PATASKALA, Ohio – After recently announcing its split from Team Penske at the end of the season, Honda Performance Development has announced that Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing will both field the Acura ARX-05 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi class beginning in 2021.
Wayne Taylor Racing most recently was part of the Cadillac program in IMSA’s top class, winning three of the last four Rolex 24 events at Daytona Int’l Speedway. The team has also captured two driver championships, with the most recent coming in 2017.
“While Wayne Taylor Racing has been enjoying much success with Cadillac over the past several years, Acura and Honda Performance Division (HPD) have also had considerable success,” said team owner Wayne Taylor. “All of us at Wayne Taylor Racing are looking forward to partnering with Acura and HPD and adding to their achievements. Our new partnership with Acura and HPD provides us with the long-term stability necessary to properly invest in the program and remain championship contenders for years to come.”
Meyer Shank Racing steps back up to the top class in IMSA competition after most recently racing in the GT Daytona class with the Acura NSX GT3 since 2017. In that time Meyer Shank Racing has six times while also capturing the 2019 team and driver titles with with Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher.
The team currently leads the GT Daytona driver standings heading into this weekend’s event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“We have worked for so many years to get a championship title and I think that partnering with Acura back in 2017 was just what we, as a team, needed to make that happen,” said Meyer Shank Racing co-owner Mike Shank. “We’ve continued to push for podiums and victories, and the performance that Acura brings to the table in such a competitive series is exactly what we needed to get the job done.”
Meyer Shank Racing first utilized Honda power in 2015 when the team moved to the LMP2-specification Ligier, getting a fast start with a run to the Rolex 24 At Daytona pole and going on to claim three podium finishes with the Honda Ligier at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Detroit and and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The team continued with Honda into the 2016 season which saw the team make its debut entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where drivers, Ozz Negri, John Pew and Laurens Vanthoor led laps and finished ninth. MSR went on to make its 250th Prototype start at the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans and win the 10-hour endurance event, which concluded the team’s Prototype run.
“When Acura and HPD chose Meyer Shank Racing to debut the Acura NSX GT3 in 2017, it was a big moment in our history,” continued Shank. “I’m really proud of building a championship-winning program and everything that we’ve been able to accomplish together with the NSX. As a team, we’ve been working towards the opportunity to go and fight for overall wins for a long time, and I am thrilled to be making this announcement and eager to get going with this DPi program. But we have some work to do first, and we are 100 percent focused on bringing another IMSA championship home with the Acura NSX in 2020.”
Acura began competing in the DPi class in 2017 when the brand partnered with Team Penske to field a pair of Acura ARX-05 entries. Last year Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron partnered to give Team Penske and Acura the driver and team while also claiming the manufacturer championship for Acura.