Just as the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 driven by Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly crossed the finish line in first place during last Saturday’s Acura Long Beach Grand Prix, rumors of the automaker pulling out of IMSA gained momentum over the weekend. Those rumors are now confirmed.
Acura announced Wednesday afternoon that it’ll be “pausing” its IMSA GTP program at the end of the current season. It did not offer any explanation for why it’s doing this or when it expects to resume the program—if ever.
“We are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished during this era of Acura prototype racing which began back in 2018 with the introduction of the Acura ARX-05 and we are committed to compete for the championship in IMSA’s GTP category through 2026 with the hybrid Acura ARX-06 competing in IMSA’s GTP category,” said David Salters, President Honda Racing Corporation USA.
“We’ve scored 25 wins, 34 poles and 10 championships during this time and look forward to finishing 2026 strong. I want to recognize all the talented women and men of HRC US, Acura, Meyer Shank Racing and Oreca who have worked tirelessly to get us to where we are in this highly competitive GTP field,” added Salters.
It did, however, announce that Acura will be adorning Meyer Shank Racing Honda-powered Indy cars throughout the 2026 season—as it did in Long Beach with Felix Rosenqvist—including Marcus Armstrong’s #66 at the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 next month. The release did not mention specifics for 2027, though it did mention that it would explore “other high-profile opportunities in IndyCar during the 2026 season and beyond.”
As cool as Indy cars are, and as competitive as IndyCar is, putting some stickers on a car is hardly a consolation to fans who love seeing a factory-level effort in IMSA’s GTP class. And while there’s a good chance that all of the hardware we’re seeing racing today will still be present in the future with customer teams, it’s still a bummer on many levels.
While not confirmed, rumor on the street is that Porsche’s IMSA GTP effort with Penske will also be wrapping up at the end of the year, similar to what it has announced in WEC.
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