On Saturday, at the Honda Welcome Plaza Aoyama, Honda officially presented its two-car effort into the GT300 class of the Autobacs Super GT Series, with their brand-new Honda NSX GT3 that makes its series debut in 2018.

Modulo Drago Corse and CarGuy Racing, along with their drivers who have been hard at work shaking down their new cars over the winter, took part in the event alongside the new NSX GT3. CarGuy Racing also unveiled their new number – 777 – and their yellow and black paint scheme for their debut Super GT season.

Both teams had previously announced their team structures for 2018, with CarGuy Racing confirming their driver lineup of Takeshi Kimura and Naoki Yokomizo in December, and Modulo Drago Corse announcing their return to the series in January on the weekend of the Tokyo Auto Salon – with legendary driver Ryo Michigami and rookie Hiroki Otsu driving.

But for the Honda fans, who haven’t seen their favorite manufacturer on the GT300 grid since the Honda CR-Z GT was retired after 2015, it was the first time they’d gotten a chance to see their teams together in person, alongside Honda motorsports director Masashi Yamamoto.

Michigami (left) and Otsu (right), along with newly appointed team director Jyun Young Hoon (center), had just been days removed from completing a successful shakedown of their new #34 Modulo Drago Corse NSX GT3 at a cold and snowy Fuji Speedway on Wednesday.

The shakedown tests also confirmed that Modulo Drago Corse, along with CarGuy Racing, would use Yokohama Advan tyres in 2018.

With the combination of 2000 GT500 Drivers’ Champion Michigami, who returns to Super GT racing full-time for the first time since 2013, and the rookie graduate of the Japanese Formula 3 Championship Otsu, Modulo Drago Corse – who will reveal the colours of their machine on February 15th – could be immediate challengers to the championship in 2018.

CarGuy Racing did present their yellow and black livery – similar colours to the ones they ran in Blancpain GT Asia last season – for their Honda NSX GT3 at the event, along with their number #777.

They did the shakedown of their car two weeks ago during a track day event.

47-year-old series rookie Kimura (right), who founded CarGuy in 2015, is the team’s gentleman driver partnering Yokomizo (centre), the 2012 GT300 Drivers’ Champion with Team Taisan. In a recent interview he gave for AUTOSPORTweb, Kimura mentioned that while he felt confident of being able to match the pro drivers’ pace over a single lap, he isn’t yet able to put that pace together over successive laps.

Malaysian driver Afiq Yazid was nominated as the team’s reserve driver, and would be able to race if Kimura is unable to pass his rookie orientation test in 2018.

Kei Cozzolino (left), the youngest team director in the series at 30 years old, was nominated to the position as he is unable to race for the team himself – this is due to the fact that he is a Lamborghini Squadra Corse contracted driver, and cannot drive for any competing manufacturers.

Both teams remarked positively upon the NSX GT3’s performance and potential for the upcoming season, with it winning twice in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2017, and finishing 2nd a week ago at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. They were also confident of being able to win races in the car’s maiden season.