Acura ARX-05 Prototype Race Car Hits Pebble Beach

Acura took the covers off the ARX-05 prototype race car today at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, during Monterey Car Week. Next year, Acura and Team Penske will offer up two of these vehicles to compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The race car features a 3.5-liter V-6 engine based on the unit that powers the Acura TLX, RLX, MDX, and RDX. It’s unclear exactly how much power it will make, but this IMSA car should be targeting around 600 ponies. This AR35TT engine has powered class winners at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2011-2013 as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and LMP2 World Endurance Championship in 2012. It also helped nab overall wins at the Rolex 24, 12 Hours of Sebring, and Petit Le Mans in 2016.

The Acura ARX-05 prototype will make its competition debut at the Rolex 24 in January 2018. One of the prototypes will feature Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron behind the wheel, while the pairing for the second car has yet to be announced. The multi-year racing program will be administered by Honda Performance Development.

“We’ve won with the Acura Integra Type R, the RSX, the first-generation NSX and with the Le Mans prototypes,” said Honda Performance Development boss Art St. Cyr, in a statement. “Most recently, we’ve won with the new Acura NSX GT3. The ARX-05 is our fifth-generation prototype, and we expect great things from our partnership with Team Penske.”

The prototype will remain on display for the rest of the weekend, first at the Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion on August 19 and then at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance the following day. Also be on the lookout for the 2018 Acura RLX debuting during Monterey Car Week.

Source: Acura

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