Acura is leaving IMSA GTP next year to put stickers on Indy cars

There were convulsions of excitement earlier this year about Honda doing something with the Acura LMDh car, which some believed meant entering the FIA World Endurance Championship. Turns out it’s exactly the opposite: They’re pulling out of IMSA GTP and currently running the ARX-06 exactly nowhere in 2027. Will someone buy and run the cars privately? TBD.

It’s rough for the team, as the 93 car has just claimed its first win at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which is obviously something Acura would have liked to have done sooner.

What Honda is doing instead with the Acura racing budget is putting more Acura branding on Honda stuff at IndyCar races. I guess that makes sense. More importantly, it shows that they have decided to commit to IndyCar after waffling for the past few years, and I’ll take it. GTP has plenty of OEMs, and more are on the way.

Meanwhile, cue silly season: Renger van der Zande, Colin Braun, and Tom Blomqvist are on the market. And what about Kakunoshin Ohta? What about Scott Dixon and Álex Palou?? This story is sure to make waves on the driver side of things.