Prelude GT500 Speculation Mounts as Road Car Launch Set – Sportscar365
Honda weighing up whether to ditch Civic Type R in favor of all-new Prelude sports coupe after just two seasons…
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Photo: Honda
Honda appears to be moving towards using the soon-to-be-launched Prelude as its GT500 base model in SUPER GT next season as the road car’s Japan debut looms.
Paddock speculation strongly suggests that the brand’s revived sports coupe, which is due to go on sale in Japan and North America later this year, will replace the current Civic Type R as the basis for Honda’s top-class challenger in 2026.
It would mean that Civic Type R-GT, which has scored just a single victory since being introduced last year, would be retired after just two seasons in service.
However, a spokesperson for HRC was keen to stress that no final decision has been made on which model Honda will use in the GT500 class next season.
Honda replaced the NSX-GT with the radical four-door Civic in 2024 following the end of the production of the NSX road car, citing a desire to promote the Type R nameplate.
However, the car has taken only one race win since then, which came at Fuji Speedway last year with ARTA pair Tomoki Nojiri and Nobuharu Matsushita, with a best finish of second so far in 2025 with the same drivers in the third round of the season at Sepang.
That was followed by a dismal showing by the Civic contingent in the Fuji sprint race double-header, which Honda bosses described as its “worst race of recent years”.
Sources in the Honda camp have suggested that the Civic body shape’s basic limitations may be too large to overcome, and that a change of base model may be the only way to allow the brand to challenge Toyota’s current domination of the class.
Toyota’s GR Supra is now on a record-breaking nine-race winning streak spanning a full calendar year after winning both legs of last weekend’s Fuji sprint race.
Earlier in the year, HRC President Koji Watanabe spoke about the marketing benefits Honda has reaped from having switched to the Civic, but refused to commit to keeping the car for a third season when asked during an interview with Sportscar365.
Honda first revealed the sixth-generation Prelude in concept form in late 2023, and the car was presented in more advanced ‘Prototype’ form in this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon.
Its official launch has been set for September, when it will go on sale in Japan. A release in North America will follow at the end of the year before sales begin in Europe in 2026.
A shakedown of a Prelude-based GT500 car would likely take place in the autumn behind closed doors ahead of an official launch towards the end of the year.
Honda looks like it may be the only one of the three manufacturers active in GT500 to introduce an entirely new base model next year, when the current aero freeze lifts.
It had been suggested that the GR Supra would be retired at the end of the year, likely in favor of a new model based on the future Toyota/Lexus GT3 car, but it now appears more likely that the Supra will be given a one-year extension.
Nissan meanwhile is set to continue with the Z NISMO, but will take advantage of the aero freeze ending to implement improvements amid its own competitive struggles.
Jamie Klein is Sportscar365’s Asian editor. Japan-based Klein, who previously worked for Motorsport Network on the Motorsport.cоm and Autosport titles, covers the FIA World Endurance Championship and SUPER GT, among other series.
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