Why Acura's Hypercar won't be racing at Le Mans for the foreseeable future

The Acura ARX 06 is dominating IMSA's GTP class. But with its competitors and Cadillac and Porsche entering the WEC Hypercar class and the Le Mans 24 Hours, why won't Acura and Honda join them?
A huge thank you to ‪@LankyTurtle‬ for providing videos of the paddock and on track.
Go subscribe to his channel! / @lankyturtle
Also a shout out to ‪@SomeAnon77‬ for recording IMSA's onboards! Thanks!
Sources
- HPD Arx 03 Images : motors.all-free-photos.com
- Paddock and on track videos : / @lankyturtle
- Onboards: IMSA (‪@SomeAnon77‬ )
- Andretti Autosport (KZbin)
- Andretti Global
- Wayne Taylor Racing (Facebook and Twitter)
- Meyer Shank Racing (Facebook)
- Jota Unveil Video (JotaSport twitter)

[@GroovedSlick]

NEWS: HPD will become HRC in 2024 aligning them with Honda Global. With this big re-alignment Le Mans and WEC seem likely for 2025! Let's go!! One question remains though: would be with Taylor/Andretti or someone else?

[@emilioe50]

I think they would be the most likely since A) They are the most experienced team (and only one) running the ARX-06. And B) The andretti partnership gives wtr massive support and makes global efforts possible. There are obviously multiple other options, but wtr/andretti would be the most logical option for hrc.

[@nickklavdianos5136]

Honda's handling of their racing programs is at minimum baffling. They spent huge money on their F1 engine program, became a joke for their stint with McLaren, then found themselves supporting an actually competitive team, they made a beast of an engine, only for them to pull out the moment they started winning. Now RedBull wins races and championships with rebadged Honda engines. Now, they made a really competitive car, and for the fist time in a while the rules allow them to race the same car both in IMSA and the WEC, but willfully decided not to race in the world's biggest race and get publicity from LeMans.

[@LucaTgaard]

100% Agree. It is insane. They even told IMSA about one of the customers of their car cheated. Insane decisions, now i dont say it was a bad call from Honda but many companies wouldnt do that

[@jelwing]

@@LucaTgaard Japanese manufacturers is all about honesty.

[@KosmicHRTRacingTeam]

It’s because Honda Japan and USA are totally different, if you know the history of HPD, it makes a little bit of sense. Also, I wonder if Honda is just spread too thin with F1 and then INDYCAR. That being said, I wish they were in WEC too

[@VITORB82]

Corporate Excel dudes are not necessarily motorsport fans. Vlookups dictates their will.

[@tomstevens7452]

The Red Bull's are Badged as Honda's until 2026 on the Red Bull and Alpha Tauri.

[@slevingaius]

Can only hope ARX-06 will be at LeMans in the foreseeable future. The car is not only good looking but a top performer as well.

[@GroovedSlick]

Having seen it at Daytona, I can confirm it would be a real shame if the rest of the world missed out on that beauty.

[@slevingaius]

@@GroovedSlick wow that's amazing you got to see it up close. Trick question. Which of the 2 sounded better in your opinion? Cadillac's V8 or Accua's V6?

[@fixer10091994]

​@@slevingaius A naturally aspirated engine always sounds better

[@chriswirges5202]

As someone that's been in and around IMSA since the 70's, and a lifetime F1 fan, this is just another blunder by Honda. They have made so many dumb racing decisions I've lost count. How they've handled Formula 1 over the years has been a train wreck of miss-steps. They basically crawled back to Red Bull after wanting to throw in the towel and now they're trying to figure out what to do moving forward. For a Le Mans entry the answer is obvious, the brain trust at Honda (if it exists) needs to fund the effort. It's like they don't even know they're a car company sometimes lol... If you remember any of the Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Jaguar, BMW and Toyota victories raise your hand. There you go, that's why your race Le Mans. Brand recognition.

[@Mr.Waffullz]

Such a shame because they look like they'd actually challenge Toyota. That Oreca chassis paired with that high revving V6 is fast!

