This is the first time any manufacturer has opted to use a front-wheel drive, five-door hatchback as the basis for its GT500 challenger
After a decade of racing GT500 cars based upon the second-generation NSX, Honda has elected to make a major shift for the 2024 season by introducing the all-new Civic Type R-GT in a bid to win the top class Super GT title for the first time since 2020.
It marks the first time any manufacturer has opted to use a front-wheel drive, five-door hatchback as the basis for its GT500 challenger, and certainly marks a major departure from the NSX-GT that had become such an icon of the series. Although the NSX is no longer sold, no doubt there are many fans who would have been happy to see Honda keep the midship supercar as its weapon of choice for many years to come, much as it did with the first-generation NSX, even after that car went out of production.
This time, not long after the second-generation NSX ceased assembly following a limited run of ‘Type S’ models in 2022, Honda gave the world its first glimpse of the Civic Type R-GT in concept form at the annual Tokyo Auto Salon exhibition in January 2023.
That was followed by the reveal of the car in something close to its final version in late July, at Okayama International Circuit, where it was also given its first track test.
Performance ceiling
The reasoning Honda gave for the radical change was twofold.
