Acura ARX-05

2018

For the ARX-05's debut season in the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship, Team Penske campaigned two vehicles: the No. 6, ran by Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron full-time with Simon Pagenaud in for endurance rounds, and the No. 7, ran by Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor full-time with Graham Rahal in for endurance rounds.^[17][18][19]

Both cars achieved moderate success throughout the season. Mechanical problems and race damage plagued both teams at the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring, preventing consistent results among the Prototype class.^[20] Montoya secured the team's first pole position at Long Beach as performance steadily improved. The team made a breakthrough at Mid-Ohio, where the ARX-05 achieved its maiden victory with the No. 7 driven by Castroneves and Taylor leading a 1–2 finish over the No. 6.^[20]

After another strong showing at Belle Isle with a double podium, Team Penske struggled to maintain the same level of success for the rest of the season. The No. 6 recorded additional podium finishes but continued to suffer from reliability problems. The No. 7 failed to return to the podium after Belle Isle, stringing together multiple poor results.^[20] The team led the most laps at the Petit Le Mans, but drive-through penalty late in the race dropped them to 5th place.^[21]

The No. 6 and No. 7 teams finished 5th and 7th in team standings, respectively, with Acura finishing 2nd in manufacturer standings in the ARX-05's debut season.^[22]

2019

For the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship, Team Penske retained the No. 6 lineup of Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron, and Simon Pagenaud for the endurance rounds. Alexander Rossi replaced Graham Rahal as the No. 7's third driver for the endurance races, with Rahal returning only for the Petit Le Mans race.^[23][24]

The ARX-05 found greater success in 2019 than its inconsistent debut season. The No. 6 encountered early setbacks at the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring, finishing sixth and ninth respectively. The No. 7, however, achieved a podium at Daytona.^[25] A double podium at Long Beach marked a turnaround for Team Penske, with the No. 6 rebounding to a record seven straight podium finishes, including three wins at Mid-Ohio, Belle Isle, and Laguna Seca, respectively. The No. 7 failed to record a victory but stayed in contention for the championship, achieving five podiums with only one finish below 5th. The ARX-05 saw three more double podiums throughout the year.^[25]

The No. 6 became the 2019 IMSA champion for team competition and the No. 7 finished in third place. Acura, meanwhile, won their first manufacturer's championship in DPi.^[26]

2020

The driver lineups remained mostly unchanged for the 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship, the only difference being that Alexander Rossi was the only driver for the No. 7's endurance rounds.^[27]

The two Team Penske entries had greatly varying fortunes throughout 2020. The No. 6 and No. 7 finished 4th and 8th respectively at the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona prior to the season's postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[28][29][30] Following IMSA's return to racing at the Weathertech 240, the No. 6 would string together multiple mediocre finishes, rebounding only later in the season to achieve three podiums in the final three races.^[28] The No. 7, following poor results at the Weathertech 240 and Sebring, dominated the latter half of the season, winning four out of the last six races.^[29]

Acura and Team Penske successfully defended their titles in 2020, with the No. 7 winning the team's championship by one point and Acura narrowly edging out Cadillac to take the manufacturer's championship. The No. 6 only finished 7th in the team's championship due to inconsistent performance.^[31][32]

The 2020 season marked the final campaign of the partnership between Acura and Team Penske after three years of competition. On July 20, 2020, it was announced that they would part ways following the conclusion of the season.^[33]

2021

Beginning with the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, factory support for the ARX-05 was assumed by Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing. The two teams campaigned vehicles No. 10 and No. 60, respectively.^[34]

Despite the shift in team structure, the ARX-05 saw multiple of its previous drivers return to continue racing with the car. Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi, and Helio Castroneves reunited as teammates at the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona; Taylor raced the No. 10 full-time, Rossi raced for endurance rounds, and Castroneves drove only for Daytona. Filipe Albuquerque was signed to be the car's second full-time driver.^[35] Dane Cameron, Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves reunited in the No. 60 at the Petit Le Mans; Cameron raced the car full-time, Montoya raced for endurance rounds, and Castroneves raced at Road Atlanta only. Oliver Pla was the No. 60's second full-time driver, racing every round except Road Atlanta, while A.J. Allmendinger was the third driver at Daytona.^{[36][37][38][39]}

The No. 10 began the season at the 24 Hours of Daytona by achieving the ARX-05's most prestigious victory yet, winning the race by a margin of only 4.704 seconds over No. 48, a Cadillac DPi-V.R campaigned by Action Express Racing.^[40] The No. 10 stayed a consistent threat throughout the season, claiming six more podiums, including wins at Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca.^[41][42] The No. 60 proved less competitive, recording only two podium finishes throughout the season.

The No. 10 narrowly lost out to the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac for the 2021 team's championship, while the No. 60 finished fifth. Likewise, Acura finished 2nd to Cadillac in the manufacturer's championship.^[43]

2022

The 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship marked the final season for the DPi regulations and, therefore, the ARX-05. Wayne Taylor Racing retained Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuqerque as full-time drivers, while Alexander Rossi returned for the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona.^[44][45] Will Stevens joined the lineup at Daytona and Sebring, while Brendon Hartley competed at Road Atlanta.^[45][46] Meyer Shank Racing introduced a new full-time lineup of Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis for the No. 60.^[47][48] Helio Castroneves returned for Daytona and Road America, Simon Pagenaud returned at Daytona, and Stoffel Vandoorne filled out the lineup for Sebring.^[49][50][51]

The Acura teams remained competitive throughout the season against the rest of the DPi field, which consisted exclusively of Cadillac entries. The No. 60 opened the season with ARX-05's second victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona, topping a double podium with the No. 10.^[52] The No. 10 amassed five wins throughout the season at Daytona qualifying, Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, and Road America, respectively, becoming the team with the most wins during that season of DPi.^{[53][54][55][56]} The No. 60, meanwhile, would not win again until the 2022 Petit Le Mans, but strung together five contiguous second-place finishes.^[57]

The No. 60 secured the team's championship despite winning only two races, with its overall consistency proving decisive. The No. 10 finished second in the standings despite claiming the most victories. Both Acura entries finished ahead of every Cadillac in the teams' standings despite being outnumbered. As a result, Acura won the manufacturer's championship once again. This win, their third for the manufacturer's championship for the ARX-05, tied them with Cadillac for the most manufacturer's victories of IMSA's DPi era, in one less season of competition.^[58]