The electrified Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype, will race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship hybrid-powered GTP category .
AcuraWith admittedly some of the best camouflage ever for a race car teaser, Acura Motorsports on Friday released the first images of it’s electrified Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype.
The car is scheduled to join Cadillac, BMW and Porsche on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship grid in 2023 for competition in a new GTP class. The GTP class will replace the current DPi class.
Cadillac is scheduled to release images of its car for the new class on June 9.
Alpine and Lamborghini are slated to enter the class in 2024. A previously announced Audi program is reportedly on hold as that company re-evaluates the current economics and a possible move into Formula 1.
Acura released teaser images of its ARX-06 today.
Acura
The Acura ARX-06 is a product of the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles in conjunction with Honda Performance Development, the racing arm for Acura Motorsports and Honda Racing in North America. The chassis comes from supplier ORECA.
“The process we used in creating the exterior design for the Acura ARX-06 is exactly the same as how we create a new Acura passenger vehicle,” said Dave Marek, Acura executive creative director. “The same world-class stylists that lead Acura production car design created initial sketches, then pared those down to several potential designs. Next we created a scale model, did aero and wind tunnel model testing, and brought HPD and our partner teams in for their feedback.
“The design continued to be refined throughout the testing and evaluation process, until we came up with a final treatment that met our performance goals while maintaining all-important Acura styling cues. It’s been an exciting process.”
Acura plans to race its new car with current Acura teams Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing.
Keyword: First Images: Acura LMDh Prototype for 2023 IMSA's GTP Class