IndyCar Series

Roger Penske to return to sports cars with 2 Acura's in 2018

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:58 p.m. ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Roger Penske will return to sports car racing next year with two Prototype DPi entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Team Penske will partner with Acura Motorsports for the two-car effort. Penske will field Acura ARX-05 Daytona Prototype international entries.

No driver lineup was announced, but Penske will need four full-time drivers. He's openly said he'd like three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and two-time Indy winner Juan Pablo Montoya to be part of the program.

Castroneves is coming off a win Sunday at Iowa - his first victory in three years. He's also second in the IndyCar standings.

Team Penske last competed in IMSA from 2005 through 2009. The team won the P2 class championships in the American Le Mans Series between 2006 and 2008 and fielded a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series entry in 2009.

Acura Motorsports currently campaigns the Acura NSX GT3 in the WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona category with Michael Shank Racing. Shank won at Detroit Belle Isle and Watkins Glen International earlier this season.

Acura will join Cadillac, Mazda and Nissan in the WeatherTech Championship Prototype class. Testing of the Acura DPi will begin soon, with the official competition debut set for the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona in January 2018.

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More AP Auto Racing: http://racing.ap.org/

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