The Acura ARX-01b LMP2 challenger is set to make its European debut next year in the hands of the JAS Motorsports team. JAS has been a partner with Honda for the last decade and have won both touring car titles as well as rally titles under the Japanese manufacturer’s banner. The team will take the LMP2 machine into the European Le Mans series and have listed the 24 Hours of Le Mans race as an ultimate goal as well.
At this time the Milan based squad will field one car with the hopes of having two cars on the grid. The Acura LMP2 car has had success in the US competing and winning the LMP2 championship in 2009 under Fernandez racing. However, that success must be measured as the team had no real competition due to the majority of teams folding up shop because of financial issues. The Lola Mazda eventually bested the Acura team, however it was too little too late by the time the car was up to speed. The Acuras from ALMS never went to Le Mans to compete and it is looking more and more like the manufacturer will no longer offer factory support to teams running its platform in 2010. There has been no official announcement from Acura at this point, however if a team is going to run overseas, then it will probably come out of their own pocket.
As much as I dislike the Acura platform all together, I am glad to see that somebody is finally willing to bring the machine to Europe. We may finally get to see the true power or lack there of when the machine runs. Having the folks at JAS put this program is going to be a big help. They have a winning background and go 100% in all other efforts.
