Dane Cameron felt Team Penske Acura had great pace throughout last weekends Rolex 24 at Daytona, but an alternator issue cost the #6 ARX-05 DPi he shared with Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud a chance of victory.
The car was making its race debut at the Daytona International Speedway, while the team was making a welcome return to full-time sportscar racing for the first time since 2009, with Penske bringing in Cameron, the 2016 Prototype champion in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, to their full-time line-up from Whelen Engineering Racing to race alongside Montoya.
Cameron was disappointed his first outing with Roger Penske’s outfit ended with only a tenth place finish, particularly as they were fighting for the lead when the alternator issues struck.
“It was really enjoyable to get that first start for Roger Penske and Acura Team Penske, but it was also a little disappointing,” said Cameron. “We had great pace the entire race.
“We had one issue with the alternator and that was it. It feels like one potentially got away from us here and it would have been nice to have been in a fight for the win at the end. It was still not a bad way to start off the year.”
Despite the disappointment, Cameron feels it was a positive first race for the Acura, and they can be involved in the battle for the overall championship in 2018.
“We know we have a strong Acura ARX-05 and we are gearing up to make a run at the championship,” said Cameron. “While one race may have gotten away we still have a lot of ‘big ticket’ races to win this year, along with the championship.”
