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HPD Appoints Junior Factory Drivers

Matt McMurry, Jacob Abel, Dakota Dickerson to represent HPD as junior factory drivers…

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Honda Performance Development has named Matt McMurry, Jacob Abel and Dakota Dickerson to its newly formed junior factory driver lineup, building on the manufacturer’s arsenal of driving talent in North America.

All three drivers, who will contest full seasons of Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, join HPD’s existing pool of factory drivers that includes Acura prototype veterans Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor as well as GT aces Mario Farnbacher and Ryan Eversley.

McMurry, who won the 2020 IMSA GT Daytona class title with Farnbacher, will compete with new Acura NSX GT3 Evo customer team Compass Racing while Abel and Dickerson will split driving duties in Racers Edge Motorsports’ entry, also in GTWC America.

Both Abel and Dickerson graduated from the HPD GT3 Driver Academy, which was held for the first time last year.

“We at HPD are committed to providing championship platforms to support developing drivers achieve their dreams,” said HPD commercial motorsports manager John Whiteman.

“The Acura Motorsports family has carefully created a robust academy curriculum infused with collaborative spirit that gives future sports cars stars inside access to the Precision Crafted Performance DNA of Acura.

“Our program success is defined as much by the growth of our graduates as by the doors that open for them because of their successful completion of the program.”

While Dickerson, the 2019 F3 Americas champion, has previous GT3 experience, Abel, a multi-podium finisher in F4 U.S. competition, will be taking part in his first season of racing in the platform.

The two drivers will share the wheel of the No. 93 Acura with Taylor Hagler, who is the only full-season driver in the lineup.

McMurry, meanwhile, has been paired up with Rodrigo Sales in the Compass Acura, which will also compete in the GT3 Pro-Am class.

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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