“I’d hate to see it in my rear view mirror, because it’s coming,” were the fighting words Acura vice president and general manager Jon Ikeda delivered when talking about his company’s new ARX-05 prototype race car. Marking the brand’s anticipated return to prototype racing, the ARX-05 is set to debut August 18 at The Quail as part of Monterey Car Week—a weeklong celebration of cars that climaxes with the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
A pair of Acura ARX-05s (that stands for Acura Racing Experimental number five, by the way) will compete in next year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with none other than Team Penske at the helm, running its inaugural race at the Rolex 24 at Daytona this January.
“Roger Penske is already an important part of the Acura family as one of our great Acura dealers, and now it is a thrill to have him as part of the Acura Motorsports family as well,” said Ikeda according to Motor Authority. The team’s driver lineup has yet to be announced.
Acura says that its upcoming DPi racer’s powertrain was built upon the same basic 3.5-liter V6 J35 engine that’s found in the brand’s TLX and MDX, doubtlessly in the hopes of upping the race cred of those cars in the minds of you and me.
