Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) released a few new photos of the new Civic Type R-GT racecar, which is set to compete in the GT500 Class of the Super GT Series in Japan. The new racecar will conduct its first shakedown tests over the next few days, prior to its debut in the 2024 season.
The Honda Civic Type R-GT was originally introduced in concept form at the 2023 Tokyo Auto Salon last January. The final version looks nearly identical to the static prototype, and sports a new black-themed livery, and has a few differences in the aero and cooling components.
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Unsurprisingly, the Type R-GT looks vastly different from the road-going hot hatch, adopting a slammed look and oversized aero components. The aggressive face retains the stock headlights but combines them with a new bumper covered by complex intakes, a splitter, and dual canards leading to the protruding wide fender extensions.
On the profile the upper section is reminiscent of the Civic but everything below has changed with thick side skirts between the center-lock wheels shod in Bridgestone Potenza slicks. The stretched tail has a new diffuser, an integrated spoiler above the stock LED taillights, and a massive swan-style wing.
Despite sharing a name and styling references, there is little in common between the production Civic Type R and the racecar in terms of underpinnings. The racecar is most likely based on a custom racing chassis and comes with RWD instead of FWD – on par with the GT500 regulations. HRC says that under the bonnet lies a “dedicated” turbocharged 2.0-liter direct injection four-cylinder engine without revealing its output and torque figures.
Honda will test the Type R-GT at the Okayama International Circuit in Japan on July 25 and 26. HRC President, Koji Watanabe, described the model as a “race machine incorporating the aerodynamics, engine and other technologies” developed in motorsports, adding that the team will “strive to win the championship from the very first year” in the prestigious GT500 class of Japan’s Super GT series.
