Honda Motor Sports Guide 2020
THE FINISH LINE IS NEVER THE END DAKAR RALLY 2020
CRF450 RALLY Conquers World’ s Most Grueling Rally Giving Honda First Dakar Motorcycle Class Win in 31 Years
The 2020 edition of the Dakar Rally, considered the world’ s most grueling motorsports event, was held in Saudi Arabia over thirteen days, in twelve stages covering over 7,000 kilometers, more than three-quarters of which was desert.
Team riders for Monster Energy Honda Team, Honda’ s factory team, rode their CRF450 RALLY bikes to six stage wins out of twelve, of which Ricky Brabec won two. From Stage 3 onwards, Brabec defended his race lead to take the overall victory.
Brabec, on his fifth Dakar, became the first American rider to win the event, and gave Honda its first overall win in 31 years.
Honda first competed in the third Paris-Dakar Rally in 1981. Its first victory came in 1986 on an NXR750, which was followed by three consecutive wins up to 1989. Honda left the Dakar the following year, and in 2013, decided to race once again in the Dakar Rally, then held in South America, with its new CRF450 RALLY factory bike. Despite finishing runner-up in 2015 and 2018, victory had eluded Honda until this year, the 8th attempt after returning to the Dakar in 2013. Honda’ s History in DAKAR RALLY
Year Best result Rider Nationality Bike
1986 Win Cyril Neveu France NXR750
1987 Win Cyril Neveu France NXR750
1988 Win Edi Orioli Italy NXR750
1989 Win Gilles Lalay France NXR750
Honda did not compete in the Dakar from 1990 to 2012
2013 7th Helder Rodrigues Portugal CRF450 RALLY
2014 5th Helder Rodrigues Portugal CRF450 RALLY
2015 2nd Paulo Gonçalves Portugal CRF450 RALLY
2016 4th Kevin Benavides Argentina CRF450 RALLY
2017 5th Joan Barreda Spain CRF450 RALLY
2018 2nd Kevin Benavides Argentina CRF450 RALLY
2019 7th José Ignacio Cornejo Chile CRF450 RALLY
2020 Win Ricky Brabec U.S.A. CRF450 RALLY Why Honda Races
“ If Honda does not race, there is no Honda ” - Soichiro Honda.
In 1958, Honda’ s founder Soichiro Honda announced his desire to compete in motorcycle racing, and poured all of his energy into it. His legacy lives on, and is at the heart of everything Honda does. Racing is in Honda’ s DNA. THE RACING GENE IT'S IN OUR BLOOD What's Coming in 2020?
In motorcycle racing, Honda aims to win the triple crown in MotoGP for the fourth consecutive year, and defend its titles in motocross and trial championships. Honda also rebooted its factory team in the Superbike World Championship. In automobile racing, Honda aims for the Formula 1 crown in its sixth year after returning to the championship, and also aims for the pinnacle with NSX GT3 Evo and CIVIC TCR racing cars. Trial GP MXGP
Formula 1
EVERY CHALLENGE EWC WSBK SBK MADE US STRONGER
IGTC WTCR
SUPER GT MotoGP Super Formula Formula 1 Formula One World Championship
Honda was power unit supplier for two Formula One teams in 2019, a first since returning to the competition in 2015. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing won three races on the season and Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda (now Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda) climbed the podium twice, so it was a year of very steady progress. Honda will partner again with both teams in 2020 and work for even more victories. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
#33 Max Verstappen
Nationality : Netherlands Date of Birth : September 30,1997
#23 Alexander Albon
Nationality : Thailand Date of Birth : March 23, 1996
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda
#10 Pierre Gasly
Nationality : France Date of Birth : February 7, 1996
#26 Daniil Kvyat
Nationality : Russia Date of Birth : April 26, 1994 Max Verstappen
As the son of former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen, racing is in Max Verstappen’ s blood. His kart race debut was at age seven and immediately showed his talent, becoming Belgian Champion. He continued to win race after race, collecting a number of titles at European and World Championships. In 2014, at age 16, he moved up to single-seaters and in his debut year, he took 3rd in the FIA F3 Championship.
Following year, in 2015, he joined Formula One from Scuderia ToroRosso. At the time, he was 17 years and 165 days old and made him the youngest ever Formula One driver. In rookie year, he ended the season at 12th place. In 2016, he transferred to Red Bull Racing from Spain Grand Prix, the fifth race of the season, and secured his first victory at his first race with his new team. At 18 years, 227 days, he became Formula One’ s youngest ever winner.
