Scuderia Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly took to the Circuit Of The Americas behind the wheel of a first-generation Acura NSX. The Austin circuit is home to North America’s sole Formula One round this year (in 2022 it will be joined by Miami), and RBR’s sister team isn’t the one who’s making the most of it, with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo getting his chance behind the wheel of Dale Earnhardt Sr’s 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo NASCAR stock car.
But while Ricciardo’s smokey display looked spectacular, Gasly’s time behind the wheel of the old-school NSX was no less impressive, with the Frenchman not shying away from pushing the thirty-year-old sports car.
The weekend of the US GP sees the Acura name return to F1 after nearly 15 years, with both Red Bull and Alpha Tauri incorporating its logo into their cars’ liveries.
Read: Acura Returns To F1 Racing For U.S. Grand Prix With Red Bull Racing And Alpha Tauri
The clip, which sees Gasly rag the first-gen Acura supercar to within an inch of its life, is reminiscent of a legendary video of Ayrton Senna taking a prototype of Honda’s NSX-R around Suzuka. We suspect whoever ensured that Gasly’s lap included a camera trained on the 2020 Monza-winner’s footwork had the Brazilian World Champion in mind, although the modern interpretation of the video lacks the panache of those casual loafers.
Sadly the lap wasn’t timed as the the start-finish straight appeared to be littered with other vehicles ready for promotional runs, including, the “Ecto-1“, probably as a promo for the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife movie. However, after driving Honda’s first crack at a supercar around the circuit, Gasly seemed pretty enthralled with the experience, even proclaiming that he must start the negotiations to get his hands on one.