This past weekend saw the intense spectacle of endurance racing take place with the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and for Acura, it was a pretty successful event. Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) took top honors in the opening race of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, while Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) clinched second to bring home Acura's first-ever 1-2 result and its second consecutive win. MSR deployed drivers Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves, Oliver Jarvis, and Simon Pagenaud, with this team finishing three seconds ahead of WTR's Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi, Will Stevens, and Ricky Taylor, but it could have ended with less glory.

As the above video shows, Castroneves in the No. 60 Acura ARX-05 DPi prototype was following a pair of Porsche 911 GT3Rs that were battling for the lead in the GTD Pro class when the scrappy fight saw the two German machines almost take each other completely out of contention. Had the Acura been following more closely, it could have spelled disaster for the driver, who has now become the first "to score IMSA wins for all teams to have campaigned the Acura ARX-05: Meyer Shank Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing (2021), and Acura Team Penske (2018-2020)." Sadly, not all Acura drivers were so lucky on the weekend.

While two 911s were battling for the GTD Pro class win, Acura's entry into the class was dealing with mechanical issues. The Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 production-based racer entered by Gradient Racing started 16th in a 22-car GTD field, yet managed to lead the pack by the middle of the race. Acura reports that the team suffered delays in the early morning hours to repair a broken line in the air-jack system, yet despite this, the team continued to contest the class victory until a wiring problem presented itself shortly after 9 AM, resulting in a long stop for repairs just after the sun came up. Repairs took a long time, and the team returned to the track to finish the race in 13th. Hopefully, next year will see fewer embarrassments for the NSX.