Whenever Max Verstappen has got some time on hand away from F1, he hops into some sort of racing machinery to have fun. Last year when he had some time ahead of the Las Vegas GP, the Red Bull driver got a golden chance to drive the Acura ARX-06, which is an engineering masterpiece by Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) and Meyer Shank Racing.
Having close ties with the HRC with Honda being Red Bull’s engine partner in F1, Verstappen got the privilege to take the wheel of their Daytona-winning car. The Acura ARX-06 won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2023 with Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Simon Pagenaud, and Helio Castroneves behind the wheel of the #60 car for Meyer Shank in the GTP class.
Verstappen has often expressed his interest in wanting to compete in endurance racing categories such as IMSA and WEC. For now, though, he only got a chance to test drive the Acura ARX-06 at a private testing location in Las Vegas, something he enjoyed thoroughly.
Under Braun and his engineering team’s guidance, the Red Bull driver was right on the mark with the GTP sports car. The only aspect where he needed some help was getting into the car.
He asked Braun what was the best way to get in the car, which had a closed cockpit and a door entrance from the left-hand side, quite unlike the F1 car that Verstappen drives.
Max Verstappen Driving the ARX-06: Director’s Cut
Full video: https://t.co/wqZW3SZcH3#F1 #AcuraARX #HRC #Hybrid #RedBullRacing pic.twitter.com/oexQeH6BKN
— Honda Racing US (@HondaRacing_US) February 6, 2025
As the 27-year-old was a bit slow while getting settled in the driver’s seat, he said, “Just need to practice you know for the future. I need to get in a bit faster.” This was an ode to Verstappen’s wish of racing at Daytona someday.
Verstappen’s experience of the Acura ARX-06
The four-time F1 champion took a look at the steering wheel of the Acura and was in fact happy to see that it had a lot of similarity with his F1 steering wheel. Verstappen also stated how he wants to have a GTP car steering at his home. “I have the LMP2 version of it, with the clutch here and everything at the back. [But] this is really cool.”
As he went away to do some installation laps and came back to the pits, Braun inquired him about his initial feeling about the car’s grip and downforce. “It’s probably got no grip compared to what you are used to [in F1]”, Braun asked. However, Verstappen happily stated, “The [grip in] high speed [sections] was better than I expected.”
For the Acura ARX-06, the traction had been a bugbear Braun and his co-drivers often complained about. The head of HRC-US asked Verstappen about the same, on which the Dutchman seconded Braun’s sentiments, much to the American’s delight. “Traction is very good, you have to be quite straight to really get a good drive out of the corners,” Verstappen said.
Nevertheless, the ARX-06 has had a great start to the 2025 season at the 2025 Daytona 24. The #60 car with Braun, Blomqvist, Scott Dixon, and Felix Rosenqvist eventually finished second in the GTP class, missing out on a second Daytona 24 win for Meyer Shank by only 1.335 seconds.
ACURA ON THE PODIUM
Another wild finish in the #Rolex24 as the No. 60 crosses the line P2 in Daytona! The No. 93 fought to finish P8. pic.twitter.com/kOrKEkofKD
— Honda Racing US (@HondaRacing_US) January 26, 2025
In the final two hours of the 24-hour race, Blomqvist was behind the wheel of the #60 car and running in fourth. However, as the #24 BMW fell out of the podium places owing to its battle with the #7 and #6 Porsches, Blomqvist made a late surge to take second place behind the #7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr.
