Acura Shows Speed, Reliability at Daytona Test

• Acura Meyer Shank Racing drivers top time charts in three of five test sessions
• Acura ARX-06 prototypes run without major issues throughout the two-day test
• HRC US takes on expanded role in two-car effort for 2025

Preparations for the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship began in earnest this week as Acura led the way for much of a two-day test at Daytona International Speedway.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian headed the time sheets in three of the five practice sessions run over the two days, with Tom Blomqvist taking the #60 Acura ARX-06 to the front in the second and fourth sessions, while Nick Yelloly piloted his #93 Acura to the top of the charts in the third session.

Honda Racing Corporation USA is partnering with championship-winning Meyer Shank Racing to field a pair of Acura ARX-06 entries in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, starting with the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

HRC US is taking on a larger operational role as the company further develops its personnel and technology for the hybrid racing era. MSR will prepare and maintain the pair of Acura ARX-06 GTP entries, but during IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race weekends, the #93 Acura will be run and engineered by HRC US, with the #60 ARX-06 operated by the Acura MSR team members as in previous seasons.

Quotes
Colin Braun (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06): "I think it’s been a really good test. There’s a lot to cover from where we left off at the end of 2023, so the focus has been getting everyone from MSR and HRC integrated and up to speed. It’s amazing to see all the work and effort everyone from both groups have done in such short order. Pretty impressive! Having a second car has been great, it’s 2x the learning every time we go out. So really positive. It’s all going so well and it’s only going to get better from here"

Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06): "Working with the guys and girls here and at the shop and with MSR has been fantastic and obviously with HRC. We’ve been ticking off everything we can do on our program. Working through, sticking to our own program and making sure we constructively test everything we need to before we come back here in January. So, everything’s gone smoothly. Lap time-wise, it’s always nice to see yourself further at the front, but it doesn’t matter until we go racing, to be honest. But, yeah it’s been fantastic. I think Mike (Shank) runs a great operation here, as do HRC and its friendly faces all the time. Nothing’s too big of a job. Everyone gets their heads down and works their tails off to chase our end goal—which is obviously to be at the front"

Kakunoshin Ohta (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06): "After I heard I would be part of this test, we did a lot of preparation, in the simulator and getting ready so I would be confident with how to drive the car. I already knew a lot about this track, so I didn’t have any worry about coming here. But, when we got here the car was really fun to drive.

There were a lot of difficult things too, it’s easy to lock up and the car is really big and you need to use a lot of electronic systems. So, yeah, I needed to learn a lot in these two days! The team at Acura Meyer Shank Racing and the other drivers have been so kind to me. I did a lot of laps and including the night session And I think maybe I did a good job for my first drive. So, I’m really happy with the last few days.

David Salters (President, Honda Racing Corporation USA): "So we’re testing lots of new things on the ARX-06, back together with the MSR crew. This year is a massive opportunity for HRC associates to be engineering and running the #93 car. But the key thing here is working as one team. As we started off just a month or so ago, we’re just trying to get everyone working together on these very complex cars and just try and do our best. So far, so good. There are lots of challenges, but it’s going well and we’re enjoying them. The reason we race is to take on the challenges. There have been quite a few late nights, but that’s racing. Step by step, let’s see if we can get ourselves ready for Daytona"

Next
This weekend’s test at Daytona International Speedway was the final official on-track activity for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2024. The 2025 championship season begins in January with the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

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