Honda 2024 Motorsports Program Overview

Honda announced its motorsports participation plans for the 2024 season.

Motorcycle activities

Despite winning the third round of the 2023 FIM MotoGP World Championship MotoGP class at the Americas GP, the overall season was very disappointing for Honda. 2024 will see Luca Marini join the Repsol Honda Team, and Johann Zarco join the CASTROL Honda LCR team. Honda aims to enhance competitiveness of its racing bikes and regain the MotoGP title.

In the FIM Trial World Championship TrialGP class, Toni Bou won the 2023 championship achieving his 17th consecutive title, and combined with his 17th title victory in the X-Trial World Championship has won 34 consecutive titles. Bou will take on the challenge to break his own unprecedented record in 2024.

Honda aims to achieve carbon neutrality in all of its motorcycle products in the 2040s, and is working on the electrification of motorcycles as the mainstay of its future environmental strategy, while continuing to work on the evolution of internal combustion engines (ICEs). Carbon-neutral fuel is being incorporated in motorsports, as well. In 2023, Honda supported the introduction of carbon-neutral fuel in the JSB1000 class of the MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship (JRR) and will do so in MotoGP and FIM Superbike World Championship (WSBK) in 2024. Last year, Honda made a spot entry in the All Japan Motocross Championship (JMX) with CR ELECTRIC PROTO, and is continuing consideration of entering new electric motorcycle categories.

Automobile Motorsports Activities

In the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship (F1) season, Honda provided technical and marketing support to Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri as a team partner. As technical support, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) manufactured components apart from the power unit (PU) ESS which it supplied to Red Bull Powertrains and supported PU operations throughout the season. This partnership helped Oracle Red Bull Racing win the Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles with an overwhelming 21 wins out of 22 races. Honda will continue the same partnership with both teams in 2024, its 60th anniversary of F1 activities, aiming for even greater heights. Honda will also continue to support the activities of Yuki Tsunoda, who is entering his fourth year in F1.

In Japan, Honda aims to regain the SUPER GT series GT500 class for the first time since 2020 by introducing the new CIVIC TYPE R-GT based on the CIVIC TYPE R, and recruiting talented young drivers.

In addition, Ayumu Iwasa, a Honda-trained driver who achieved good results in the FIA Formula Two Championship (F2) last year, will move up to the All-Japan Super Formula Championship (SF) with a view to F1 participation in the future. Honda will support this move and position the Japanese SF as a category that leads to world-class formula races such as F1, and like the SUPER GT series, will actively promote young drivers and encourage their participation in the series.

In North America, Honda Performance Development (HPD), which has been responsible for Honda’s racing activities in the region, has been renamed to Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC-US) in January 2024, and will aim to enhance Honda’s automobile motorsports development on a global scale. In 2024, HPD will supply five teams competing in the IndyCar Series with engines through HRC-US. In addition, two Acura-branded ARX-06 cars supplied by HRC-US will compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the new HRC logo. HRC in Japan and HRC-US will work together to further enhance Honda’s racing activities on a global scale.

Participation Overview

FIM MotoGP World Championship (MotoGP)

MotoGP

FIM Superbike World Championship (WSBK)

WSBK

WSSP

FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC)

FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP)

MXGP class

MX2 class

FIM Trial World Championship (TrialGP)

FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (Dakar Rally 2024)

<<Japan>>

MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship (JRR)

JSB1000 class

ST1000 class

ST600 class

MFJ All Japan Motocross Championship (JMX)

IA1 class

IA2 class

Ladies class (LMX)

MFJ All Japan Trial Championship (JTR)

IA Super class (IAS)

Ladies class(LTR)

Asia

FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC)

ASB1000 class

North America

AMA Supercross Championship

450SX

250SX

AMA Pro Motocross Championship

450MX

250MX

Overview of Honda Participation in Automobile Racing

<<Japan>>

Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship (SF)

SUPER GT <GT500 class>

SUPER GT <GT300 class

◆Super Taikyu Series <ST-Q class>

<<North America>>

IndyCar Series

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Development of motorcycle riders and automobile drivers

For the purpose of developing riders and drivers who will become formidable contenders on the global motorsports stage, Honda has been involved in nurturing world-class riders and drivers at 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. As a result, these programs have produced a number of outstanding riders and drivers who have been competing in their respective motorcycle and automobile racing categories inside and outside Japan. In 2022, with a goal to further increase the quality of development programs in each category, Suzuka Circuit School was renamed as the Honda Racing School Suzuka (HRS), where top-class riders and drivers provide guidance as instructors.

In the area of motorcycle racing, Honda will continue the activities of Honda Team Asia, which will continue to compete in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes of MotoGP in the 2024 season, and also continue to utilize IDEMITSU Asia Talent Cup (IATC) as a program designed to foster young riders. Through these initiatives, Honda will strive to discover and foster more riders who can compete in world-class races.

In the area of automobile racing, Honda will further strengthen the environment to foster young drivers by offering development opportunities in formula races in Europe, FIA-F4 or Super Formula Lights races in Japan, and other races through the Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP).　

FIM MotoGP World Championship

Moto2 class

Moto3 class

French F4 Championship

All-Japan Super Formula Lights（SFL）

FIA-F4 Championship（Japan）

Honda initiatives to expand the popularity of motorsports

Honda has been making active efforts to expand the popularity of motorsports, through various events and activities that can be enjoyed more casually by people who are not yet so familiar with motorsports.

One-make race series sponsored by Honda Racing Corporation (HRC)

HRC is hosting one-make races 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 production models, as well as the NSF100 HRC Trophy, which features the NSF100, an HRC production model racer 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.

Honda Eco Mileage Challenge 2024

Since 1981, Honda has hosted the Honda Eco Mileage Challenge, where participants combine their creativity, freewheeling thinking and technology and compete to see how far their handcrafted vehicles can travel on one liter of fuel. The cumulative number of teams participating in the Honda Eco Mileage Challenge since 1981 has reached approximately 15,000 teams.

Honda Eco Mileage Challenge 2023: Schedule in Japan