The long-awaited and highly anticipated Acura NSX GT3 is now official, with representatives from Honda Motor Company having formally announced plans to campaign the mid-engine sports car in GT3 championships in North America beginning next year.

The announcement was made Wednesday at the New York International Auto Show.

Based on the new production model, the NSX GT3 will feature the same 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 powerplant but not the hybrid drivetrain or all-wheel drive, both of which are not legal in GT3 competition.

It will be badged an Acura in the North American, Chinese and Russian markets, with the NSX falling under the Honda nameplate in the remainder of the world.

The car will take part in the FIA’s Balance of Performance tests at Ladoux in September, ahead of its expected on-track debut in 2017 in North America’s GT3 competition.

Initial development of the NSX GT3 was conducted by Acura’s Japan race engineering arm with testing on race circuits in Europe and Japan.

Peter Kox was one of the development drivers of the new NSX GT3. The former Reiter Engineering development driver tested the car at the Circuito Tazio Nuvolari in Northern Italy.

Further development, testing and final homologation to FIA GT3 specifications is currently being undertaken by Honda Performance Development in California.

“The NSX was designed as a pinnacle expression of Acura Precision Crafted Performance, and we’re looking forward to proving out its ultimate performance capabilities in GT3 racing,” said Art St. Cyr, president of HPD.

“We’ll be working with the NSX engineering teams in Ohio and Japan to bring our dream of a truly world-class new Acura NSX racecar to fruition.”

Further details, such as teams, have yet to be revealed, although it’s believed Acura could be putting factory programs together for both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Pirelli World Challenge.

Marcel ten Caat contributed to this report