Acura to Debut New Prototype Race Car Later This Month

Acura has announced it will race in the IMSA Prototype class in 2018 following the debut of its new race car in Pebble Beach later this month.

The new race car is called the ARX-05 (that’s Acura Racing Experimental, generation 5) and will be built to IMSA’s Daytona Prototype International specifications. It will be fielded by the highly successful Team Penske and will make its competition debut at the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona next January.

IMSA’s new-for-2017 DPi class offers a good mix of cost and performance, which has attracted considerable manufacturer interest. Cadillac, Nissan and Mazda all contest the class currently, and Mazda recently doubled down on its efforts by hiring former Audi racing outfit Team Joest to lead its Prototype charge from 2018 onward. With this announcement, Acura and Penske have committed to a two-car, multi-year effort in IMSA’s top-tier category that will see them go head-to-head with some of their closest showroom rivals.

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The ARX-05, which was styled by the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles, California, will debut at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in Pebble Beach on August 18th. It will also appear at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion on August 19th and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on August 20th. Check out the teaser video for the new prototype above before it debuts in a couple weeks’ time.