Acura in the LMDh category from 2023, so Honda can challenge other big names at Le Mans

Honda will race from 2023 with the Acura brand in LMDh, a new division that will allow it to compete in the WEC world championship and the IMSA American championship, so it can participate in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring which is the most prestigious endurance competition.

The control of LMDh represents a convergence between the two championships durability and features a standard hybrid frame and parts. In the past, accepted manufacturers are Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic and Oreca. Second, a 50 kW electric unit (200 kW in recovery) is arranged with a Bosch engine, Xtrac transmission and Williams battery. The total power of the system will be 500 kW, so the same as the LMH Hypercars and the weight will be almost the same (1,030 kg vs. 1,040) but, unlike the last, they will have only an electric part used in parallel with the internal combustion. the engine instead of the wheels so the traction will be only in the rear.

They have already announced their compliance with the new LMDh regulation Audi and Porsche, the brands that have won the most at Le Mans with 13 and 19 victories respectively. All that will be determined, however, are the technical regulations that LMH and LMDh will be aligned through the use of the so-called Balance of Performance (BoP) for the intervention of quantity, power and consumption to balance performance and promote competition. Sure, LMH are more modern cars, made by one manufacturer in every segment, but they are also more expensive. The manufacturers that have announced their participation are Toyota already from 2021 with Glickenhaus, from 2022 there will be Bykolles and Peugeot.

LMDh, on the other hand, offers lower costs, which is why it is more attractive and capable of attracting the official manufacturers who today compete in IMSA in the DPi category (Daytona Prototype International), namely Cadillac and Mazda, and which will be replaced in 2023 by LMDh. In 2023, therefore, we may see Audi, Peugeot, Porsche, Toyota and Acura collide at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. Given this level of quality, the Acura team may decide to adopt the name of the parent company Honda, marking the official return of the Japanese brand to world competition after the announcement of the abandonment of Formula 1 as an engine manufacturer.

Acura won the IMSA driver, manufacturer and team titles last year repeating last year’s hat-trick despite the top management of the Japanese company having already announced that they will leave Penske this summer and join Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing. The Acura ARX-05 is based on the Oreca chassis and features a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 derived from the J35 family, which is used in standard models in the Honda and Acura lineup.

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