The Monza round of the International GT Open, always a special event in the season, will see a stellar addition to the entry list, as the Honda NSX GT3 will make its debut in the series! Entered by Honda Racing Team JAS, one unit of the Japanese GT racer will be starring at the Autodromo in the hands of two top drivers, Esteban Guerrieri and Bertrand Baguette, who both are Honda factory drivers.
The car participates as part of the NSX GT3 Customer Racing Programme, a global collaborative project with JAS Motorsport responsible for assembly of all cars. The car, racing mostly in Japan and the US, is still quite a novelty for most GT racing fans in Europe.
Alessandro Mariani, Team Principal of JAS Motorsport, who has developed the car and is based in Arluno, close to the Monza track, commented: “We are excited to enter the International GT Open event at Monza, a circuit that is located just one hour from the JAS Motorsport headquarters where the NSX GT3 is assembled. It’s a great opportunity for us to showcase the car to potential customers in Europe and to show them all the qualities that have made it a race winner and title contender in IMSA competition in the USA, and a podium finisher in Blancpain GT Asia. It’s also a chance to race the car on Michelin tyres for the first time and collect useful data, as well as to put two top-level drivers behind the wheel in Bertrand and Esteban, who both performed magnificently at the Spa 24 Hours.”
For Esteban Guerrieri (33), this will be his debut in the GT Open: the Argentinean driver is currently competing in a JAS-built Honda in the WTCR, after shining in the WTCC, single-seater formulae and in his home’s TC2000 series. Bertrand Baguette, a former F.Renault 3.5 and FIA WEC LMP2 champion, is instead not new to the series. The Belgian, who is currently competing for Honda in the Japanese Super GT, made a couple of c appearances in the GT Open in the past, taking one GTS win (Barcelona 2012) at the wheel of a Brussels Racing Aston Martin.
