No plans for Le Mans Honda attack
Honda has no plans in the near future to go to the Le Mans 24 Hours with the Acura brand’s ARX-06. Expanding the LMDH prototype programme beyond the IMSA Sportscar Championship in North America has slipped further down the list of priorities with its full Formula 1 return in 2026, according to Honda Racing Corporation boss Koji Watanabe.
There were hints last year that bringing the Honda Performance Development organisation that has mastermind Acura’s sportscar programmes since 2007 under the HRC umbrella could open the door to the ARX-06 racing in the World Endurance Championship and at Le Mans. But
Watanabe has stressed that there “are no plans at this time” for such a move, though he conceded that he wasn’t saying “it won’t happen forever”.
“First of all, we will continue to run Indycar with the limited manpower we have,” said Watanabe. “In the USA, IMSA is in high demand, and our priority is to win there. Since a few members of the US team will be involved in the F1 project, we will not consider [a Le Mans entry] until things have settled down there.”
The prospects of the Acura appearing at Le Mans are further complicated by marketing and sporting considerations. The ARX-06 would almost certainly have to race as a Honda because Acura is exclusively a North American brand.
Nor would an IMSA team be able to pitch up at Le Mans without entering the full series. The Automobile Club de l’ouest has been very clear about that.
An expansion of the IMSA programme from the current two cars run by Wtrandretti is unlikely for next year, according to HRC US boss David Salters. He said that the organisation “is very happy where it is right now” in terms of factory participation, but didn’t rule out selling cars in the future. “I don’t know about next year, but we would like to build some customer ARX-06S,” he said. “It would have to be the right team or teams because these cars are super-sophisticated, and then it has to make business sense.”