When Honda retired the NSX-GT ahead of the 2022 Super GT season, it signalled a significant shift in philosophy: a front-engine silhouette car wearing Civic Type R bodywork replaced a purpose-built mid-engine GT. The No. 17 Team Astemo Real Racing entry has carried that new identity through successive seasons, and Spark Model now documents the 2025 iteration of that programme as a 1:43 resin replica.
Honda's GT500 Contender: The Civic Type R-GT
The Honda Civic Type R-GT (FL5-based) was introduced for the 2022 Super GT season, replacing the NSX-GT and bringing a front-engine, front-wheel-drive silhouette to the GT500 class. Like all GT500 competitors, it runs the common 2.0-litre turbocharged inline-4 NRE — the Neutral Regulations Engine shared across Honda, Toyota and Nissan as mandated by the GT Association. The platform ensures close competition through regulated mechanical parity, with aerodynamics and driver skill doing the differentiation.
No. 17: Astemo Real Racing in 2025
Team Astemo Real Racing is one of Honda's primary factory-supported GT500 outfits. The team operates under the Astemo brand — Honda's components and systems division — and runs the No. 17 Civic Type R-GT in the distinctive white and blue Astemo livery. For 2025, Koudai Tsukakoshi, a long-standing Honda GT500 driver within the Real Racing organisation, is paired with Syun Koide. This specific driver combination makes the 2025 release a season-distinct entry, separate from prior years' pairings and livery iterations from 2022 through 2024.
Spark Model's 1:43 Super GT Series
Spark Model produces officially licensed 1:43 resin replicas of Super GT cars on an annual basis. Each release features livery-accurate tampo printing, capturing current sponsor layouts and livery details with the precision collectors expect from the French specialist. The product follows Spark's established Super GT naming convention — scale prefix, SGT series identifier, season year and car number — ensuring straightforward cataloguing within an ongoing Super GT collection. Resin construction allows fine surface and graphic detail that diecast at this scale rarely achieves.
Placing It in the Cabinet
The No. 17 Spark 1:43 fits naturally alongside the sister No. 8 ARTA Honda Civic Type R-GT and the No. 16 Astemo Real Racing entry to build out Honda's GT500 contingent. Collectors tracking the full 2025 Super GT GT500 grid will want to add rival Toyota GR Supra and Nissan Z GT500 entries at the same scale. For those following the Real Racing lineage specifically, pairing this with the equivalent 2024 Spark release of the No. 17 illustrates the season-by-season livery evolution that defines annual Super GT collecting.
Häufig gestellte Fragen
What is the Honda Civic Type R-GT and when did it debut in Super GT?
The Civic Type R-GT is Honda's GT500 silhouette racer based on the FL5 Civic Type R. It replaced the NSX-GT from the 2022 Super GT season onward, bringing a front-engine configuration to Honda's GT500 programme.
Who drives the No. 17 Team Astemo Real Racing car in 2025?
Koudai Tsukakoshi and Syun Koide share the No. 17 Honda Civic Type R-GT for the 2025 Super GT season under the Team Astemo Real Racing banner.
What material is this Spark Model replica made from?
It is a resin model, which allows Spark to reproduce the 2025 Astemo livery with tampo-printed graphics at 1:43 scale.
How does this 2025 release differ from previous No. 17 Spark models?
Each annual Spark Super GT release documents the livery and driver pairing for that specific season. The 2025 version captures the Tsukakoshi–Koide pairing and the current Astemo livery iteration, distinct from the 2022–2024 releases.
