Road America handed Acura Meyer Shank Racing a day that required more damage control than race strategy, and the team emerged from it still second in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP standings.
The #93 ARX-06 of Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande started from pole for the second consecutive year at Elkhart Lake, led the opening 15 laps, and then watched the afternoon unravel in stages. A speeding violation during the first pit stop, one of more than 40 penalties the series handed out across the six-hour field, sent the car to the back of the GTP pack. Then came the more consequential problem: a torque shaft sensor failure that reduced power output and straight-line speed for the remainder of the event. A car that started the day fastest through the timing loops became, in van der Zande’s words, a sitting duck on Road America’s long straightaways.
They crossed the line fifth on track. A post-race penalty assessed to the #23 for an earlier incident involving the #93 promoted them to fourth in the official results. It is the kind of finish that keeps a championship campaign alive without doing much to close a points gap.
The sister #60, shared by Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun, had a harder afternoon. Starting second alongside their teammates, the car made early contact when traffic shuffled the order at the first pit stop cycle and required extended stops to replace bodywork. That work pushed the #60 out of podium contention before Blomqvist made contact in the final hour, an incident he took responsibility for in his post-race comments. The car was classified 10th, not running at the finish.
Altogether, the race produced nine cautions and more than 40 penalties across the field. HRC US president David Salters called it more of a demolition derby than a sports car race, which is an accurate description of an event that punished nearly everyone in the GTP class at some point during the six hours.
Yelloly and van der Zande staying on the lead lap with compromised power was the result that keeps Acura MSR’s title hopes intact. Two races remain on the 2026 IMSA calendar, with the next stop the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 18–20. IMS is a circuit that rewards straight-line speed more than most, which will make the sensor failure that cost the #93 at Road America worth watching closely in the engineering debrief. A car that gets shuffled to the back and still scores championship points in a 40-penalty race is a team that knows how to function in chaos. Whether the powertrain holds together cleanly in Indiana is the test that matters more.
Source: Acura. Images courtesy of Acura.
