	CAR NO	CLASS	CLASS POS	DRIVERS	TEAM/CAR/SPONSOR
29	11	GTD	1	Rik Breukers Mirko Bortolotti Rolf Ineichen Franck Perera	GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3
30	44	GTD	2	Andrew Davis Markus Winkelhock Andy Lally John Potter	Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3
31	58	GTD	3	Christina Nielsen Mathieu Jaminet Patrick Long Robert Renauer	Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R
32	86	GTD	4	Katherine Legge Alvaro Parente Trent Hindman AJ Allmendinger	Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3
33	69	GTD	5	John Falb Ryan Eversley Chad Gilsinger Sean Rayhall	HART Acura NSX GT3
34	15	GTD	6	Dominik Farnbacher Jack Hawksworth David Heinemeier Hansson Scott Pruett	3GT Racing Lexus RCF GT3
35	63	GTD	7	Gunnar Jeannette Cooper MacNeil Alessandro Balzan Jeff Segal	Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3
36	29	GTD	8	Sheldon van der Linde Christopher Mies Jeffrey Schmidt Kelvin van der Linde	Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3
37	19	GTD	9	Christian Engelhart Christopher Lenz Max van Splunteren Ezequiel Perez Companc Louis Machiels	GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3
38	82	GTD	10	Martin Fuentes Miguel Molina Santiago Creel Ricardo Perez	Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3
39	33	GTD	11	Jeroen Bleekemolen Luca Stolz Ben Keating Adam Christodoulou	Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3
40	93	GTD	12	Mario Farnbacher Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach Côme Ledogar	Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3

[Source: Acura, Honda Racing via Twitter]