SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — The two-car Michael Shank Racing effort in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will feature striking “mirror image” black, grey and white graphics on the team’s pair of Acura NSX GT3 entries.
The two-car Michael Shank Racing effort in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will feature striking “mirror image” black, grey and white graphics on the team’s pair of Acura NSX GT3 entries. (PHOTO | HONDA RACING)
The number 86 car, commemorating Acura’s 30th anniversary since its establishment in 1986, will have a black nose, fading to a grey cross hatch pattern before giving way to white at the rear.
The number 93 team car, representing 1993, the year HPD was founded, will reverse the color pattern, with a white front end transitioning to a black rear deck.
Acura’s rich heritage of success in sports car racing is reflected in the design. Splashes of orange, a traditional color for Acura Motorsports dating to the company’s first era of IMSA competition in the 1990s, and green, indicating that the cars are GT Daytona class entries, complete the graphic package on both cars.
“The debut of the Acura NSX GT3 at the prestigious Rolex 24 will mark the return of the Acura brand to IMSA sports car competition,” said Art St. Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development and Acura Motorsports. “We’ve aimed to race the NSX in North America since the car was just a sketch on paper, and we couldn’t more excited than to debut at Daytona.”
MSR team principal Michael Shank has also revealed the driver lineups for each of the team’s two Acura NSX GT3 racers.
Second-generation racer and IndyCar Series race winner Graham Rahal will join series regulars Andy Lally and Katherine Legge in the number 93 NSX GT3, joined by endurance racer Mark Wilkins.
The team’s number 86 Acura will feature Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay alongside full-season drivers Jeff Segal and Oswaldo “Ozz” Negri, Jr.; with Tom Dyer completing the endurance race lineup.
All eight drivers will take part in the January 6-8 Roar Before the 24, IMSA series open test prior to January 28-29 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, the opening round of the 12-race 2017 WeatherTech Championship.
The 2017 Acura NSX is the only supercar designed, developed and manufactured in the U.S. with production exclusively at the Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio.