Gearing up for Monterey Auto Week, and laying a little groundwork for brand interest, Acura has given auto-lovers a little pre-show video look at its flashy ARX-05 prototype race car.
In keeping with Acura’s quarter-century of racecar design, the ARX-05 (Acura Racing eXperimental, fifth generation) DPi is made for endurance racing, and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Team Penske will race two of the cars, beginning in January, with the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The ARX-05 is the product of Acura’s Design Studio in Los Angeles, and marks a resurgence for the brand in the racing world. Naturally, the exposure should help the brand’s marketplace performance.
The ARX-05 is outfitted with a tuned production Acura twin-turbo 3.5L V6. The car will be formally revealed at Monterey on August 18th, first at The Quail, and then at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, before ending its PR circuit at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. It will be the first time in several years that Acura has revealed a new racing model prototype.
The jury is out on what to expect, as parent company Honda has had a few embarrassments in the pro racing world as of late. But, Acura’s GT3 performed beautifully at Daytona this year, especially overnight, and finished the race in the top five of 27 cars competing, including Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin.