[@rookie8960]

nah no way, they would not be able to beat Ferrari or Toyota, No chance

[@OscarZheng50]

the fastest in imsa and the fastest in wec, would love to see them clash

[@lorenslin1968]

Acura/Honda now is much like the big threes back in the 80s. Slow acting, poor product offering, and has no sense of direction. Why are they in racing at the first place. If they want to sell cars, just spend the money on commercials that kids would love. The 06 is fast, yet Acura/Honda is still reluctant to build brand imaging using the imagine of Le Mans. That's dumb.

[@regibson23]

I don't believe for a second that HPD doesn't get Honda money. P.S. Thank you for referring to MSR as cheating. Everyone shies away from that word but it's absolutely what happened.

[@peekaboo1575]

Honda is difficult to understand. One would think they'd see the value of potentially winning the centenaire but apparently not. Then again they ditched their support of Red Bull Racing at the least sensible moment imaginable, axed their V10 NSX only to replace it with a hybrid that nobody wanted and so on. Honda has never been the same post financial crisis.

[@burgers3309]

they also had an e machine in the works like 10 years before tesla but they decided to scrap it 😂

[@ddrrFA5]

Would love to see Andretti enter 3 ARX-06s at Le Mans. Perhaps each with Indycar stars. One can dream. One thing is for sure, it would be branded as a Honda as Acuras are not sold in Europe. Hopefully WTR and MSR can perform well in the remainder of the IMSA season and nudge the Honda execs in that direction. There have been a few NSX GT3s in the Spa 24 hour and the GTWC/IGT under Honda Team Motul and Team Honda Racing, although I'm not sure how much factory support these teams received.

[@danieljay8009]

I think theres 0 chance of 3, especially with how full the grid is and will be in the coming years.

[@ayoliya]

@@danieljay8009 I agree. It will be one car at best

[@GroovedSlick]

A car with Herta and Grosjean and another Honda IndyCar driver (O'Ward Pagenaud, Castroneves, Rossi or Rahal) would be truly incredible. That would easily be the car that I'd root for.

[@thedope_jackalope2203]

@@GroovedSlick isn’t grosjean going to race for the Lamborghini lmdh?

[@GroovedSlick]

yeah, I totally blanked on that. I'm not sure if it was officially announced but with him racing with Iron Lynx at Daytona I think thats obviously the goal for next season.

[@cco53587]

I think it's more likely that WTR and Andretti break their partnership with Acura and end up in WEC with a different OEM before we see an ARX race at Le Mans. There are going to be more cars available for privateer entries from other OEMs within the next few years.

[@dispatch2111]

Thank you for a good explanation of this situation

[@kpl4174]

there's talk about Andretti bringing in Honda in WEC. Honda in WEC would be a BIG one!

[@soholmgaming]

Good insights and good video, been enjoying these IMSA videos you're putting out keep it up

[@GroovedSlick]

Thanks man, really appreciate it! Hope your doing well 🤙

[@bradkroboth5490]

Hopefully he can pull it off, that be great to see

[@ivanqu7434]

Acura is content being a regional focused player, unlike Cadillac’s ambitions. Now most its road models are North American specific. It never had a foothold in Europe and it recently just failed in China. There’s no business case to race in the WEC

[@albert_gyorgy]

But look at the bigger picture. The ARX 06 could be renamed to Honda (Just like the NSX, same car different badge), and Honda is a known brand everywhere in the world.

[@ivanqu7434]

@@albert_gyorgy Honda probably realize it doesn't justify the budget for any gains in marketing value; in Europe the NSX sold in single digits last few years, and the only performance/premium Hondas there is perhaps the Civic Type R, and those volumes are probably too low to justify a WEC budget for marketing purposes. The ARX-06's headlight design language screams "Acura"; can that be translated and repurposed to the rest of Honda's global road models? I don't know

[@ShaiyanHossain]

Acura is entirely US focused (I drive a new integra lol), so winning races in Europe doesnt do a lot for Honda of Europe, who dont really market anything performance other than Type R. and Acura's US customers often dont care about what happens on the other side of the pond unless they're ardent type S people, which is a niche group. if anything id love to see Acura take more involvement in fielding the Integra and TLX in more series

[@98MTBiker]

@@ivanqu7434 I don't think car looks play that big of a part. All the IMSA/GTP cars are recognizable sure but you don't look at the Toyota GR-010 and think oh wow that looks like a Toyota.

