Honda Announces Plans for 2019 Motorcycle Motorsports Activities

- Honda’s Participation in World Championship Racing and Dakar Rally 2019 -

November 7, 2018, Italy

Corporate

On November 6, 2018 (local time), Honda announced plans for its participation in motorcycle motorsports world championship racing activities for the 2019 season, at EICMA 2018 in Milan, Italy.

In 2019, Honda will continue to compete in the premier classes of motorcycle road racing, Motocross and Trial world championships and the Dakar Rally 2019, with Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) factory teams*1 aiming to win the titles in each category.

In the FIM*2 Road Racing World Championship Series MotoGP class, five-time champion and 2018 winner Marc Marquez will be joined by Jorge Lorenzo to race for Repsol Honda Team.
In the FIM Motocross World Championship Series MXGP class, 2016 champion Tim Gajser and Brian Bogers will continue to represent Team HRC.
In the FIM Trial World Championship Series TrialGP class, twelve-time consecutive winner Toni Bou and Takahisa Fujinami in his 24th year in the championship will once again race for Repsol Honda Team.
In the Dakar Rally 2019, Kevin Benavides, Joan Barreda, Paulo Goncalves, Ricky Brabec and Jose Ignacio Cornejo will represent Monster Energy Honda Team.

In addition to Honda’s factory teams, major Honda teams will compete in major world championship in 2019.
In the FIM Superbike World Championship Series, HRC will support the team operated by Althea Racing and Moriwaki Engineering with Leon Camier and Ryuichi Kiyonari as their riders.
In the FIM Endurance World Championship series, 2017-2018 winners F.C.C. TSR Honda France will continue to be represented by Freddy Foray and Josh Hook, with Mike Di Meglio also joining the team. Last season’s overall third-place team, Honda Endurance Racing, will continue their quest to win the EWC title.
In the 450SX class of the AMA*3 SuperCross World Championship Series held mainly in North America, American Honda’s factory team, Team Honda HRC, will continue with Ken Roczen and Cole Seely.

Racing is Honda’s driving force, and through competing in various races, hones its technologies and its people. The racing spirit and technologies gained are part of many Honda products. Honda will continue to realize “The Power of Dreams” with its customers, in its products, services and racing activities.

*1 Factory teams: Teams operated by motorcycle manufacturers
*2 FIM: Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme
*3 AMA: American Motorcyclist Association

Honda’s 2019 Participation in Motorcycle World Championship Racing

◆ FIM Road Racing World Championship Series (MotoGP)

<MotoGP Class>

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
Repsol Honda Team
*4
RC213V
*4
93 Marc Márquez
*4
25 Spain MotoGP
Champion
99 Jorge Lorenzo
31 Spain MotoGP
10th
(as of Nov. 6)
LCR Honda CASTROL 35 Cal Crutchlow
33 U.K. MotoGP
7th
(as of Nov. 6)
LCR Honda IDEMITSU 30 Takaaki Nakagami
26 Japan MotoGP
20th
(as of Nov. 6)

*4 Team ★ indicates factory team, machine ★ indicates factory bike, rider ★ indicates HRC rider

<Moto3 Class>

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 NSF250RW
TBA Sergio García 15 Spain CEV Moto3
5th
(as of Nov. 6)
72 Alonso López 16 Spain Moto3
23rd
(as of Nov. 6)
Leopard Racing 42 Marcos Ramirez 20 Spain Moto3
10th
(as of Nov. 6)
48 Lorenzo Dalla Porta 21 Italy Moto3
5th
(as of Nov. 6)
Team KÖMMERLING Gresini Moto3 19 Gabriel Rodrigo 22 Argentina Moto3
7th
(as of Nov. 6)
TBA Riccardo Rossi 16 Italy CEV Moto3
14th
(as of Nov. 6)
Marinelli Snipers Team 14 Tony Arbolino 18 Italy Moto3
18th
(as of Nov. 6)
76 Makar Yurchenko 20 Kazakhstan Moto3
28th
(as of Nov. 6)
PETRONAS Sprinta Racing 71 Ayumu Sasaki 18 Japan Moto3
21st
(as of Nov. 6)
17 John Mcphee 24 U.K. Moto3
14th
(as of Nov. 6)
Honda Team Asia 27 Kaito Toba 18 Japan Moto3
22nd
(as of Nov. 6)
TBA Ai Ogura 17 Japan CEV Moto3
6th
(as of Nov. 6)
SIC58 Squadra Corse 23 Niccolò Antonelli 22 Italy Moto3
15th
(as of Nov. 6)
24 Tatsuki Suzuki 21 Japan Moto3
12th
(as of Nov. 6)

◆ FIM Motocross World Championship Series (MXGP)

<MXGP: 450cc Class>

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
Team HRC
CRF450RW
243 Tim Gajser
22 Slovenia MXGP
4th
5 Brian Bogers
22 Netherlands MXGP
37th

<MX2: 250cc Class>

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
Team HRC
CRF250RW
10 Calvin Vlaanderen
22 South Africa MX2
6th

◆ FIM Trial World Championship Series (TrialGP)

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
Repsol Honda Team
COTA4RT
1 Toni Bou
32 Spain TrialGP
Champion
6 Takahisa Fujinami
38 Japan TrialGP
6th

◆The Dakar 2019

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
Monster Energy Honda Team
CRF450
RALLY
47 Kevin Benavides
29 Argentina Dakar 2018
2nd
5 Joan Barreda
35 Spain Dakar 2018
Entry
2 Paulo Goncalves
39 Portugal Cross-Country Rally World Championship
4th
15 Ricky Brabec
27 U.S.A. Dakar 2018
Entry
10 José Ignacio Cornejo
24 Chile Dakar 2018
10th

◆ FIM Superbike World Championship Series (WSBK)

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
TBA CBR1000RR SP2 TBA Leon Camier
32 U.K. WSBK
12th
TBA Ryuichi Kiyonari
36 Japan JRR*5JSB1000
8th

*5 All Japan Road Race Championship series

◆ FIM Endurance World Championship Series (EWC)

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
F.C.C. TSR Honda France CBR1000RR SP2 1 Freddy Foray 34 France EWC
Champions
Josh Hook 25 Australia EWC
Champions
Mike Di Meglio 30 France EWC
2nd
Honda Endurance Racing Team 111 TBA - - -

◆ AMA SuperCross World Championship Series (SX)

<450SX: 450cc Class>

Team Machine No. Rider Age Nationality 2018 results
Team Honda HRC CRF450R 94 Ken Roczen 24 Germany 450SX
18th
14 Cole Seely 28 U.S.A. 450SX
17th