Verstappen won another two races in 2018. In 2019, with Honda power units, he recorded his personal best, three victories and ended the season 3rd. This season, at age 23, he will aim to become the youngest ever series champion. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Alexander Albon
Albon started kart racing when he was 8 years old and won numerous titles in Britain and Europe. He moved up to single-seaters in 2012, distinguishing himself by taking 3rd in the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup series and 2nd in the 2016 GP3 Series.
In 2018, he raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, known as the gateway to F1, mounting the victory stand eight times, including four at the very top, and winning the pole position three times. He was in contention for the title to the very last race and ended the season in 3rd place.
Albon made his Formula One debut with Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda in 2019 and was transferred to Aston Martin Red Bull Racing as of the Belgian Grand Prix, the season’ s 13th race. He had a remarkable season taking as high as fourth place and won the Rookie of the Year. Pierre Gasly Gasly started kart racing at age 10 and debuted a single-seater in 2011 in the Formula 4 French Championship. He came was 3rd in the season and the next year, he stepped up to the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, winning his first championship in his second year.
In 2014, he was promoted to Formula Renault 3.5 and finished in 2nd. Following year, he began competing in the GP2 Series (now the FIA Formula 2 Championship) while also serving as a reserve driver for Red Bull Racing. In the 2016 GP2 Series, he took the title. In 2017, he moved his racing career to Japanese Super Formula, claiming two victories.
He made his Formula One debut with Scuderia ToroRosso from Malaysian Grand Prix in 2017, appearing in three races. In 2019, he to climb to the podium for his first time, bringing home his 2nd place trophy at the Brazil Grand Prix.
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda
Daniil Kvyat
Kvyat was born in Russia and started kart racing at age 9. He already had his mind set up then on becoming a racer and moved with his family to Rome, Italy to take part in European karting championships. He made his single-seater debut in 2010, racing in the European and Pacific Formula BMW series and the New Zealand Championship. He moved up to Formula Renault 2.0 in 2011.
Kvyat talent was seen in 2012, placing 2nd in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, and in 2013 he was promoted to the GP3 Series (now the FIA Formula 3 Championship) and immediately took the title. He earned a place in Formula One in 2014 with Scuderia ToroRosso.
He left Formula One for a while, but made a comeback to Scuderia ToroRosso in 2019 where he’ d brought bck the team the 3rd place at German Grand Prix which was the team’ s second trip to the podium in their history, 11 years since their last one. MotoGP MotoGP World Championship
Honda’ s racing activities began with the Isle of Man Declaration in 1954. Five years later, Honda raced at the Isle of Man TT race for the first time, and in 1961, began racing in the road racing world championship. Since winning the opening round the same year, Honda’ s victories over 60 years has amassed to a record-setting 795 wins. In 2020, Honda aims to take the triple crown and reach 800 wins in MotoGP. Repsol Honda Team
#93 Marc Márquez
Nationality : Spain Date of Birth : February 17, 1993
#73 Alex Márquez
Nationality : Spain Date of Birth : April 23, 1996
LCR Honda IDEMITSU LCR Honda CASTROL
#30 Takaaki Nakagami #35 Cal Crutchlow
Nationality : Japan Nationality : U.K. Date of Birth : February 9,1992 Date of Birth : October 29, 1985 Marc Márquez
At only 15 years old, Marc Marquez debuted in the road racing world championship 125cc class in 2008. He became champion in his third season, and moved up to Moto2 the following year. At eighteen years and 87 days old, Marquez won the French Grand Prix to become the youngest winner in the intermediate class. Although he missed the final round due to injury, Marquez had seven wins during the season, securing second place overall. Once recovered from his injury, Marquez won nine of the seventeen rounds in the 2012 Moto2 season to become champion.
In 2013, Marquez joined Repsol Honda Team to race in the MotoGP class. Finishing 3rd on the podium in his debut race at Qatar, and winning the following round in the US, Marquez set another record, becoming the youngest race winner in the premier class. He charged on to win six of the eighteen rounds to become the youngest MotoGP champion.
Since then, Marquez has won every championship in the premier class except 2015, a total of six titles. His wins spanning all classes is 82 (4th most wins), and his 56 premier class victories is a record for a Honda rider, and is only surpassed by two other riders in the history of MotoGP. In 2020, Marquez aims to win his fifth consecutive title, alongside his new teammate and brother Alex Marquez, also riding a RC213V racing bike.
