January 10, 2020 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced its motorsports activities for the 2020 season and initiatives to expand the popularity of motorsports.

Since the days of its early period, Honda has been enhancing its technologies and human resources, and sharing the fun, joy and inspirational experiences with the fans and customers by competing in various races.

In 2020, Honda will continue to compete in the most prestigious motorcycle and automobile races in the world, including plans to compete in various races around the world. Everyone involved in Honda motorsports activities, including riders, drivers, engineers, mechanics and other team members, will work as one “Team Honda” and compete with full force.

In the 2019 season, Honda won the championship in the premier classes of FIM^*1 Grand Prix World Championship, FIM Motocross World Championship and FIM Trial World Championship.

In the 2020 season, Honda will compete with the factory teams of Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) and strive to win the championship in all three categories – road race, motocross and trial – for the second consecutive year. Moreover, as with previous years, the HRC factory team is currently participating in the Dakar Rally which moved its route from South America to Saudi Arabia this year.

In the MotoGP class of the FIM Grand Prix World Championship, Marc Márquez, the six-time World Champion who won the championship in 2019 for the fourth consecutive year, will welcome Alex Márquez, the 2019 Moto2 Class Champion, to the Repsol Honda Team. With this new team structure, Honda will strive to capture the MotoGP “Triple Crown” for the fourth consecutive year.

In the FIM Superbike World Championship, Honda will compete with a new HRC factory team, Team HRC, with two riders, namely Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam, and with a new machine developed based on all-new CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP.

In the MFJ All-Japan Championship, Honda will compete at the top class of the three categories, namely Road Race Championship (JRR), Motocross Championship (JMX) and Trial Championship (JTR) and strive to win consecutive championship titles in Motocross and Trial and regain the Road Race championship title to capture all three MFJ All-Japan Championship titles for the first time since 2017.

Moreover, Honda will continue to foster young riders. In road racing, in conjunction with Honda racing activities in Asia where people’s interest in motorcycle racing is growing rapidly, Honda strives to help young riders in this region to realize their dreams of competing in the MotoGP class. For the 2019 season, Honda will continue to support Honda Team Asia, which will compete in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes of MotoGP. Moreover, as an opportunity for young riders to step up, Honda will continue supporting riders competing in the FIM CEV Repsol Moto3 Junior World Championship. In addition, Honda will continue to utilize IDEMITSU Asia Talent Cup (IATC) as a program designed to foster young riders to discover and foster more riders who can compete in world-class races.

In motocross racing, Honda will continue to host training sessions in Japan for team riders competing in the MFJ All-Japan Motocross Championship. Moreover, Honda also will continue its talent fostering programs which include providing opportunities for young riders with future potential to join training camps around the world and compete in MXGP races.

In the FIA^*2 Formula One World Championship (F1) where Honda competes as a power unit (PU) supplier, Honda won three race championships in the 2019 season. In the 2020 season, Honda will strive to win more races while continuing to supply power units with the same specifications to Scuderia AlphaTauri ^*3 and Red Bull Racing.

In addition, Honda will continue to support challenges taken by young Japanese drivers by enabling them to compete in the FIA Formula 2 Championship (F2) and the French F4 Championship operated by FFSA ^*4 Academy.

In Japan, Honda will strive to recapture the championship in the most prestigious races by introducing an all-new NSX-GT to the GT500 class of the SUPER GT Series, which will adopt new technical regulations in the 2020 season, and by changing the structure of teams competing in the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship.

As for customer racing, in the race categories which feature machines based on mass-market models, Honda will take on challenges with each team by not only supplying machines, but also strengthening its support for the team so that each team can race more competitively.

Honda will supply CIVIC Type R-based racing machines, CIVIC TCR, for the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) which started in 2018 and the TCR series endurance races, which have been popular all around the world. Moreover, Honda will supply the NSX GT3 Evo to the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) which will be held on five continents as well as other GT championships and endurance races held in North America, Asia and Europe.

In North America, through Honda Performance Development (HPD), Honda will supply engines to 5 teams 13 cars which will compete in the IndyCar Series.

★ on a team name indicates a factory team of Honda, ★ on a machine name indicates a factory machine of Honda, ★ on a rider’s name indicates an HRC contract rider

*5 JRR: All Japan Road Race Championship

*Honda will announce the team competing in the EWC Suzuka 8 hours Endurance Road Race as soon as the details are decided.

*6 MFJ: Motorcycle Federation of Japan

*7 EMX: Motocross European Championships

※ on a rider’s name indicates HRC contract test rider

*Concerning the SS600 class and AP250 class, Honda will announce the details as soon as it has been decided.

*8 AMA: American Motorcyclist Association

*9 DTM: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

For the purpose of developing riders and drivers who will become formidable contenders on the global motorsports stage, Mobilityland Corporation has been operating the Suzuka Circuit Racing School-Junior (SRS-Junior) for motorcycle riders since 1992, Suzuka Circuit Racing School-Kart (SRS-Kart) since 1993 and the Suzuka Circuit Racing School-Formula (SRS-Formula) since 1995 where top-class riders and drivers provide guidance as instructors. To date, these SRS programs have produced a number of outstanding riders and drivers who have been competing their respective motorcycle and automobile racing categories inside and outside Japan.

