{"id":85097,"date":"2020-11-15T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T01:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/english-acura-sweeps-imsa-weathertech-sportscar-championship-titles\/"},"modified":"2020-11-15T21:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T01:04:00","slug":"english-acura-sweeps-imsa-weathertech-sportscar-championship-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/english-acura-sweeps-imsa-weathertech-sportscar-championship-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"Acura Sweeps IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><![CDATA[\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">SEBRING, Fla.<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Nov. 15, 2020<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212;\u00a0Acura was the big winner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as the 2020 season came to a close Saturday night at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, winning all six major titles in the headline Daytona Prototype International and production-based GT Daytona classes.<\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpg5818left\" style=\"WIDTH: 100%; TEXT-ALIGN: left\" dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpg5818left\" title=\"Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor drove their #7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 to the IMSA Championship in the season finale 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday. Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry piloted their #86 Meyer Shank Acura NSX GT3 Evo to the production-based GTD class title.\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor drove their #7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 to the IMSA Championship in the season finale 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday. Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry piloted their #86 Meyer Shank Acura NSX GT3 Evo to the production-based GTD class title.\" align=\"middle\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1334765\/Acura_Motorsports_IMSA_Championship.jpg\" imagelabel=\"General\"\/><\/div>\n<p><b><u>Acura Team Penske<br \/><\/u><\/b>Acura&#8217;s second consecutive sweep of the DPi Manufacturers&#8217;, Drivers&#8217; and Teams&#8217; championships came with a second-place finish for the #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 of <span class=\"xn-person\">Dane Cameron<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-person\">Juan Pablo Montoya<\/span> and Simon Pagneaud. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, following an early race mechanical issue, their teammates in the #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 of <span class=\"xn-person\">Ricky Taylor<\/span>, Helio Castroneves and endurance driver <span class=\"xn-person\">Alexander Rossi<\/span> once again displayed incredible determination in battling back from a 12-lap deficit to finish eighth and claim the drivers&#8217; and teams&#8217; titles by a single championship point.<\/p>\n<p>In typical Sebring fashion, the 12-hour endurance contest played out more like a sprint race, with action and suspense throughout the event.\u00a0 After starting from the pole, the #7 Acura with Taylor at the wheel lost turbocharger boost due to a component failure just 40 minutes into the race.<\/p>\n<p>After going behind the wall for repairs, Taylor, Castroneves and Rossi resumed racing 12 laps behind the leaders, and raced hard into the night to cut the deficit by more than half.\u00a0 The resulting eighth-place finish crowned season-long drivers Taylor and Castroneves as champions, by a single point over the Wayne Taylor Racing pairing of <span class=\"xn-person\">Ryan Briscoe<\/span> and Renger van der Zande.\u00a0 The title was the second for Taylor, and the first for Castroneves to cap an incredible, 21-year career with Team Penske.<\/p>\n<p>Taking over at the front of the race as their teammates repairs continued, the #6 ARX-05 began a long battle for the lead with the #10 <span class=\"xn-person\">Wayne Taylor<\/span> and #31 Action Express Cadillacs, with other competitors waiting in the wings should anyone at the front falter.<\/p>\n<p>That opportunity came as night fell in the closing hours.\u00a0 Contact from <span class=\"xn-person\">Pipo Derani<\/span> in the #31 sent Montoya spinning in the #6 Acura, dropping Montoya to third and resulting in a &#8220;drive through&#8221; penalty to Derani for the causing the collision.\u00a0 The pair of Mazda prototypes seized their chance to take control, until a cut tire and unscheduled pit stop for the #77 Mazda of <span class=\"xn-person\">Oliver Jarvis<\/span> enabled Cameron to seize second place in the final hour, securing the DPi sweep as Acura claimed the Manufacturers&#8217; Championship by a single point over Cadillac. <\/p>\n<p><b><u>Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo<br \/><\/u><\/b>In the production-based GTD category, Meyer Shank Racing prevailed in a typically rough-and-tumble contest to complete a dominating season in the Manufacturers&#8217; Championship, with the Acura NSX GT3 Evo claiming the crown by an eight-point margin over nine other competing performance car OEM&#8217;s, include Porsche, Lexus, BMW, Ferrari and Lamborghini.<\/p>\n<p>In another typically gritty performance, the #86 MSR Acura of defending series champion <span class=\"xn-person\">Mario Farnbacher<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-person\">Matt McMurry<\/span> and Shinya Michimi used a third-place class finish to secure the drivers&#8217; and team&#8217;s titles for full-season drivers Farnbacher and McMurry.\u00a0 This came despite contact from another competitor \u2013 for the fourth time the last five races \u2013 that set aside their hopes for a third GTD victory in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Still their season-long efforts \u2013 along with those of the partner trio of <span class=\"xn-person\">Joey Hand<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-person\">Misha Goikhberg<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-person\">Trent Hindman<\/span> in the partner #57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Acura, was more than sufficient to secure the GTD Manufacturers&#8217; Championship by a relatively comfortable eight-point margin to complete the sweep of all six season-long IMSA DPi and GTD titles for Acura.