Report: Team Penske, Acura Likely to Split at End of Year

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Team Penske and Acura’s partnership in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship could end at the conclusion of the 2020 season, with reports of the two parties going their separate ways next year.

French publication Auto Hebdo reports that Acura Team Penske will not continue into 2021, following the end of its initial three-year contract.

Having debuted in 2018, the factory program, which brought star drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves into the WeatherTech Championship full-time, delivered the 2019 DPi title with Montoya and Dane Cameron.

With a total of four wins since the program’s debut, Acura Team Penske has yet to claim victories in any of the key endurance races including the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring or Motul Petit Le Mans.

Representatives from both Acura and Team Penske have yet to return Sportscar365’s inquiries for comment.

Sportscar365 understands that a number of teams, both currently involved in IMSA and not presently inside the paddock, have been vying to take over the Acura ARX-05 program beginning in 2021.

However, it remains unclear what the program could look like next year, particularly as manufacturers could be faced to make cuts in their motorsports budgets due to the current economic uncertainty.

Team Penske has been linked to at least one potential new LMDh effort, although a possible delay in the rollout of the joint ACO-IMSA regulations may not result in that program coming online until 2023 at the earliest.

John Dagys

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