[@matsimmo6208]

I’m sure I’ve seen WTR/Andretti subtly suggest they want to join WEC and Le Mans in 2024

[@danieldrexel3875]

Its sad because this is by far my favourite of the Hypercar/GTP cars. A man can still hope.

[@donstevenson2660]

To state the obvious, Honda has much more leverage with rules in the U.S. due to their sponsorships in IMSA and INDYCAR. SRO didn't break BOP regs in their favor, and neither will WEC.

[@StarryNightGazing]

ByKolles and Vanwall are the same team though

[@GroovedSlick]

ughhh how did I miss that!? Haha good catch

[@ryanc00p3r3]

If Honda want to enter LMDh in Le Mans, then it will not run under Acura brand as Honda Brand. We know Acura did attempt in Le Mans in the 2000s LMP1 era.

[@johnsullivan937]

It just blows my mind how the hypercar class has seen an explosion of entries, many of which from very small privately funded teams/manufacturers. Yet a global trillion dollar giant like honda just shrugs and just cant seem to scrape together the resources or teams to make it happen. I'm just tired of watching gigantic companies that used to be GREAT seemingly just not caring about the passion that used to go into motorsports/sports cars in general. They've become far too obsessed with pinching pennies, and hiring business degree graduates over people who love and understand the automotive industry. I believe a lot of auto companies these days have just gotten so fat and lazy they dont even bother trying. And when they finally do half the time it winds up being some misguided effort with debatable outcomes. It still pisses me off that all the manufacturers pitched a big fit over the hypercar class requiring road going versions of whatever car they made, which would have been an amazing return to the way prototypes used to be, and would reinvigorate excitement for the brands. They eventually got their way and had that unique requirement removed from the series, pretty much just taking away everything that made the proposed hypercar class different and interesting, claiming all the poor companies like toyota just couldnt afford such a feat. Yet what are the 2 manufacturers that stuck with that original goal, almost to the detriment of their racecar designs? SCG and Isotta Fraschini, the two smallest companies in the hypercar field. So many things absolutely could be done in the automotive industry. But scraping an extra .3% off their returns is more important than reinvigorating excitement into their brand, giving people something to dream about. When they can sit by and rake in billions off a swarm of generic paint by numbers boring suv's and trucks with no effort who cares? Its just sad.

[@keiming2277]

Hope Andretti and Honda team up in Le Mans and future F1 project

[@paulmelville11]

Andretti being with Honda in Indy Car and GM Cadilac potentially in Formula 1, would they go to the trouble of convincing Honda to run a car in Le Mans or just take the more simple option of running a Cadilac at Le Mans?

[@GroovedSlick]

I think the issue with Andretti is they don't seem too interested in starting a program from the ground up. So, if they wanted to run a Cadillac they would likely have to find another team pursuing a Cadillac effort that they could piggy back onto.

[@413TomaccoRoad]

WTR and Andretti do run the Acura GTP.

[@albert_gyorgy]

I'm a huge fan of Honda and I would love to see them in WEC. Aside from literally already having a car to race, Honda has an excellent European based team JAS Motorsport who would certainly help them out, and another thing is: They could finally compete against their arch-rival Toyota globally again. Honestly, I only see benefits of Honda entering WEC. The only thing holding them back is the good old stupid Honda bureaucracy which already stripped them of a lot of publicity (think Brawn GP, older endurance efforts or the recent Red Bull engine saga). When are they going to learn?

[@413TomaccoRoad]

The NSX is raced as a Honda in WEC.

[@rosgoncharuk2403]

Soichiro Honda spinning in his grave, company became a joke

[@MadIIMike]

Well, there's a lot more to it. For starters Japanese companies are REALLY scared of "losing face", because the people which end up responsible for it will usually be expected to step down. The best example was likely Nissan with their LMP1 project. They had almost no funding compared to others and were very clear about the first 3 years being only to gather data... but "tarnishing the brand name" with unreliable cars at Le Mans was unacceptable and it got canceled. Toyota also has plenty of examples: You better not mention F1 to Toyota's upper management, because AFAIK Toyota had at some point the highest budget by quite some margin. There were also multiple failed attempts at Le Mans. The strongest bet was likely the GT-One (TS020) but it only ran in 1998 and 1999 despite having dominant pace. It could easily have competed up to like 2006... but Toyota (and BMW, tough their V12 win was very lucky to begin with) left for F1. There were no cars given/rented to teams whatsoever, former drivers iirc tried using Panoz and later (2003 ish?) a Audi ran by a Japanese Team actually won overall. (Sidenote: Yes, one of those drivers was "DK" Tsuchia and iirc he also drove a Panoz at some point). You can also look up the history of the Gazoo Racing brand name, which tells you a lot about how sensitive they are about someone officially representing the company - even if that someone happens to be one of their highest profile drivers/engineers.

