Acura Confirms ‘Pausing’ of IMSA GTP Effort at End of Year

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Acura has officially confirmed its exit from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the end of the season.

The news, announced on Wednesday, follows Sportscar365’s report last week that the luxury automaker was set to end its factory GTP program, amid significant financial losses from parent company Honda in relation to EV sales.

In a statement, Acura said that it will “pause” its IMSA GTP program, while pivoting the brand to an increased effort in the NTT IndyCar Series, with Acura sponsorship set to be on Marcus Armstrong’s Meyer Shank Racing-entered entry in this year’s Indianapolis 500.

No word has been made regarding the possibility of seeing the ARX-06s run by customers either next year or in the future.

Additionally, a reason for the halting of its sports car racing program was not given.

“We are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished during this era of Acura prototype racing which began back in 2018 with the introduction of the Acura ARX-05 and we are committed to compete for the championship in IMSA’s GTP category through 2026 with the hybrid Acura ARX-06 competing in IMSA’s GTP category,” said HRC US President David Salters.

‘We’ve scored 25 wins, 34 poles and ten championships during this time and look forward to finishing 2026 strong.

“I want to recognize all the talented women and men of HRC US, Acura, Meyer Shank Racing and ORECA who have worked tirelessly to get us to where we are in this highly competitive GTP field.”

Wednesday’s confirmation comes on the heels of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly’s victory in last weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, which marked the manufacturer’s first overall victory on the streets of Long Beach since 2009.

Van der Zande, Yelloly, as well as fellow Acura-contracted drivers Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist, are now understood to be all free agents for 2027.

Acura has been a mainstay in the WeatherTech Championship since 2018 when it debuted the ARX-05 DPi car with Team Penske, which delivered back-to-back titles in 2019-20, before the program was split up between single-car entries from Wayne Taylor Racing and MSR.

A third title for the automaker was won in 2022 by MSR, in the final year of the DPi era.

MSR then took over full operation of its ARX-06 GTP program in 2025, with HRC US taking an increased role through the engineering and running of the No. 93 Acura.

The brand’s previous stint in IMSA competition came in the 2007-09 American Le Mans Series in both LMP2 and LMP1 competition before the program shifted into a customer-led HPD efforts for a number of years, culminating with Honda-powered engines in LMP2 machinery.

With Acura not returning next year, the WeatherTech Championship GTP class is likely to consist of four factory-backed efforts, in Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche.

Sportscar365 understands that Genesis, which had initially announced plans to run in the series next year, has ruled out a full season program for 2027, but could still debut towards the end of the season.

Source: Sports Car 365