Acura Wins Third Consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona
Daytona International SpeedwayDefending Rolex 24 at Daytona and series champions – Acura and Meyer Shank Racing – combined to score their second consecutive Rolex 24 victory today at Daytona International Speedway, in the start of the GTP hybrid racing era in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
· Acura claims first victory in new, electrified IMSA GTP sports car racing era
· Meyer Shank Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport repeat 2022’s 1-2 sweep of the 24-hour endurance racing classic
· Acura ARX-06 wins in competition debut with hybrid powertrain
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 29, 2023) – Defending Rolex 24 at Daytona and series champions – Acura and Meyer Shank Racing – combined to score their second consecutive Rolex 24 victory today at Daytona International Speedway, in the start of the GTP hybrid racing era in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
The event marked the successful racing debut for the electrified Acura ARX-06 prototype sports car, the second successive win at Daytona for the Meyer Shank Racing team, and the third consecutive Rolex 24 win for Acura in the North American crown jewel of endurance sports car racing.
Starting from the pole, the MSR Acura driver lineup of Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud led the opening hour, and dominated early portions of the twice-around-the-clock contest; until a series of caution flags closed up the field for the final eight hours of the race.
However, the caution flags also enabled the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 recover from a series of minor earlier delays, moving into second place in the final hours. Together, the two Acura teams fought off the competition throughout the closing laps to score their second consecutive Acura 1-2 at Daytona.
The 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now moves to central Florida for the 71st annual Mobil-1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Saturday, March 18 in Sebring, Fla.
It’s a team effort. What’s amazing here at MSR is that everyone is able to achieve and reach their potential and that’s really important. What Mike [Shank] and Jim [Meyer] have done to create a good atmosphere within the team, it’s such an open book and I think that allows everyone to work to the best of their abilities. Especially for me, I’m confident because they put a lot of trust and faith in me and I am so grateful for that. Last year I was on the stand watching at the end and this year I felt a lot better about being in the car because I was in control of our own destiny. The feeling I had when I exited the Le Mans Chicane on the last lap and of course seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces is incredible.
First of all, it was an amazing job by Acura and HPD for giving us two cars to fight for the win. I don’t think it can be overstated how amazing that accomplishment is when considering the likes of Porsche and BMW and the struggles they had. Our cars ran flawlessly. To our team, this accomplishment of consecutive top-two finishes is really unprecedented, especially considering it persists through different car manufacturers and specifications. This is our ninth top two since 2013, and I don’t think any other team in the world has that type of consistency in 24-hour races. Lastly, my teammates all drove like champions. It was inspiring to watch Filipe at the end, charging through the field like that. He always gives everything and leaves nothing on the table. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace for the win and ended up second.