<\/p>\n<p><b><u>Next<br \/><\/u><\/b>Today&#8217;s race concluded the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. \u00a0Acura will return to defend its prototype and GTD titles in the 2021 season, which opens <span class=\"xn-chron\">January 28-31<\/span> with the Rolex 24 at the famed Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n<p>Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring are available on Instagram (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2982378-1&amp;h=3218217537&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fhondaracing_hpd&amp;a=www.instagram.com%2Fhondaracing_hpd\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.instagram.com\/hondaracing_hpd<\/a>), on Facebook (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2982378-1&amp;h=959689008&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FHondaRacingHPD&amp;a=www.facebook.com%2FHondaRacingHPD\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.facebook.com\/HondaRacingHPD<\/a>) and on Twitter (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2982378-1&amp;h=2408968251&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitter.com%2FHondaRacing_HPD&amp;a=www.twitter.com%2FHondaRacing_HPD\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.twitter.com\/HondaRacing_HPD<\/a>). \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><u>Quotes<br \/><\/u><\/b><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Wayne Gross<\/span> <\/b>(Race Team Manager, Honda Performance Development) <b>on today&#8217;s season-ending Twelve Hours of Sebring and championship sweep for Acura and HPD<\/b>: &#8220;The Sebring 12 hour is always rough and challenging.\u00a0 This race was certainly no exception, full of drama, battles and excitement.\u00a0 But at the end of an incredible day and night, and an equally incredible IMSA season, Acura and our partner teams once again lived up to our motto of &#8216;Precision Crafted Performance&#8217;.\u00a0 We did what was needed to take home the drivers&#8217;, teams&#8217; and manufacturers&#8217; titles in both DPi and GTD, for a successful close to our relationship with Acura Team Penske in DPi, and Meyer Shank Racing in GTD.\u00a0 We are sincerely thankful to everyone at Acura Team Penske, and of course everyone at HPD, for their season-long efforts. Together, we&#8217;ve achieved success on so many fronts this year in truly unique, and always challenging, conditions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But there&#8217;s no time to rest, as the 2021 season will be starting before we know it.\u00a0 We have a lot of work to do as MSR moves to DPi and is joined Wayne Taylor Racing to fly the Acura banner, and we&#8217;re already working hard for next year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Ricky Taylor<\/span> <\/b>(#7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) <b>2020 IMSA DPi Champion with four wins in nine races: <\/b>&#8220;To me [co-driver Helio Castroneves] is Team Penske.\u00a0 For me, it was the privilege of a lifetime to get to drive for Acura Team Penske and to have the best three years of my career here.\u00a0 To win this championship with this team, and with him [Castroneves] is one of the highlights of my life.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll be friends for life.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><b>Helio Castroneves <\/b>(#7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) <b>2020 IMSA DPi Champion with four wins in nine races: <\/b>&#8220;There&#8217;s just so much going through my mind right now.\u00a0 For me, being able to win this championship with this amazing organization, this incredible group of people, I&#8217;ll never, ever forget this time. I have to thank everyone here, this guy [co-driver <span class=\"xn-person\">Ricky Taylor<\/span>] and of course <span class=\"xn-person\">Roger Penske<\/span>.\u00a0 What an incredible journey.&#8221;\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Mario Farnbacher<\/span> <\/b>(#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) <b>2020 IMSA GTD Champion with two wins and three podiums, successfully defends 2019 drivers&#8217; title: <\/b>&#8220;This championship means everything.\u00a0 I got into this team in 2018 as a third [endurance race] driver, and I&#8217;ve grown so much since then.\u00a0 I was named a full-season driver last year and we became champions with [co-driver] <span class=\"xn-person\">Trent Hindman<\/span>, Acura, HPD and Meyer Shank Racing.\u00a0 And now, this year, we did it again with these amazing two gentlemen [McMurry and Michimi], Acura and this amazing crew. It hurts a bit that this program ends with Meyer Shank Racing [as MSR moves to the DPi class in 2020 and new teams take over the Acura GTD effort], but for sure a new chapter will open next year.\u00a0 It&#8217;s just so great to end this season with, first of all, the championship, and a podium at the end.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Matt McMurry<\/span> <\/b>(#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) <b>2020 IMSA GTD Champion with two wins and three podiums; 2019 LMP champion:<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b>&#8220;There were a lot of ups and downs all throughout the race, but we just did consistent laps the whole time.\u00a0 The team did such an awesome job, they always do.\u00a0 [Co-drivers] <span class=\"xn-person\">Mario [Farnbacher]<\/span> and Shinya [Michimi] did such an incredible job.\u00a0 We couldn&#8217;t have done it without everyone involved.&#8221;\u00a0 <\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpgf01cleft\" style=\"WIDTH: 100%; TEXT-ALIGN: left\" dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpgf01cleft\" title=\"Acura Logo.\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Acura Logo.\" align=\"middle\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/458749\/acura_logo.jpg\" imagelabel=\"General\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Photo &#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2982378-1&amp;h=1181158887&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1334765%2FAcura_Motorsports_IMSA_Championship.jpg&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1334765%2FAcura_Motorsports_IMSA_Championship.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1334765\/Acura_Motorsports_IMSA_Championship.jpg<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Logo\u00a0&#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2982378-1&amp;h=3109038335&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F458749%2Facura_logo.jpg&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F458749%2Facura_logo.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/458749\/acura_logo.jpg<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>SOURCE  Acura Motorsports<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">SEBRING, Fla.<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Nov. 15, 2020<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212;\u00a0Acura was the big winner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as the 2020 season came to a close Saturday night at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, winning all six major titles in the headline Daytona Prototype International and production-based GT Daytona classes.<\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpg5818left\" dir=\"ltr\">&lt;img id=&quot;prnejpg5818left&quot; title=&quot;Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor drove&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-automotriz"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}