Acura closes an eight-year cycle with 25 victories, 34 poles, and ten championships by confirming that it will not continue its GTP program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the end of the 2026 season, ending its prototype era that began in DPi and continued under GTP regulations.

At Long Beach, Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly drove the Acura ARX-06 number 93 to victory, a result Acura had not achieved at that track since 2009. The financial situation of Honda, pressured by the electric vehicle business, appears to be part of the backdrop to this exit.

Photo By IMSA

With the ARX-06, victories came but not the championship

During the DPi era, between 2018 and 2022, the Acura ARX-05 led Acura to titles in 2019 and 2020 with Team Penske and another in 2022 with Meyer Shank Racing, in addition to wins at Daytona and Sebring and a recurring presence at the top of the championship during that period.

With the arrival of the Acura ARX-06 in 2023, the start included a win at Daytona and a 1-2 finish in its debut under the new regulations, with three triumphs that season. In 2024, performance lost ground to other manufacturers, and in 2025 there was a recovery with two wins, four poles, and second place in the manufacturers' championship, without reaching the title.

Throughout this stage, the program had the speed necessary to win races, but without sustaining that level throughout the calendar, in a period when Porsche and Cadillac were the ones who secured championships in the GTP category.

Photo By IMSA

IMSA loses a manufacturer, with no confirmed short-term replacement

With Acura's departure for 2027, the GTP class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be left with four manufacturers: Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche. The next move within the category is tied to the possible arrival of Genesis in 2027, following its debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship this year, in addition to other manufacturers such as McLaren and Ford that are already working on their own prototypes under the current regulations.

Within the program, Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Colin Braun, and Tom Blomqvist are left without a defined plan with Acura from that point onward.

Photo By IMSA

Honda and the WEC, no official position so far

Since the start of the LMDh era, the possibility of seeing Honda in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a rebadged version of the ARX-06 has been raised, and at the beginning of 2026, reports emerged about a project for 2027 based in Europe that even mentioned Inter Europol Competition as a possible operator, although that path did not advance, and with the closure of the IMSA program, there are no signs of continuity in that direction either.

The situation is related to what happened with Porsche in the WEC, as even with a competitive program within the Hypercar era, Porsche chose to close it at the end of 2025 as part of a broader adjustment in its sporting structure, in an environment where financial pressure linked to the transition to electric vehicles has forced several manufacturers to redirect resources in the face of slower-than-expected returns.

The difference lies in the starting point: Porsche withdrew from the WEC with a consolidated project in the Hypercar era, and Acura closes its stage in IMSA without having transferred the level it had in the DPi era to the GTP category. Both decisions come in an environment where manufacturers are adjusting priorities amid a transition to electric vehicles that has generated financial pressure on several brands.