- Second place finish at Road America for #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06
- Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport rounds out podium 2-3 finish for Acura
- Third place result gives WTRAndretti championship lead
It was a double podium performance for Acura as both ARX-06 prototypes of Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport notched top-three finishes at the newly-repaved Road America circuit.
The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 qualified sixth on the grid, but would end up starting fourth following separate incidents for two cars ahead prior to the race start. Drivers Colin Braun and Tom Bolmqvist would move forward during their stints and their combined efforts were rewarded with a second-place finish.
The #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 squad of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor would finish third following a fourth-place qualifying effort and rebounding after handling issues and a small off through the middle stages of the race. The P3 finish was enough to move their WTRAndretti team into first place in the championship standings by just 14 points.
In the production-based GTD category, Acura's efforts were spearheaded by two teams—the full-season #66 machine from Gradient Racing and the #93 Racers Edge with WTRAndretti Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.
The #93 showed promising pace during the race in the hands of Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher, running much of the final hour in second place. However, the team did not catch their much-needed yellow, and Farnbacher was forced to pit for a splash of fuel in the closing minutes of the race—dropping the team to eighth at the finish.
The #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk consistently moved forward from their tenth-place starting position, but the car was forced off track by the #97 BMW, requiring an early final pit stop to repair damage. The need to save fuel in the final stint halted their march forward, resulting in a 10th place finish.
IMSA SportsCar Weekend Road America Acura Race Results
- 2nd GTP - #60 Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun; Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06
- 3rd GTP - #10 Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor; Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06
- 8th GTD - #93 Mario Farnbacher and Ashton Harrison; Racers Edge Motorsports with WTRAndretti Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
- 10th GTD - #66 Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk; Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
Quotes
Filipe Albuquerque (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06) Finished third, moves to championship lead after 7 of 9 rounds:"It's good to be back on the podium and as championship leader. Of course, the points swing is so big now with 10 cars on the grid, so you can easily have a 100-point swing. So, while it's good to be there, it's more important for us to stay there with no mistakes at all from here on out—not even in practice! We saw today the #31 have a crash in warm up that sent them back in the race, and that's what we need to avoid. Making those mistakes is super easy, so we have to keep on our toes with two races to go."
Colin Braun (#60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06) Finished second:"All-in-all I'm really proud of Acura, HPD and MSR. I think this is a great result! Considering where we started, we had a couple of challenging practice sessions with some brake issues, so hats off to the guys, we turned it around and got into the window in qualifying. And then the race today was close. I wouldn't have expected us to have so few yellows during this event, and that made the strategy a bit more straightforward and gave us less opportunity to capitalize. Tom did a great job the last few stints and it was really close at the end, but the traffic just didn't go our way. But, you can't be too upset about a podium."
Mario Farnbacher (#93 Racers Edge Motorsports with WTRAndretti Acura NSX GT3 Evo22) Finished eighth in GTD:"Big thank you to the Racers Edge crew and the Wayne Taylor crew. We had to make a risk with our strategy in the race, and unfortunately that didn't pay off. I think if it had, it would have been a podium finish for us. But, in the end, I was really happy with the pace of our Acura NSX and the performance of the team. Ashton did a great job during her stint and hopefully we can get some more IMSA Sprint Cup runs in."
Kelvin Fu (Vice President, Honda Performance Development) on today's race at Road America:"It was a pretty good day in the office today! Congrats to Meyer Shank Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing, and the hardworking team at HPD for getting 2nd and 3rd today at Road America. It's always good to be fighting for the win, and to walk away with the championship lead for one of our teams. We'll be ready to race on the bricks at Indy!"
Fast Fact
- With two victories this season – at the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona and most recently at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – Acura is currently ranked second in the GTP Manufacturers' Championship, just 35 points off the lead.
Next
The GT classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO and GTD, travel to VIRginia International Raceway in Danville, VA, for the Michelin GT Challenge, August 25-27. The full IMSA field next runs September 15-17 on the road course of the famed Indianapolis Motors Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle of the Bricks.
Acura Motorsports social media content and video links can be found on:
- Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd)
- TikTok (www.tiktok.com/hondaracing_hpd)
- Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_Hpd)
- Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD)
- YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV)
# # #
