Honda Power Products Supporting the Growth of Road Racing in Asia

Since 2012, Team Asia has competed in the Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race (Suzuka 8 Hours), a round of the FIM Endurance World Championship, with mechanics and riders representing seven Asian countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan. Since 2014, the team has been led by former MotoGP rider Makoto Tamada, who serves as both General Manager and Team Manager.

Tamada made his debut in the MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship at the age of 18 in 1995. In 2001, he signed with Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), where he achieved remarkable success, including three victories from four starts in the FIM Superbike World Championship rounds held in Japan. He went on to make his premier-class debut in the MotoGP World Championship in 2003 and established himself among the world’s elite riders, recording two MotoGP race victories during his career.

Why, then, did Tamada choose to lead Team Asia?
The answer dates back to 2013, the year he retired from professional racing.

At that time, the center of Honda’s motorcycle business was gradually shifting from Europe and the United States to Asia. Asia Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Asia Honda), which oversees the region, sought to strengthen the Honda brand by raising Honda’s competitiveness throughout Asia’s racing scene, much as it had done in Europe and North America.

To achieve that goal, Asia Honda turned to Tamada, whose experience competing at the highest level of world motorcycle racing made him uniquely qualified for the challenge.

Supported financially by Honda’s local subsidiaries across the seven participating Asian countries under Asia Honda’s leadership, Team Asia was established with two clear objectives for Tamada: to develop mechanics and riders capable of competing on the world stage.

With that mission, Team Asia officially began in 2014 under Tamada’s leadership as Team Manager.

“At first, I was frustrated all the time because the racing environment was at such a different level. I kept wondering, ‘Why can’t they do something this basic?’ But then I realized they had grown up in different environments, came from different cultures, and even had different languages and ways of life. Once I accepted that, I understood that it simply couldn’t be helped.” (Tamada)

Team Asia initially competed in the MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship and the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. The team later established a base in Japan and contested the full JSB1000 premier class of the All Japan Road Race Championship during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Tamada first led Team Asia at the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2018, marking the beginning of the team’s challenge to develop mechanics and riders capable of succeeding at the highest level of international endurance racing.

Developing mechanics without ever having been one

Although Tamada competed at the highest level as a professional racing rider and had never worked as a mechanic himself, he knew exactly what distinguished an outstanding mechanic from an average one from the rider’s perspective.

The first thing he demanded of the mechanics was mastering everything that needed to happen between the moment a rider returned to the pit and the moment the motorcycle went back out on track.

As soon as a rider came into the pit, the mechanics were expected to fit the tire warmers, remove the fairings, clean away dirt and debris picked up during the run, inspect the motorcycle for loose components, check brake pressure and tire pressures, and begin warming up the engine several minutes before the bike returned to the circuit.

Tamada insisted on instilling these fundamentals—standard practice for race mechanics—from the very beginning.

In the early days, however, even the fundamentals proved challenging. Mistakes were common, such as washing electrical components with water despite their sensitivity to moisture or attempting to operate tools designed for two-handed use with only one hand.

When it came to highly specialized technical issues, Tamada readily acknowledged the limits of his own expertise.

Rather than trying to solve everything himself, he sought advice from experienced mechanics around him, as well as engineers from HRC and Honda’s research and development teams.

“I’ve never had a problem asking people to teach me something. In fact, I think it’s one of my strengths. Even when I was still racing, if there was something I didn’t understand, I’d ask senior riders or even people from other teams. I always tried to learn from them and use that knowledge to improve myself.” (Tamada)

The Suzuka 8 Hours: The ultimate stage for measuring Team Asia’s capabilities

Team Asia has competed in the Suzuka 8 Hours since 2012, with Tamada taking on the role of Team Manager beginning in 2018. Aside from Tamada himself, every member of the team comes from Asia—a philosophy the team continues to uphold today.

The mechanics are selected from Honda’s local subsidiaries across Asia. While each has demonstrated a high level of skill in their home country, the Suzuka 8 Hours presents an entirely different challenge on the world stage, and adapting to that environment is never easy.