[@satyakisil4289]

It's more about "losing face", it's about losing cash. Japanese economy is already in a slump and most multinational companies cannot back up their losses by profits made in domestic investment.

[@kapfazo]

Besides other things regarding Honda, this video shows that an privatieer under name of Honda has made this achievment?? Wow how great they are. Respect whatever happen behind.

[@martinfreund6737]

United Autosports could be a good candidate as well. It's arguably the biggest player in the LMP2, and it already has some drivers who have driven the ARX 06 before ( Filipe Albuquerque, Tom Blomqvist ), AND they don't have a hypercar partner for 2024 as of now, meaning that they won't be able to contest 2024 WEC except for le mans since LMP2 class is getting banned from 2024 because of the number of hypercars entering the series.

[@GroovedSlick]

Thats a very good point. I didn't have time to bring it up in the video but they would be the best LMP2 candidate given that WRT, Vector Sport, and Prema will all be Hypercar factory teams next year and as you mentioned that United is running Acura's factory drivers. Also they would have the benefit over Andretti of being much more "plug and play" with the WEC. I just don't know who would provide the funding for a United effort.

[@martinfreund6737]

@@GroovedSlick perhaps if Honda ends up powering future McLaren F1 cars, Zak brown, who runs the show in both F1 and united, could be incentived from Honda or his own purse. Which shouldn't be that much of a problem considering how much money they've continuously poured into their lmp2 team And their drivers are all stars, too. Probably the strongest driver lineup outside of hypercar

[@martinfreund6737]

Or they could combine forces with Andretti?...

[@GroovedSlick]

The whole McLaren/Zak Brown/United situation is really hard for me to untangle. 😅 I think that he would probably tell the Honda execs that United is entirely unrelated to McLaren so any bad feelings after their F1 split shouldn't be a factor. Whether or not they would believe that is a different story. The more I think about it the WTR/Andretti/United partnership would actually make so much sense. Also given that Andretti and McLaren (Zak) partnered along with Honda (albeit USA) for the Indy 500 effort with Alonso. I think they all need each other though for this effort to work. WTR provide technical resources, engineering and connection to HPD. United provide the actual race team and Andretti deals with business, funding, marketing, etc. Without any of the three I think this falls apart.

[@Dexter037S4]

@@martinfreund6737 They already are down under. Walkinshaw Andretti United Honda, just to bring the old TWR name to Le Mans as well.

[@viniciusdelima8192]

As Toyota fan since their debut in WEC in 2012 i would really like to see an oriental competition. But there's a mix of problems: japanese corporative philosophy, lack of europe base and team interested to bring Acura to Le Mans.

[@311superfly]

Sterling anyone? This gumba is ambitious. Caddy Dah.

[@sissyspaceship]

Isnt there an issue with imsas rules to allow one of the prototypes to run both. Imsa and we?

[@GroovedSlick]

I kind of glossed over that but the new for 2023 GTP cars in IMSA can become eligible for the WEC and Le Mans with minimal effort.

[@jacobaxton6353]

Shame. They're the class of imsa, would've been fun to see them fight the wec prototypes

[@GamMngitSssEmoTionaL5953]

Well as Nick said it is baffling but I feel there putting all there effort into f1 2026

[@guillermofernandez529]

Yeah, you might want to take a look at the latest news. Honda is seriously considering WEC in 2025. Andretti maybe?

[@GroovedSlick]

Seems like they are ramping up for Andretti/Taylor in '25. That would be amazing

[@htwm012]

I wished Toyota or any other manufacturers would poke Honda/Acura for playing chicken. Making Honda/Acura saying "Bet" and making their debut at WEC.

