Acura Wins Daytona Again!

February 1st, 2022 by

Rolex 24 at Daytona

Acura’s teams and drivers dominated the final hours of this weekend’s 60th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Meyer Shank Racing and defending race winner Wayne Taylor Racing battled to the checkers in a 1-2 finish in their Acura ARX-05 prototypes in the opening event of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

At the end of the twice-around-the-clock competition, it was the MSR lineup of Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves, Oliver Jarvis and Simon Pagenaud taking the victory three seconds ahead of WTR and drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi, Will Stevens and Ricky Taylor.

The win was the second consecutive Rolex 24 victory for Acura and the ARX-05 prototype, and the first 1-2 finish at Daytona for the manufacturer. For the Meyer Shank team, the win was their second Rolex 24 triumph, and 10 years to the weekend after their first win here in the 2012 50th running of the event.

Second-place for Wayne Taylor Racing places the teams at the top of the championship table after the first of 10 races this season, and solidifies Acura’s early-season Manufacturers’ Championship advantage.

Fast Facts

  • In taking the checkers at Daytona International Speedway, Helio Castroneves completed an incredible year that saw the veteran champion win the Rolex 24 twice, sandwiching his record-tying fourth victory at the Indianapolis 500 last May.
  • Castroneves also became the first driver to score IMSA wins for all teams to have campaigned the Acura ARX-05: Meyer Shank Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing (2021) and Acura Team Penske (2018-20).
  • This is Acura’s second consecutive overall victory at Daytona, the first 1-2 finish for the manufacturer. It is the third Rolex 24 win for Honda Performance Development, which won Daytona overall under the HPD/Honda banner. Acura won the Camel Lights class [the equivalent to today’s LMP2] at Daytona in 1991 and again in ‘92
  • Acura first took part in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 1991, winning Camel Lights with Comptech Racing and drivers Parker Johnstone, Steve Cameron and Bob Lesnett driving a Spice Acura SE90P. Acura repeated as Camel Lights winner in 1992, with Comptech drivers Johnstone, Cameron and Jimmy Vasser [who also won Honda’s first Indy car championship in 1996].
  • Running a Honda Performance Development prepared, production-based Honda V6 engine, Tequila Patrón ESM won the Rolex 24 overall in 2016 with Pipo Derani, Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown driving a Ligier JSP2-Honda.
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