Acura’s first victory at its own branded street race took seven years. Now the question is whether that Long Beach breakthrough was a turning point or a footnote.
Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande drove the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 from pole to victory at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, leading 53 of 70 laps in a dominant 100-minute performance. It was the kind of result Acura has been chasing since returning to top-level prototype racing in 2018 — a wire-to-wire statement at the one event that literally carries the brand’s name.
That momentum now faces its next test at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian will field both ARX-06 GTP entries in the StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship on May 3.
On paper, Laguna Seca should be friendly territory. Acura Motorsports and Honda Racing Corporation USA claim 19 victories at the circuit — more than at any other track on the calendar — spanning Camel Lights, LMP1, LMP2, Prototype, GTD, and DPi competition dating back to 1992. The last time they visited, in 2022, Acura locked out the top two positions, with Wayne Taylor Racing’s ARX-05 leading Meyer Shank’s sister car across the line.
But 2022 was the DPi era. The GTP landscape is a different animal, with hybrid powertrains, convergence regulations, and a field that includes Porsche, Cadillac, BMW, and Lamborghini all fighting over fractions of a second. Historical win counts at a given venue mean less when the rulebook has been rewritten.
The driver lineups are calibrated for the 2-hour-40-minute race. Tom Blomqvist, who was part of that 2022 runner-up effort, shares the No. 60 with Colin Braun, a Laguna Seca winner in 2012. The No. 93 keeps its Long Beach-winning pairing of Yelloly and van der Zande, the latter having won at Laguna Seca in 2023.
Van der Zande is the thread connecting Acura’s recent momentum to its Laguna Seca pedigree. The Dutchman knows the Corkscrew, knows the ARX-06, and just proved both work together under race-day pressure at Long Beach. Whether the team can string two consecutive strong results together will say more about Acura’s 2025 GTP campaign than any single victory.
The No. 93 will also carry Phillips 66 branding through its 76 fuel brand for the weekend — a cosmetic change, not a strategic one, but a reminder that sponsorship dollars flow toward cars that win.
Coverage airs live on NBCSN at 4 PM ET, with flag-to-flag streaming on Peacock domestically and IMSA’s YouTube channel internationally.
Acura has spent the better part of three GTP seasons trying to find consistency against a brutally competitive prototype field. Long Beach delivered a result the brand desperately needed. Laguna Seca, with its deep history and favorable track record, offers a chance to prove that result wasn’t isolated.
Two wins in a row would change the narrative entirely. Another mid-pack finish would reduce Long Beach to exactly what Acura’s rivals hope it was — a one-off. The Corkscrew doesn’t care about history. It only rewards the car and driver combination that shows up fastest on the day.
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