[@NazarovVv]

Honda is just allergic to success man, every time they are on the edge of greatness the good idea fairy pays them a visit

[@Ranand27]

I'm back to here after HPD become HRC US for 2024, yesssss that's car will join WEC for 2025😎

[@GroovedSlick]

yes, I'm so stoked! Finally the big change we were looking for

[@Ranand27]

just can't imagine what a madness will happen at 2025 with more than 20 hypercars at same circuit

[@kievmiddeton2656]

Lol I love Honda/Acura but to love the brand is to kno they don’t mind fumbling the ball

[@JkTheMixer]

There are more things that make Honda returning at Le Mans more unlikely than likely. Europe has been more or less neglected by Honda for the longest time. Also, losing to Toyota is a big risk and that's something that doesn't sit well in the Japanese culture. Trip to Le Mans would be too expensive and pointless unfortunately for the IMSA teams too. However, if we are thinking about European teams, one that hasn't shown interest, but has the resources, is JAS Motorsport. Whilst not a team, they build and develop Honda NSX GT3s and Civic TCRs. Again, they have shown no interest and have no experience at Le Mans, but if we are thinking European teams or entities, they'd be the one. Only thing is, they would need big boost of cash, either from major sponsors or Honda Motor Europe.

[@StuntpilootStef]

You missed one of the major reasons why they wouldn't get funding: Toyota. Toyota is so incredibly dominant right now that it would take a monumental multi-year effort to even catch up. Remember, Toyota LAPPED the entire field at Spa. All of it.

[@OscarZheng50]

why wont acura or honda approve of running their car at le mans? there are manufacturers trying to get in to wec and here acura is trying to not get into wec

[@warwickhewitt8844]

Dont forget Honda pulled out of the F1 world championship and let their Formula one team rebrand as Brawn GP which then won the drivers and constructors world championship with Jensen Button!

[@elprestejuan]

Honda is scared (justifiably) of losing to Toyota at Le Mans. As long as TGR is dominant in WEC, I doubt Honda wants to get into the category

[@fusionsniping3741]

JAS motorsports would be the closest you'd get to honda factory effort, as they're basically the only honda factory team in europe, though doubt funding n such will happen, they even cut their igtc effort with honda, more weird honda japanese thinking stuff I guess

[@AdamHinckley]

0:27 it's not just CGR, it's AXR as well going to le mans, CGR will have two cars, AXR will have one

[@connorohidy8491]

Aint it something that Wayne Taylor left GM and caddy with the explicit intention of going to Lemans just for them to end up as the only ones not going?

[@connorohidy8491]

alright BMW for this year too, but that program is imminent

[@HuskyKyurem]

I was wondering where was Acura

[@jcwatts5000]

Honda has me going insane with there stupid corporate decision they are winning all over but not getting credit because of the spending they don’t want to do plain stupid

[@a92gsxdsm]

You have to be invited to the 24 hour of Lemans. So if the fia doesn't invite you, you ain't going.

[@ddrrFA5]

Or you can win Petit Le Mans in October 🤷‍♂

[@Das_Ratsel_956]

​​@@ddrrFA5 They can however seeing that Porsche and BMW have gotten significantly faster it may be a very close race

[@kageyamayuki1396]

you need to do 2 race before LM for the BoP so you will not get any invitation if the car didn't do WEC round before

[@John_Doe3]

Mislabeled the Acura as a hypercar in the title.

[@juliocps]

Honda makes stupid decisions regarding sports competitions since the time of the partnership with McLaren and Ayrton Senna, when they did not honor the loyalty of their partners.

[@311superfly]

Actually it could be Any brand! Subaru?

[@marklangren3142]

Por-sha

[@camerone397]

Nice video, lots of good info, but why, are you talking, like this? You can just, speak normally, and I think, it would flow, much more smoothly. Regardless, I've subscribed, keep it, up

[@ShaiyanHossain]

it sounds like its translated into tiktok audio LOL

[@WillFuI]

The caddies look the best the acuras are so hit or miss

[@olivierlair3267]

Ils viendront quand il y aura moins de concurrence 😅 Peut être pour une petite victoire sans réelle concurrent Un peu du style Toyota

[@KAMiKAZOW]

Honda don't want to be pitted against Toyota. IMO there is a decent chance Toyota would come on top easily.

