Acura Motorsports has released the first images of the ARX-06 LMDh prototype, which will race in the IMSA GTP category from 2023. Exterior styling of the newest prototype race car was led by the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles, California, in conjunction with Honda Performance Development, the racing arm for Acura Motorsports and Honda Racing in North America, alongside chassis-supplier ORECA.
“The process we used in creating the exterior design for the Acura ARX-06 is exactly the same as how we create a new Acura passenger vehicle,” said Dave Marek, Acura executive creative director.
“The same world-class stylists that lead Acura production car design created initial sketches, then pared those down to several potential designs. Next, we created a scale model, did aero and wind tunnel model testing, and brought HPD and our partner teams in for their feedback.
“The design continued to be refined throughout the testing and evaluation process, until we came up with a final treatment that met our performance goals while maintaining all-important Acura styling cues. It’s been an exciting process.”
Beyond detailing the styling development, Acura has not revealed further information on the car’s powertrain, though the well proven AR35TT, twin-turbo charged 3.5-liter V6 as used in the ARX-05 DPi would be a logical choice.