Alex Márquez
Winner of the 2012 CEV Repsol International Championship Moto3 class, Alex Marquez debuted in the World Championship Moto3 class the following year. In his second Moto3 year, Marquez rode his Honda NSF250RW to three wins to become the 2014 champion. As his brother Marc became the youngest champion in MotoGP history, Alex did the same in Moto3.
In 2015 Marquez moved up to the intermediate Moto2 class. He finished 14th that year, and 13th the next, but in 2017, Marquez won his first Moto2 race, and two more, to finish the season fourth. Consistently on the podium the following year, Marquez finished 2018 in fourth place.
Once becoming points leader in the mid-2019 season, Marquez defended his lead to become Moto2 champion. For the second time in Moto2 history, brothers had become champions. On the day after the season ended, Repsol Honda Team announced that Alex would be joining the team from 2020, joining his brother Marc. Takaaki Nakagami
In 20016, Nakagami debuted in the All Japan Road Race Championship GP125 class at the age of fourteen. Winning every round to take the championship, Nakagami became the youngest winner, and champion, in the history of the series. The following year, Nakagami crosses over to Spain to race in the CEV 125cc class. He also made a wildcard appearance in the MotoGP 125cc class at the Valencia Grand Prix.
After racing in the MotoGP 125cc class in 2008 and 2009, Nakagami returned to the All Japan Road Race Championship in 2010. He became the J-GP2 class champion the following year, and resumed his challenge on the world stage in 2012, in the MotoGP Moto2 class. Since then, Nakagami raced in the intermediate class for six years. In the 2016 Dutch TT he won his first Moto2 race, and in 2017, with four podiums including his second career win, Nakagami finished the season seventh.
In 2018, Nakagami joined LCR Honda IDEMITSU to race in the MotoGP class. He gained 11 points that year after finishing sixth in the final round in Valencia. Nakagami started his 2019 season with consistent results including top 10 finishes in the first four rounds, but missed the final three rounds to recover from injuries. Nakagami enters his third year in the premier class in 2020.
Cal Crutchlow
After honing his riding skills in the British Supersport Championship, Cal Crutchlow joined the Supersport World Championship in 2009, taking the title in his debut year. Moving onto Superbike World Championship racing the following year, Crutchlow won three races to be ranked fifth that year.
Crutchlow began his MotoGP class career in 2011, becoming the rookie of the year. In 2012 he finished seventh overall, and fifth the following year. His consistency earned him a place in the series as a top rider. After he joined LCR Honda in 2015, Crutchlow rode his Honda RC213V to his first victory at the 2016 Czech Republic round, becoming the first British rider to win a premier class race in 35 years. That year, he won his second MotoGP class race at the Australian Grand Prix.
Crutchlow has consistently finished on the podium since then, and won his third race at the 2018 Argentine round. He finished runner-up behind Marc Marquez at the Japanese Grand Prix, giving Honda a 1-2 finish at its home track. Crutchlow has been on pole four times, and on the podium in nineteen races, proving himself to be a world class rider. MXGP Motocross World Championship
Motocross is off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits made of dirt and sand. the MXGP class is the premier world championship class, raced with 450cc off-road bikes. Honda’ s Team HRC factory team, Team HRC, is represented by 2016 / 2019 champion Tim Gajser, and Mitch Evans who joins the team after an impressive MX2 career. The riders aim for a second consecutive title #243 Tim Gajser on their CRF450RW bikes. #43 Mitchell Evans CRF450RW Nationality : Slovenia Nationality : Australia Date of birth : September 8, 1996 Date of birth : November 10, 1998 TrialGP Trial World Championship
Trial racing involves competitors riding through obstacle courses while attempting to avoid touching the ground with their feet. Honda’ s factory team, Repsol Honda Team, is represented by Repsol Honda Team Toni Bou, world champion for the past thirteen seasons, and 2004 champion Takahisa Fujinami. The two champions ride Cota 4RT factory bikes to increase the team’ s record. #1 Toni Bou #3 Takahisa Fujinami COTA4RT
Nationality : Spain Nationality : Japan Date of birth : October 17, 1986 Date of birth : January 13, 1980 SBK Superbike World Championship
The Superbike World Championship is the pinnacle of production-based motorcycle racing. In 2020, Honda’ s factory team, Team HRC, introduces the all-new CBR1000RR-RW FIREBLADE Team HRC SP. Alvaro Bautista, winner of sixteen races and overall second in 2019, and Leon Haslam, fifteen-season veteran, aim to win the title for the team in 2020.
