The Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype has made its first foray into its natural habitat, the racetrack. The new hypercar successfully completed two days of testing at France’s Paul Ricard circuit. These are our best photos yet of Acura’s latest generation of prototype racer. Set to compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTP class starting in 2023, the racecar will feature a hybrid powertrain, though details on it remain scant. Driving duties during this test were handled by Wayne Taylor Racing driver Ricky Taylor and Honda Performance Development engineer Matt McMurry. Taylor is a two-time IMSA DPi champion and has won the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Acura.
McMurry, meanwhile, along with being a
Vehicle Performance engineer, is also a successful racer. He has competed at Le
Mans three times and won the IMSA GTD Drivers’ Championship in 2020. During
this test, he led development work on several software control systems that
will be utilized by the ARX-06.
The car’s name, ARX-06, stands for “Acura
Racing eXperimental, generation 6,” according to the brand. As that suggests,
it follows in the footsteps of prototype racers that have previously led Acura
to IMSA DPi championships in 2019 and 2020, as well as overall victories at the
Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2021 and 2022.
Based on a chassis designed by ORECA, the
Acura ARX-06 is just the latest LMDh racecar to start being revealed to the
public this summer. It will compete against the likes of Porsche and Cadillac
in 2023.
