Acura Motorsports today pulled the wraps off the new 2015 Acura TLX GT racecar at the North American International Auto Show, announcing plans to move up to the GT category of the growing and highly competitive Pirelli World Challenge Championship.

To be campaigned by longtime Acura Motorsports partner RealTime Racing, the new TLX GT will move Acura into the top category of the Pirelli World Challenge, facing competition that includes the Audi R8 LMS, Cadillac CTS-V, Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, Lamborghini Gallardo, Mercedes SLS, Nissan GTR, Porsche 911 and Ferrari 458.


“The 2015 Acura TLX is a true luxury sport sedan, so it is fitting that the car be raced against several of its natural competitors, and even some up-market brands, in the Pirelli World Challenge,” said Art St. Cyr, President of Honda Performance Development and Vice President-Product Planning and Logistics, American Honda. “Acura and Peter Cunningham's RealTime Racing organization have a long history of success together, and we look forward to adding to that tradition with the Acura TLX GT racecar in 2014.”

Developed from the production 2015 Acura TLX by HPD, the racing arm of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., the Acura TLX GT racecar will feature HPD chassis and aerodynamic performance parts approved for Pirelli World Challenge competition, and will be powered by a direct-injected, twin-turbocharged V6 engine, developed by HPD from the normally aspirated, production TLX luxury sport sedan. It will utilize all-wheel drive, as found in Acura's SH-AWD system.

The Acura TLX GT will be campaigned by Wisconsin-based RealTime Racing, the most successful team in Pirelli World Challenge history. Established in 1987 by owner/driver Peter Cunningham, RTR has raced and won with both Honda and Acura products. Since entering the SCCA Pro Racing-sanctioned World Challenge series in
1993, the team has scored a record 85 race victories on its way to 14 Manufacturers' Championships and 14 Drivers' Championships.

“In our 27 years of racing Hondas and Acuras, we have developed a clear understanding of what it takes to win races and championships,” RTR team principal Cunningham said. “In 2014, the Pirelli World Challenge GT class looks to be more competitive and diverse than at any time in the 25-year history of the series. RealTime has competed successfully in this category before, and we look forward to the challenges that lie ahead. With the onslaught of these world-class GT-3 competitors joining the fray, we will be working hard to develop the new TLX GT into a winning package. But that's what we love to do.”

Coinciding with the reveal of the 2015 Acura TLX Prototype at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show this morning, Acura has confirmed that a version of the car designed for motorsport will compete in the GT category of the growing and highly competitive Pirelli World Challenge. The North American-based series features a variety of familiar vehicles racing on a wide range of circuits, from tight street tracks like Long Beach and St. Petersburg to wide and fast circuits such as Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
The Acura TLX GT race car will be campaigned by Acura Motorsports together with partner RealTime Racing. GT is the premier category of the Pirelli World Challenge and is frequented by race cars based on the likes of the Audi R8, ChevroletCorvette, Dodge Viper, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Nissan GTR, Porsche 911 and Ferrari 458.

The TLX GT will certainly have its work cut out for it when it starts racing later this year, but Acura has had a helping hand in developing the race car by the experts at Honda Performance Development. In fact, the TLX GT will feature a chassis, engine and aerodynamic performance parts all developed by HPD.

Its power unit will be a twin-turbocharged and direct-injected V-6, similar to the unit expected to debut in Acura’s upcoming NSX, and drive will be channeled to all four wheels via the automaker’s Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive system.

Acura’s partner RealTime Racing is also one of the most successful teams in the Pirelli World Challenge, and it’s been successful using both Honda and Acura products.

As for the TLX, the production version of the car will go on sale this summer, as a 2015 model. It will feature front-wheel drive as standard but will be available with all-wheel drive. Two naturally-aspirated engines will be offered on the car, a 2.4-liter four-cylinder and a 3.5-liter V-6.

Taking on Cadillac's thundering, championship-winning V8-powered CTS-Vs, V10-powered Audi R8s and other high-caliber machinery in the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge GT class has led Acura to prepare bigger artillery for its new TLX racecar.

Technical specs for the four-door sedan, revealed yesterday at the Detroit auto show, are rather light at this point, but Honda Performance Development technical director Roger Griffiths was able to shed some light on what the TLX will be packing under the engine cover.

“Moving to a new model and class in Pirelli World Challenge was a case of we'd been running the Acura TSX for some while also and a Honda Civic with RealTime Racing, and with the TLX being a new product, everyone recognized Acura has a motorsports heritage of its own and we wanted to showcase the brand,” Griffiths told RACER. “The car will be very interesting – the engine's based on the LMP2 engine, it will feature all-wheel-drive, and we've got a ton of work to do, frankly. A lot of the work will be done in-house.”

Wisconsin-based RTR and California's HPD will collaborate on the TLX project as they prepare for the series' season opener at St. Petersburg on March 28-30.

“It's a two-way partnership; we've done the design here and Peter Cunningham's team will build the car for us," Griffiths added. "They have an incredible amount of touring car experience and will put all of their resources into sourcing the right components and preparing the TLX for testing and its debut. It's a pretty cool project – a significant undertaking – but one we believe will add another unique chapter to Acura's racing history.”

Acura Motorsports will debut the new 2015 Acura TLX GT in Pirelli World Challenge competition this weekend at American Honda's "home" circuit of Mid-Ohio, in the hands of RealTime Racing owner/driver Peter Cunningham.
The new TLX GT will move Acura into the top category of the Pirelli World Challenge, facing competition from the Audi R8, Bentley Continental, Cadillac CTS-V, Dodge Viper, Ferrari 458, Lamborghini Gallardo, McLaren 12C and Porsche 911. Cunningham will pilot the Acura in a pair of Pirelli World Challenge events during the double-header race weekend this Saturday and Sunday, as the Pirelli World Challenge series supports with the Honda Indy 200 Verizon IndyCar Series weekend.

"We're excited to debut the Acura TLX GT racecar in front of our 'hometown' audience of associates from the many Honda facilities in central Ohio," said Art St. Cyr, President of Honda Performance Development and Vice President, Auto Operations, American Honda. "The competition in the Pirelli World Challenge is fierce, including many of the luxury makes the TLX will compete with on the sales floor. Acura has never shied away from a challenge. Instead, we seek it out, both on-track and in the marketplace."

Acura2Developed from the production Acura TLX by HPD and RealTime Racing, the Acura TLX GT features HPD chassis and aerodynamic performance parts approved for Pirelli World Challenge competition. It is powered by a direct-injected, twin-turbocharged V6 engine, developed by HPD from the production TLX, and will utilize all-wheel drive, as found in Acura's SH-AWD system.

RTR has raced and won with both Honda and Acura products for more than two decades Since entering the Sports Car Club of America Pro Racing-sanctioned World Challenge series in 1993, RTR has scored a record 85 race victories on its way to 14 manufacturers' championships and 14 drivers' championships.

"The Pirelli World Challenge has a lot of strong competitors in GT, but the TLX is the only all-wheel-drive car in the category. For our four-door sedan to be racing head-to-head with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini, among others, is pretty cool," RTR team principal Cunningham said. "We're ready to go, and we're going to show the competition what the Acura TLX GT can do."