Acura & Team Penske Will End Partnership After 2020

Following three years of achieving positive results on the track, Acura and Team Penske will conclude their partnership at the end of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

What began in 2017 has blossomed into one of the most fruitful racing partnerships the sport has ever seen. Even though Acura Motorsports will soon be moving on to a new professional racing team, the success that between this one-two punch will be immortalized in the record books for decades to come.

In 2019 alone, the Acura ARX-05 scored four race wins, 14 additional podium finishes, and nine poles. Some of the brands that Acura outperformed include the highly reputable programs of Cadillac, Mazda, and Nissan.

“On behalf of everyone at Acura and HPD, we’d like to thank Team Penske for their incredible efforts and impressive results racing the ARX-05,” said Ted Klaus, president of Honda Performance Development (HPD), the competition arm for Acura Motorsports.

Acura and Team Penske made defending their 2019 titles the main point of focus for this racing season. Now that the writing is on the wall, the duo has four more months and eight races remaining to secure their legacy as one of the greatest tandems the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has ever seen.

“The success we’ve achieved together during the first two-plus years of the program makes us even more determined to score more victories, defend our championships, and conclude our partnership on the highest of notes,” said Klaus.

Before this four-year partnership took place, Acura Motorsports teamed up with Team Penske in Championship Auto Racing Teams Competition (CART) in 2000 and 2001.

“Roger Penske has long been an important part of the Acura family as one of our great Acura dealers, and it has been a privilege to have him as part of the Acura Motorsports family as well,” said Jon Ikeda, Acura vice president and brand officer. “We’ve also had a very spirited competition with Team Penske during our previous ALMS Acura prototype programs.”

It’s possible for another reunion to take place down the road but for now, the focus has to be on concluding 2020 with consistently strong performances.