Forty years is a long time to celebrate anything in the car business. Acura launched in 1986, and this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is draped in anniversary tributes to mark the occasion. But behind the bunting and the milestone banners sits an awkward truth: Acura still hasn’t won at its own race since returning to IMSA’s top prototype class eight years ago.
That’s a drought worth noting for a manufacturer whose name is literally on the event.
Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian will field two electrified ARX-06 GTP prototypes on the tight Long Beach street circuit Saturday. The No. 60 car pairs 2013 Long Beach winner Colin Braun with Tom Blomqvist. The No. 93 features multi-time Long Beach winner Renger van der Zande alongside Nick Yelloly. Experience on this track is not the problem.
Results are. Neither MSR entry has reached the podium yet in the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. They arrive at what is essentially a home race — Acura’s headquarters sits in Torrance, barely up the 710 from the circuit, and Honda Racing Corporation USA operates out of Santa Clarita — still searching for form.
The race itself is a sprint. At just 100 minutes, it’s tied with Detroit as the shortest event on the IMSA calendar. Street circuits reward aggression and clean qualifying laps more than endurance strategy.
There’s less time to recover from mistakes and fewer opportunities for pit-stop gamesmanship to shuffle the order. You’re either fast out of the gate or you’re watching the leaders pull away through the concrete-walled canyons.
That format should theoretically suit Acura. A short race on a home track with anniversary energy in the air and experienced drivers behind the wheel. The ingredients are there. They’ve been there before.
The GTP class is brutally competitive, though. Porsche, Cadillac, BMW, and Lamborghini have all brought serious machinery and serious resources to the hybrid prototype formula. The ARX-06 has shown pace at various points since its 2023 debut, but consistency at Long Beach specifically has been elusive.
NBC will carry the race live starting at 4 PM Eastern, with Peacock streaming flag-to-flag. International viewers can find it on IMSA’s YouTube channel. For a brand paying to have its name on the marquee, a strong finish matters more than another press release about heritage.
Honda Racing Corporation USA — rebranded from Honda Performance Development, a name that carried decades of credibility in American motorsport — runs the technical operation behind the ARX-06 program. The engineering talent in Santa Clarita is deep. The question isn’t capability. It’s execution on race day, on this particular 1.968-mile layout, against this particular field.
Braun knows how to win here. Van der Zande has done it multiple times. Blomqvist has Le Mans class victories on his résumé. Yelloly brings factory-grade precision from his BMW background.
Forty years of Acura deserves a proper celebration. Tributes and timeline displays are fine. What would actually make this anniversary memorable is a car with an “A” on its nose crossing the finish line first at the race that carries its name.
The brand has been back in IMSA’s premier class since 2018. Eight seasons. Zero Long Beach wins.
Saturday’s 100 minutes could change that. Or it could add another year to a streak that’s becoming harder to dress up with confetti.
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