With HRC, Acura heading to Le Mans?

Will Acura’s presence at the 24 Hours of Le Mans finally materialize? Only entered IMSA so far, the first branch of Honda has not yet announced a date to cross the Atlantic with the intention of entering the Sarthoise series, unlike its competing brands in the North American championship such as Cadillac, Porsche (all already in Le. Mans year this) or BMW (expected in 2024).

A new feature has come to put the piece back into the machine with the announcement this Thursday, September 21 of Honda’s Performance Enhancement overhaul. HPD, based in Santa Clarita, California, announced along with Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), based in Sakura, Japan, its transition to Honda USA Racing Corporation (HRC US) from the 2024 season Two branches of the team previously independent racing teams to combine their expertise and resources to strengthen Honda’s overall strength on the global motorsport scene.

HRC US for international development

This concerns Formula 1, since HRC US will be involved in the development of F1 power units from 2026 (with Aston Martin) as well as in race support, especially due to the presence of three American events on the calendar at the beginning of this season (Miami. , Austin, Las Vegas). This also applies to Endurance as the Acura-ARX 06 will display new HRC badges from the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona (January 27-28).

The statement from David Salters seems to indicate that there is more to this organization than that. ” We are excited and proud to join forces with our friends and colleagues at HRC Japan and represent Honda Racing as an international racing organization. “, explains the HPD president, who adds: ” We will continue to challenge ourselves in American motorsports, even as we expand our human resources and technology to compete in the rapidly changing environment of the global motorsports arena. » Will the birth of HRC US be the missing step towards the finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship in the future?

Honda wants to unite behind one banner

« That is the main goal, our mission now is to be competitive on the world stage and bring everyone together, replied David Salters alongside the announcement in comments made by our colleagues from dailysportscar.com. So it’s clear that we need to assess what makes business sense and competitiveness. If we want to run, we have to be able to compete, but this new organizational change certainly makes that more possible, that’s for sure. And then we need to make sure that it makes sense for our brands and that we can compete. »

Future participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans is not the only issue, as in order to secure a ticket to the Sarthe event, Acura/Honda (whatever name will be used) will probably have to pay a subscription for the entire WEC season, for at least one car. It would be a shame to continue to sacrifice for a long time on the world stage of a car that has proven itself from its first race by winning the 24 Hours of Daytona and from memory drivers in the discipline like Filipe Albuquerque or Louis Delétraz. .

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025?

« I think we’ve always been clear, adds Salters on this topic. We have to look at the WEC. We have an amazing ARX-06, in my humble opinion, which has been the work of our team, ORECA has done a great job and our race teams have done a great job. So we were convinced by our ARX-06 and it definitely deserves to go to the WEC. However, we have always said that we must evaluate what makes sense, that it must make business sense, it must make marketing sense, it must make brand sense and, which is very important to me, it must be competitive. meaning, we should be able to be competitive. So we’re constantly evaluating these things. Now there is a more formal system to evaluate them, because we are all interested in international motorsport, but the conditions of the borders are still the same. We need to assess whether this makes sense. We will do our due diligence and see what makes sense for our business and our people. »

This modification therefore seems to bring Acura closer to future participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the WEC. It remains to be seen when this will happen. In this press briefing, David Salters ruled out his arrival in the championship in 2024. According to our latest leaks from the 6 Hours of Fuji paddock, participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans could happen in 2025.

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