Castrol Honda Racing have announced that Esteban Guerrieri and Bertrand Baguette will spearhead the team’s line-up at the 24 Hours of Spa on 26-29 July.
The pair of Honda factory drivers will race the NSX GT3, derived from Honda’s next-generation 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 supercar, in the Blancpain Endurance Series’ showpiece event.
Esteban, 33, has tested the NSX GT3 regularly in 2018 and made his race debut with the car in the ADAC GT Masters event at the Red Bull Ring in Austria in June.
The Argentinian; a regular race winner and title contender in single-seater racing earlier in his career, is contesting the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup in 2018 and is already a race winner in a Honda Civic Type R TCR for ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport.
Bertrand, 32, made his name by winning the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 title and tested for several Formula 1 teams before competing in IndyCar and then winning the LMP2 division of the Le Mans 24 Hours and FIA World Endurance Championship after switching to sportscars for 2013.
Since 2014 he has been a factory Honda driver and competes in Japan’s premier sports car series; Super GT, in an NSX GT500 run by Nakajima Racing.
Credit: Honda Racing
Although Spa represents his first race in the NSX GT3, he is no stranger to the 24-hour race or to the GT3 category. The Belgian has contested the event four times with a best finish of eighth.
Honda technical partner JAS Motorsport will run the team as part of the NSX GT3 Customer Racing Programme.
Castrol Honda Racing have entered the Pro Am category for the event, meaning Esteban and Bertrand will be joined by two ‘bronze’ (non-professional) drivers. These will be revealed at a later date.
The NSX GT3 made its competitive debut in 2016 and became a race winner in the North American-based IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Pirelli World Challenge in its first full season of competition.
As part of the NSX GT3 Customer Racing Programme – a collaborative project between Honda Motor, JAS Motorsport and Honda Performance Development (HPD), examples contest series in Europe, Asia and North America.
