The NSX GT3 was built on the platform of the second-generation NSX road car, which entered production in 2016 at Honda's Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio. Development of the racing variant involved Honda's motorsport divisions and was supported by JAS Motorsport in Europe, Honda Performance Development (HPD) in North America, and Mugen (M-TEC) in Japan. The GT3 regulations required the removal of the road car's three-electric-motor Sport Hybrid SH-AWD system, as hybrid technology is not permitted in the GT3 class. The car retained the twin-turbocharged JNC1 V6 engine in a configuration Honda stated was "virtually bone-stock," an unusual distinction compared with other GT3 homologations that typically involve more extensive engine modifications.
During its debut season in 2017, the NSX GT3 scored its first race victory in the IMSA SportsCar Championship GTD class at Belle Isle in Detroit, followed by a second consecutive win at the following round, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen. The car also won the Utah round of the Pirelli World Challenge, demonstrating immediate competitiveness across different series and tyre suppliers.
In 2018 the NSX GT3 finished second in the IMSA GTD championship, adding two further race victories. The car made its debut in the Japanese Super GT Series' GT300 class, scoring a podium finish at Autopolis. It also made its debut at the 24 Hours of Spa, completing the full 24-hour distance and finishing seventh in the Pro-Am class.
Honda introduced an upgraded variant, the NSX GT3 Evo, for the 2019 season with improvements to aerodynamics, cooling systems, and new turbochargers. The Evo achieved outstanding results in its debut year: it won both the IMSA SportsCar Championship GTD drivers' and teams' titles, and also took the 2019 Super GT drivers' and teams' championships in the GT300 class. In SRO's GT World Challenge America, the car won the Pro-Am drivers' and teams' titles in 2019, and followed this with the overall manufacturers', drivers', and teams' championships in 2020. In the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the Evo earned two pole positions, a podium at the 2020 Indianapolis 8 Hours, and an overall top-six finish at the 2019 24 Hours of Spa.
The Evo successfully defended its IMSA GTD titles in 2020, winning back-to-back drivers' and teams' championships along with the manufacturers' title. Additional victories came in the Italian GT Championship and International GT Open, as well as the 2019 Blancpain GT Sports Club title.
A further evolution, the NSX GT3 Evo22, was introduced for 2022 with upgraded intercoolers, retuned suspension, new wheel system revisions, optional headlight variants, FIA-mandated rain lights, and the addition of an air conditioning system. Production was handled by JAS Motorsport using chassis resources from the Marysville plant. In IMSA, the Evo22 took overall GT class victory at the 2022 Petit Le Mans with Gradient Racing. The 2022 GT World Challenge America Pro-Am championship was won by the Racers Edge Motorsports entry with drivers Mario Farnbacher and Ashton Harrison, supported by four race wins, four pole positions, and eight podium finishes. During the 2022 Le Mans Cup season, GMB Motorsport took five victories — including at the Road to Le Mans — to claim the drivers' and teams' championships. The car also secured four wins in Super GT between 2022 and 2023 with ARTA and Team UpGarage.
Honda ceased factory support for the NSX GT3 programme at the end of 2024. JAS Motorsport committed to continuing support for existing cars in Europe. In 2025, JAS Motorsport and Nova Race developed a further iteration, dubbed the Evo25, homologated under national GT3 regulations for competition in the Italian GT Championship.
The NSX GT3 represented an unusually direct link between road car and race car, with Honda's insistence on keeping the production engine in near-standard form as a point of engineering principle. Across its eight years of active factory support, the car accumulated titles in IMSA, Super GT, GT World Challenge America, and the Le Mans Cup, establishing the NSX nameplate as a genuine force in global GT3 competition during the second-generation model's production run.
Gallery · 4 related images