In the area of motorcycle racing, in 2016, SRS-Junior was renamed as SRS-Moto, and its rider development system and curriculum as well as the machines used in the program were renewed so that they are geared toward the development of riders who can compete at the level of world championships such as MotoGP.

In the area of automobile racing, SRS-Kart and SRS-Formula will maintain the structure established last year while having Takuma Sato and Shinji Nakano as Principal and Vice Principal, respectively, to further strengthen the environment to foster young drivers.

Honda has been making active efforts to expand the popularity of motorsports. In order to convey the fascination of motorsports to a broader range of people, Honda has been conducting various events and activities including ones that can be enjoyed more casually by those people who are not yet so familiar with motorsports.

HRC is hosting more than 400 one-make races a year at approximately 30 circuits throughout Japan under two categories of races with different purposes -- to simply enjoy motorsports and to foster future MotoGP riders.

The one-make race series hosted by HRC include HRC GROM Cup, CBR250R Dream Cup and CBR250RR Dream Cup, which features mass-market models, as well as the NSF100 HRC Trophy, which features the NSF100 a mass-market road racer of HRC and the HRC NSF250R Challenge which is designed to foster future MotoGP riders.

The one-make race series are being held at a number of circuits throughout Japan. In addition, HRC has been hosting some Japan-wide races (at Suzuka or Motegi) for riders who fulfill certain conditions and offering support for riders to step up through training classes. In other words, the HRC one-make race series have been a stage where participants can enjoy the races and/or strive to realize their dreams.

In 2012, Mobilityland Corporation and M-TEC Co., Ltd. jointly started the Honda Sports & Eco Program, a participatory motorsports program, under the theme of “eco-friendly sports driving.” This program is designed to provide participants with a lighthearted experience of enjoying the fun of “driving, upskilling and competing,” behind the wheel of a rental Honda car with racing specifications provided to each participant through the program, toward the ultimate goal of promoting coexistence of the environment and sports driving. The program has been providing a four-step school program which enables motorsports beginners to strive for their racing debut with peace of mind as well as twice a year racing program for all levels of drivers. Moreover, the price structure of this program allows more people, including beginners and skilled sports drivers alike, to casually experience motorsports, making the program even more attractive to everyone.

As with last year, the FIT 1.5 Challenge Cup operated by Mobilityland Corporation, Okayama International Circuit Co., Ltd. and SUGO Co., Ltd., will be held at the Suzuka/Okayama Touring Car Championship and Motegi/Sugo Touring Car Championship this year as a quasi-domestic rank race approved by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF).

N-ONE OWNERS’ CUP is a participatory motorsports program that utilizes the N-ONE mini-vehicle. With the aim of letting many motorsports fans including racing beginners actively take part, the N-ONE OWNERS’ CUP started in 2014, taking the form of a sprint race with commercially available vehicles licensed for public roads. With this existing concept that has proven popular, this motorsports event will again be held at eight circuits spread around Japan: Suzuka Circuit, Twin Ring Motegi, Okayama International Circuit, Fuji Speedway, Autopolis International Racing Course, Sportsland SUGO, Tokachi Speedway and Tsukuba Circuit. For these races, Honda will further enhance support provided to racing beginners.

Since 1981, Honda has hosted the Honda Eco Mileage Challenge, an event focused on the environment. Participants combine their creativity, freewheeling thinking and technology to create their own handcrafted vehicles, and then compete to see how far they can travel on one liter of fuel. This event will mark its 40th year in 2020, and the cumulative number of teams participated since 1981 has exceeded 14,000 teams. The Honda Eco Mileage Challenge is now held not only in Japan but also in Thailand, China and Vietnam.

On March 7 and 8, 2020 (Sat/Sun), Honda will participate in the MO-SPO Festival 2020 Suzuka – Motorsports Fan Thanks Day – which will be held for the purpose of facilitating mobility/motorsports culture to take deep roots, grow, become admired and gain popularity.

This year, a number of Japanese motorcycle and automobile manufacturers will participate as special contributors and there will be various content and opportunities for visitors to enjoy an exchange/experience with various machines, riders and drivers competing in the world’s top categories of racing. The content of the event will be announced as soon as they are finalized.

To show its appreciation to motorsports fans, Honda will again host Honda Racing THANKS DAY 2020 at Twin Ring Motegi. The date and program details will be posted on the website as soon as they are available.

Mobilityland Corporation strives to contribute to the further growth of a motorsports culture in Japan by hosting various events and races.

Since its opening in 1962 as the first full-scale race course in Japan, Suzuka Circuit has hosted a large number and wide variety of racing events during its rich history spanning over 50 years. In 2019, the circuit hosted its 31st F1 Grand Prix. The circuit will host a multitude of events again in 2020, including the F1 Japanese Grand Prix as well as the Suzuka 8 hours Endurance Road Race, which will be held as the final round of the FIM Endurance World Championship. Other races to be hosted by Suzuka Circuit include the Suzuka 10 hours Endurance Race, which is positioned as a global unified race of the FIA-GT3 machines.

Twin Ring Motegi will continue hosting various races throughout the year including the FIM Grand Prix World Championship race, which has been a tradition since the early days of this circuit, and will host many more races and events including the FIM Trial World Championship.