“When we first started, I can’t tell you how many times I lost my temper,” Tamada says with a laugh. “Everything—from personal appearance to basic work habits—was beyond what I could imagine. Tools were left wherever they had been used, and empty plastic bottles were simply left lying around. But over time I came to understand that it wasn’t about ability. They had grown up in different environments, had different levels of experience, and came from different cultures. Once I realized that, I continued offering advice instead of simply getting frustrated.”

Today, the results of those efforts are beginning to show. Mechanics who joined Team Asia in its early years have gone on to work as mechanics for the LCR Honda in MotoGP, demonstrating that Asian talent is steadily earning recognition at the highest level of international motorcycle racing.

At the Suzuka 8 Hours, Team Asia has also consistently delivered strong performances, including seventh-place finishes in both 2018—the first year Tamada led the team—and again in 2023.

Competing against factory teams backed by manufacturers such as Honda and Yamaha, as well as manufacturer-supported teams that contest the full FIM Endurance World Championship season, Team Asia has repeatedly finished among the frontrunners.

Consistently achieving those results in such fiercely competitive company is, in itself, evidence that Team Asia has already established its place among the world’s leading endurance racing teams.

Welcoming a second former MotoGP rider

More than a decade has passed since Team Asia began its activities, yet Tamada says he would score the team’s progress at only about 30 out of 100.

With that in mind, he approached another former MotoGP rider in 2024—Yuki Takahashi, who had retired from professional racing the previous year.

Takahashi made his debut in the MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship at the age of 15 in 2000. He won the All Japan GP250 Championship in 2004 before moving on to contest the full FIM Road Racing World Championship GP250 class from 2005. In 2009, he also fulfilled his ambition of competing in the MotoGP class.

Tamada invited Takahashi to become part of Team Asia’s management.
“Not long after I retired, Tamada asked me, ‘Why don’t we do this together?’ That’s how I joined Team Asia as Assistant Manager.” (Takahashi)

Takahashi’s first responsibility was Thailand Talent Cup (TTC), a junior rider development series in Thailand.

Although he joined Team Asia for the Suzuka 8 Hours for the first time in 2024, the team’s race came to an early end after just seven laps. Having been involved from the preparation stage onward, Takahashi says the experience affected him more deeply than any race he had ridden himself.

At the 2026 Suzuka 8 Hours, Takahashi again served as Assistant Manager, supporting Tamada throughout the event. This time, however, Tamada deliberately stepped back, allowing Takahashi to take on a more prominent leadership role.

Looking further ahead, Tamada hopes to eventually hand over responsibility for Team Asia’s Suzuka 8 Hours program to Takahashi while he himself focuses on expanding Team Asia’s role as a pathway to MotoGP.

His long-term goal is to continue developing mechanics through Team Asia and create opportunities for them to progress onto the MotoGP stage.

Honda Power Products supporting Team Asia’s Suzuka 8 Hours challenge

Behind Team Asia’s pit garage at the Suzuka 8 Hours sits a Honda EU55is generator. Power cables from the generator run directly to the tire warmers—an indispensable piece of equipment in modern road racing.

“Managing tire temperature is one of the most important aspects of modern road racing. Tire warmers become even more critical in endurance racing, where tires are changed repeatedly throughout the event.” (Tamada)

Although electrical outlets are available in the pit garages, the sheer number of teams using large amounts of electricity during the Suzuka 8 Hours can result in fluctuations or interruptions to the power supply.

“If the power were to fail, even briefly, the tire warmers would stop working. That would effectively mean we couldn’t send the motorcycle back out on track. That’s why we rely on Honda generators dedicated exclusively to powering the tire warmers.” (Takahashi)

Honda Power Products therefore play an essential role in maintaining proper tire temperatures—one of the most critical factors in endurance racing.

Two Japanese riders who have competed at the highest level of world motorcycle racing are now using the experience they gained throughout their careers to raise the standard of road racing across Asia. It may not be long before more of the mechanics and riders they have mentored are making their own mark on the world stage.

Quietly supporting those efforts every step of the way are Honda Power Products.