[@GroovedSlick]

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that angle but it definitely could be the case

[@KAMiKAZOW]

@@GroovedSlick Maybe I'm totally wrong but to me Cadillac and Porsche looked way more competitive against Acura in IMSA than the same cars against the Toyotas in WEC. IMO there are only two organizations that could convince Honda Japan to at least try and that would be Red Bull Racing (who at least for now share junior racers, see Tsunoda, Iwasa, or Lawson in Super Formula) and Mugen but I don't think either has any interest to join WEC, especially with the upcoming RBR-Ford tie-up.

[@konstantinreuther3122]

Andretti is such a meme. How about they try to win a series that they are already entered in instead of just entering everywhere the can.

[@fqeagles21]

I agree 😂😂😂

[@leoromo74]

They recently won the Long Beach Grand Prix but okay

[@ananastudio]

@@leoromo74 Winning a race and winning a championship are two different things

[@ToivonenDeltaS4]

Honda are just baffling.

[@iee4g6]

They will probably get nerfed hard by FIA if they did enter LeMans, it was too OP in Daytona

[@km6832]

Because they dont have a european market share. Thats it

[@peekaboo1575]

Honda does. Put a little Honda badge on those cars and problem solved.

[@km6832]

@@peekaboo1575 you have a point

[@yaintracingshit512]

@@peekaboo1575The car resembles an Acura though, it doesn’t have the design cues of a modern Honda.

[@ShaiyanHossain]

the car is still made to look like an acura and even if it does race as a Honda it will still retain its acura image, which would be peculiar for European customers who have no clue what Acura is or American customers who dont follow LeMans

[@ragereset2795]

So Honda is too cheap/gutless to stand behind the already-winning LMDh, crippling their own brand on the world stage and ignoring the credibility the race wins they’re already getting would give them. I’ve no sympathy whatsoever. They’re not needed, there are enough other manufacturers chasing the glory that could be theirs, but it seems like a waste of potential.

[@arztbesucharzt8143]

Bad Management. The answer is bad management.

[@deancostello14]

I genuinely think HRC (the people who do the F1 engines and motorbikes) are scared of HPD being the team that win Le Mans, if they want to win they want it to be HRC. Because if HPD did win it there might be questions about why Honda have 2 different racing divisions.

[@albert_gyorgy]

HPD is North American, HRC is global. If the car was entered for WEC I'm pretty sure it would be with HRC and not HPD.

[@fixer10091994]

Theyre scared of toyota. Also honda never cared about le mans unlike toyota and nissan

[@randazenU.G.2135]

this is the biggest mistake Honda has ever made in automotive history in motorsports all manufactures MUST BE RACING AT LE MANS WTF HONDA your going to get laughed at by Toyota for a long long long time for this the biggest screw up in Honda's history. No manufacture has the right to tell teams where to race and when in sports car racing or in any motorsport.

[@64ElMariachi]

wow if that's the reason, that's really, really dumb.

[@speedweenie7394]

Michael don't f*ck around. If he says it, it generally happens.

[@jeffalanvasconcellos3039]

Politics as usual.

[@andreasimpson4573]

background music sucks.... thumhs down

[@VampsMedia]

Well yeah Honda doesn’t want it’s Acura counterpart to out due them. Everyone should just flood Honda’s social media everyday telling them to send the Acura to La Man’s.

[@MomedicsChannel]

Gonna be weird when then show up on the 2024 LM24 grid then. Your assumptions on this whole situation are wrong.

[@randlewilliams1704]

The beginning is funny asf you should of said the cheating 60 and the 10 being stupid wrecking itself and others in the other two rounds

[@marklangren3142]

You mean the cheating and poorly driven

[@sissyspaceship]

Isnt there an issue with imsas rules to allow one of the prototypes to run both. Imsa and we?

[@chickenegg0138]

With the introduction of WEC Hypercar and IMSA LMDH/GTP, the rules were adjusted to allow cooperation between the two operations which would allow le mans entries from the IMSA side. Not sure about the reverse though.

[@kageyamayuki1396]

both LMH and LMDh can compete as Hypercar in WEC and as GTP in IMSA