Acura's ARX-06: LA-designed hybrid racer to challenge IMSA's new GTP class in 2023

For the upcoming 2023 IMSA Sports Car Championship season, the series' premier Daytona Prototype International (DPi) race class will be renamed Grand Touring Prototype. The name is reminiscent of the golden years of 1981-1993, known as the "GTP."

IMSA is further flipping the script with a number of new regulations, including the enactment of standardized hybrid assistance systems. IMSA's mandate to improve fuel economy and sustainability has sent competitors, including defending champion Acura, back to square one. Honda's luxury brand is meeting the eco-friendly rulebook with this new ARX-06 Le Mans Daytona Hybrid.

This rear-drive LMDh racer is powered by Honda Performance Development's exclusively designed twin-turbocharged 2.4-liter V-6 engine, backed by the aforementioned series-mandated hybrid hardware. A standardized Bosch motor-generator unit sits inside an Extrac six-speed sequential gearbox supported by a Williams Advanced Engineering battery. Output is estimated at 500 kw (680 hp) to meet series goals.

IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship will mandate one of the four prototype chassis next season. Acura, which has won multiple DPi championships with Oreca in recent years, naturally based its ARX-06 on this constructor's new LMDh chassis.

According to Acura officials, the parameters of the GTP class are designed to attract new competitors by allowing teams to compete in a style similar to the automaker's road-going models. We don't know what Acura's street car looks like, but the ARX-06 still looks great dressed up. Its appearance comes courtesy of the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles, which went through the same design process as Acura's production models. On the current ARX-05 DPi model, the Acura LA team's influence was limited to the nose design.

The ARX-06 follows the hammerhead design of its predecessor, but features a number of visuals inspired by the new NSX Type S and larger chicane-style headlamps. The latter was in response to feedback from drivers that the ARX-05's lights create blind spots in nighttime racing.

Acura's ARX-06 will make its competition debut at the Rolex 24 At Daytona this January as the new car campaigned by Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing. Acura is the defending champion of the race, as it has a 1-2 finish in the legendary enduro in 2022.

-Chris Paukert