Salters: “Zero” Chance of IMSA Customer Acuras Next Year

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Honda Racing Corporation USA President David Salters has ruled out seeing the Acura ARX-06, in customer hands, in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year, citing the high costs involved to operate LMDh cars which he calls has turned into an “arm’s race.”

The luxury automaker announced last month the ‘pausing’ of its factory GTP program at the end of the year, and will instead allocate more resources into the NTT IndyCar Series through sponsorship of the Acura brand.

Speaking to assembled reporters at this weekend’s StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Salters provided further details into the Honda-owned brand’s decision.

“There’s exciting news that we’re going to take Acura to IndyCar, specifically to the Indy 500, so that’s history making; we’ve never done that before,” he said.

“Like all things, we evaluate where we are regularly and it was time to evaluate where we are with GTP. For a whole load of reasons, which I think I’ve mentioned before, it was time to pause that.”

Salters stressed that the costs played a role in the decision, largely around the FIA, ACO and IMSA’s usage of Evo jokers, which he indicated has spiraled the platform out of control.

“You have to control costs,” he said. “It has to be sustainable. This isn’t a quixotic thing. It’s not something that’s romanticized or hopeful or stuff.

“We’ve got to make this where it’s sustainable for the future.

“Hats off to IMSA, there’s normally very good racing because of BoP and things.

“We’re here to entertain the fans with close, good racing where the drivers should make the difference and how the teams run the cars should make the difference, particularly for endurance racing.

“We need to keep that in mind. You’ve got to make it sustainable economically.

“I run it as a business. You have a budget, you’ve got to be within that budget, you’ve got to have a certain return and then we’ve got entertain the fans.

“So we’ve got to get all those things right.”

When asked what IndyCar is doing differently to IMSA in terms of its return on investment, Salters said he could see the open-wheel championship’s “growth.”

“Hats off to everyone at IndyCar; hats off to FOX,” he said. “The numbers speak… They’re facts, aren’t they?

“You can see the series is really growing. That was our thoughts, hopes and aspirations and well done to them because it is.

“You can see the growth and return there.”

Salters reiterated there’s “zero” chance of a privateer racing the ARX-06s in the WeatherTech Championship next year but confirmed they’re in talks with prospective teams for the Asian Le Mans Series.

HRC US has also remained in the technical working group meetings for the 2030 top-class prototype regulations, but Salters indicated that the Evo joker allowances would need to be eliminated in order for the manufacturer to consider a re-entry at that point.

Those sentiments were also shared by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in a recent interview with Sportscar365, who is also against Evo jokers on grounds of costs.

“We need to see what happens with the regulations in 2030,” said Salters.

“To be very straightforward, it would be very good if there was convergence and it would be very good if there wasn’t Evos.

“There’s no point in having a series, with the thing I’m not meant to talk about (BoP), and Evos. The two things are in opposition.

“The thing I’m not meant to talk about (BoP) is there to control costs. Evos don’t control costs at all, and they destabilize the thing I’m not meant to talk about.

“If you were looking into the future with a new set of regulations, it would be good if there was convergence. That would be a great bump for what all love and do.

“Then it would be good if there are no Evos because they effectively are destabilizing the system, to be honest.”

Salters: GTP Has Turned into Unnecessary “Arm’s Race” With Evos

Salters estimated the current Evo allowance could increase manufacturers’ budgets by as much as 25 percent.

Acura, however, has only utilized two jokers for its ARX-06, both of which are understood to only have been minor updates.

“There wasn’t meant to be Evos,” he said. “With LMDh at the very start, to be very blunt, we did not sign up for Evos.

“Then all of a sudden, the costs are difficult anyways, and then it becomes and more costs.

“Then you have to start thinking about things.

“What was meant to happen, and DPi had this, if you were in difficulty, it was there as a joker to get parity but not as an arm’s race thing.

“It’s become an arm’s race now. Every year, people are doing Evos.

“The car is not in difficulty. It was originally meant to be a tool to help in that scenario. For whatever reason, it got mis-changed and then it becomes an arm’s race.”

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