• #60 Acura MSR ARX-06 finishes second after grueling Rolex 24 at Daytona
•Fifth-consecutive year Acura scores podium finish in season-opening IMSA race
•#93 Acura uses teamwork to get back on track following suspension issue
An Acura team of drivers stood on the podium at the IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona for the fifth-consecutive year as the Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian #60 stormed to second place in the twice-round-the-clock classic.
Starting from sixth on the grid, co-drivers Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist led a total of 39 laps over the course of 24 hours, coming up just 1.335 seconds short of victory.
The sister #93 Acura ARX-06—piloted by Nick Yelloly, Renger van der Zande, Alex Palou and Kakunoshin Ohta—started second and led early for a total of 19 laps before a suspension failure in the fifth hour forced the car into the garage. Despite the issue, the Acura MSR and HRC team worked together to get the car repaired and back on track in just one hour—allowing the #93 team to make up valuable positions and points as other cars suffered from attrition in the race.
The #93 marks an expanded effort for Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) as they take on strategizing and race engineering the entry for the first time. It also serves as an opportunity for HRC global-backed driver Kakunoshin Ohta to experience the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
During his stints, Ohta was able to make his way to the front of the field and lead on his IMSA debut. Despite the stellar opening to the race by Ohta and his teammates, the #93 would finish eighth following the lengthy repair.
In addition to the effort in the race this weekend, the Acura Integra Type S served as the official safety car for the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Meanwhile, HRC global president Koji Watanabe waved the green flag as honorary starter for the event.
Rolex 24 at Daytona Acura Results
•Finished 2nd - #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist
•Finished 8th - #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. Nick Yelloly, Renger van der Zande, Alex Palou and Kakunoshin Ohta
Quotes
Tom Blomqvist (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 2nd: 'Fantastic result nonetheless. There were parts of this race where we thought 'this is going to be a long, long 24 hours.' We struggled for pace and the Porsches were extremely fast but thankfully the team did a fantastic job to get me in a good position at the end. I drove the wheels off the thing and managed to get one of the Porsches, but the other one was a little but too far ahead - just not enough time really. Who knows what could have happened with a few more laps. I'm obviously extremely happy for everyone, it's a good start to the season and good points. Huge thanks to everyone at Acura MSR, Acura and HRC. It's a big joint venture this year with the team, there's a lot more people involved and there's a huge amount of effort and resources that's gone into this program and it's definitely a good way to start and let's roll on to Sebring.'
Colin Braun (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 2nd: 'Obviously great result, what a way to start the season and start the new rebirth with HRC and Acura MSR. Second is a great result and Daytona is so important and winning is everything so in one way it's an amazing start and in another it's like 'aw man.' But the guys and gals executed really well. Both Felix and Scott did a great job and Tom killed it at the end. Considering this is kind of the start of this new program, I think it's going to be a really good season. We have a lot of really good things to build on and continue to refine and improve and I think we are looking forward to keeping it going.'
Scott Dixon (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 2nd: 'It was a fun race, there were definitely some difficult parts throughout, not mistake free which is never great. But Acura, Honda and MSR did everything strategy-wise that we could - but we just had a bit too much tire degradation and that definitely made it a tough race, especially when we had to double stint the tires early. Tom did a great job at the end. I think that was the best result that we could have had, maybe if we had a little longer we would have had a better shot.'
Felix Rosenqvist (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 2nd: 'Pretty good ending for the #60 car. It's always a bit bittersweet in these big events with a second place. But honestly, with the way things looked for a while we'll definitely take it. For these guys who are going to continue running the championship, it's good points in the bag. Tom did a demon stint in the end, that was incredible to watch, my heart was pounding. Really proud of all the guys: my teammates, the mechanics, crew and engineers that was a hell of an effort.'
Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 8th: 'For the #93 car, obviously we had our technical issue with the rear suspension failure early on unfortunately. We had really good pace and qualified P2 and were able to stay there quite comfortably in the first couple of stints. Great effort from the team to get the car back out, albeit 40 laps down. From there it was just seeing what we could do to help the #60 car and get up as far to the front as we could. Great effort from Acura MSR and HRC and we have plenty more to come for the rest of the season.'
Renger van der Zande (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 8th: 'I'm super happy to see that the #60 car race all the way to P2, I think it was a team effort. It's a bitter feeling to have ended the race so early. But at the same time we're the crew that got the car out the fastest which means we got the most points from the people that had the same problem. We need to investigate what happened and why it suspension broke, but apart from that we learned a lot. We learned how we run this car, how we run this team with MSR and HRC. I think we can be proud of what today brought, but not the result that we wanted.'
Alex Palou (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 8th: 'Sad day for the #93 car having a mechanical failure so early on, especially with it not being our fault. Sometimes it's a team mistake or driver mistake, so you know what you could have done differently, but this time it was just a failure and we couldn't have done anything differently. It's unfortunate, but happy at the same time we got running again. We got a lot of laps in for myself and for the team and that's going to help us be a bit stronger in Sebring. And obviously I'm happy to see how Tom was fighting at the end and almost getting that win. It makes us hungry and I'm looking forward to the next couple of races.'
Kakunoshin Ohta (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished 8th: 'It is a huge honor to be a part of Acura Meyer Shank Racing and getting to race in the Rolex 24. I did a lot of laps, maybe six stints and now I am so tired. I felt like I drove a really clean race and I'm happy about that. I even got to lead my first time out and that was really special. I know the car was fast and I wanted to win the race, of course, but this race is tough sometimes and unfortunately our car broke. But I'm already looking forward to coming back and joining the team at Watkins Glen and I'm so thankful to Acura MSR and to HRC for this opportunity.'
David Salters (President, Honda Racing Corporation USA): 'So, first time out as new pinnacle racing team of HRC and MSR. Our amazing men and women, together started working in earnest just over 9 weeks ago to bring us all together and get all of our facilities and equipment aligned. After this Herculean effort we came to one of the most arduous and prestigious races on earth, and earned a P2 spot in Quali and a P2 spot in the race. We learned so much over the course of these two weeks in Daytona. To get so close to the victory in our first time out against world-class opposition is truly just reward for our amazing men and women. Bravo team. No one can guarantee the outcome in world class sport, but we can guarantee that we will try to improve and learn tomorrow and each day. We will focus our attention on the next race at Sebring and building our team.'
Photo credit: Acura posted on conceptcarz.com
