Super GT
Honda NSX Type S SUPER GT car makes public debut at Suzuka
Honda’s NSX Type S-based SUPER GT challenger finally made its public debut at the marque’s ‘Thanks Day’ demonstration at Suzuka on Sunday.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Feb 6, 2022, 7:58 AM
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All five of the teams that will campaign the revised NSX-GT this season were present for the event, which was being held for the first time since late 2019 after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A practice run on Suzuka’s east course was held involving all five machines on Sunday morning, followed by a formal show run later in the afternoon.
Nakajima Racing's #64 machine was running in its full 2022 colour scheme, while the remaining four cars - belonging to Kunimitsu (pictured top), ARTA, Mugen and Real Racing - were all running in interim liveries.
Although the Type S has been spied testing privately, initially at Motegi late last year and then at Suzuka and Fuji Speedway last month, Sunday's event marked the first official appearance for the car, which notably features a significantly revised front end compared to the 2020-21 car.
As previously announced by Honda, the only change to the driver roster is the arrival of Nobuharu Matsushita aboard Real Racing's #17 entry in place of Bertrand Baguette, who has moved in the opposite direction to join Nissan.
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Honda has been able to introduce the Type S due to the relaxation of the aerodynamic freeze in GT500, which has also allowed Nissan to jettison its GT-R in favour of the all-new Z as its base model for the upcoming season.
It comes as the road-going NSX reaches the end of its commercial lifespan, with production set to cease entirely following a limited run of 350 examples of the Type S this year.
As well as the SUPER GT cars, four of Honda’s Super Formula machines were in action at Suzuka, with Naoki Yamamoto (Nakajima Racing), Nirei Fukuzumi (Drago Corse), Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion Racing) and Matsushita (B-Max Racing) taking part in a demo run on Sunday.
Three-time champion Yamamoto’s Nakajima car was decked out in the new-for-2022 colours the team revealed on Friday.
Additionally, a series of exhibition races on Suzuka's east course involving Honda’s line-up of SUPER GT and Super Formula racers took place.
The first of these was a head-to-head battle involving Yamamoto and fellow veteran Takuya Izawa at the wheel of a pair of all-new Civic Type R prototypes - with Izawa coming out on top.
Following that was a mini-tournament in Honda’s one-make N-One Cup machines involving Matsushita, Fukuzumi, Koudai Tsukakoshi, Ukyo Sasahara, Hiroki Otsu and Toshiki Oyu. Matsushita won the three-car final ahead of Mugen SUPER GT teammates Sasahara and Oyu.
The highlight of the day however was a six-way contest between Super Formula champion Tomoki Nojiri, Makino, Sasahara, Otsu, Oyu and Super Formula rookie Ren Sato in Honda’s HRS-Formula single-seater school cars. Sato was the surprise winner of that race, narrowly edging out Sasahara.
Concluding the day's events was a special 'finale' involving the five SUPER GT cars, four Super Formula cars, a number of Honda Superbikes and Marc Marquez's MotoGP machine - piloted by test rider Tetsuta Nagashima in the absence of the six-time premier class champion.
Finale
Photo by: Motorsport.com / Japan
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