HPD and Team Penske with Oreca in DPi

Like AUTOhebdo regularly announced for several months, Honda, via its Acura brand, will join Mazda, Cadillac and Nissan, as a manufacturer officially engaged in IMSA Sportscar Championship.

Honda Performance Developement will team up with French manufacturer Oreca to develop the DPi ARX-05 prototype, with two examples entered by Team Penske at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2018.

Acura, now present in the GTD category with its NSX GT3, will once again be able to aim for overall victory in the American endurance series, after having played the leading roles in American Le Mans Series until 2009, with its LM P1 and LM P2 chassis winning that same year.

Team Penske a également un historique majeur en ALMS, avec les fameux protos Porsche RS Spyder, lauréats en LM P2 entre 2006 et 2008. « It is an important day in the brief history of DPi and in the much longer history of IMSA, says IMSA President Scott Atherton.

We are honored that Acura has expanded its commitment with its new ARX-05 DPi, and we are happy to welcome back Team Penske. »

The Acura ARX-05 will be based on the Oreca 07 chassis, and the first tests will begin soon before a presentation of the car in August. “ The Oreca Group is delighted to have been chosen by Honda Performance Development (HPD) for its new DPi program in America, admits Hugues de Chaunac, president of the Var structure.

The Oreca 07 had more than conclusive results at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in FIA Wec, in IMSA and in ELMS for its first months of competition and the fact that a manufacturer like Acura has chosen our model as the basis of their future prototype is a great recognition of the work we have done.

The strengths of the DPi category are numerous and we are very enthusiastic about the idea of ​​developing this new project, especially with Team Penske. This prestigious team has such a history, such a track record… with the involvement of Honda, all this will give us new responsibilities. This will be an important challenge for us and we like that at Oreca. We will approach it with humility but with ambition. »