#19 Alvaro Bautista #91 Leon Haslam CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP Nationality : Spain Nationality : U.K. Date of birth : November 21, 1984 Date of birth : May 31, 1983 EWC Endurance World Championship
The Endurance World Championship is the premier worldwide endurance motorcycle racing championship contested over eight, twelve or twenty-four hour races in which team #5 F.C.C. TSR Honda France riders take turns to ride the same bike. The championship has a number of historically significant races, such as the Bol d’ Or 24 Hours, which has been held for nearly a century. In the 2017-2018 season, F.C.C. TSR Honda rode its CBR1000RR to victory. Although the team finished second the following year, it aims to take back the Josh Hook Freddy Foray Mike Di Meglio CBR1000RR-R crown this season. Nationality Australia France France FIREBLADE SP Date of birth January 9,1993 August 2,1984 January 17,1988
AMA-SX AMA Supercross
AMA Supercross is an exciting, popular series of races held on tracks constructed in Major League baseball stadiums and other large venues with dynamic jumps and technically demanding corners. As Team Honda HRC off-road racing is popular in the US, the series is regarded to be at the world championship level. Honda has won the premier class fifteen times. In 2020, Team Honda HRC will compete in the series yet again and aims to win the #94 Ken Roczen #10 Justin Brayton CRF450R overall title. Nationality Germany Nationality United States Date of Birth April 29, 1994 Date of Birth March 14, 1984 WTCR World Touring Car Cup
The World Touring Car Cup is a world championship raced with production-based cars tuned according to common TCR regulations. In 2020, WTCR will be contested over 10 rounds in 10 countries by customer teams. Honda will be represented by four factory drivers in the series. TCR racing is a popular form of racing held at the national level in various countries. Honda supplies the CIVIC TCR, winner of the 2019 TCR Model of the Year award, to entrants throughout the world. ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport & ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport
Esteban Guerrieri Tiago Monteiro Nestor Girolami Attila Tassi
Nationality : Argentina Nationality : Portugal Nationality : Argentina Nationality : Hungary Date of Birth : January 19 , 1985 Date of Birth : July 24, 1976 Date of Birth : May 22, 1989 Date of Birth : June 14, 1999 IGTC Intercontinental GT Challenge
The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a world championship series raced with FIA-defined Group GT3 cars. Only homologated cars can compete as GT3 cars. Manufacturers worldwide compete #30 Team Honda Racing with their flagship super sports car models, such as Honda’ s NSX GT3 Renger Van Der Zande Dane Cameron
Evo. IGTC rounds include popular races Nationality : Netherlands Nationality : U.S.A. such as the 24 Hours of Spa (Belgium), Date of Birth : February 16, 1986 Date of Birth : October 18, 1988 the Sepang 12 Hours (Malaysia), and the Suzuka 10 Hours (Japan) Mario Farnbacher Bertrand Baguette
Nationality : Germany Nationality : Belgium Date of Birth : May 14, 1992 Date of Birth : February 23, 1986 #8 ARTA #16 TEAM MUGEN
Tomoki Nojiri Hideki Mutoh SUPER GT Nirei Fukuzumi Ukyo Sasahara
SUPER GT is a semi-endurance series, #17 KEIHIN REAL RACING #64 Modulo Nakajima Racing raced by cars developed in compliance with Class 1 regulations, consistent with Koudai Tsukakoshi Takuya Izawa German Touring Car Masters (DTM) regulations. Minimum weights, fuel flow and other restrictions are applied Bertrand Baguette Hiroki Otsu throughout the season to balance performance between cars, resulting in exciting races. Honda aims to win the #100 TEAM KUNIMITSU title with five teams (ten drivers) racing NSX-GT racing cars. Naoki Yamamoto
Tadasuke Makino DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING Threebond Drago CORSE
#5 Naoki Yamamoto #12 Tatiana Calderón Super Formula #6 Nirei Fukuzumi Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship
Super Formula is the premier formula TEAM MUGEN B-Max Racing with Motopark car racing series in Japan, held at racing track all over the nation. The series is #15 Juri Vips #50 Pietro Fittipaldi considered a training ground for Formula 1 racers, such as Pierre Gasly
(Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda), attracting #16 Tomoki Nojiri #51 Charles Milesi promising young drivers from all over the world. TCS NAKAJIMA RACING
#64 Tadasuke Makino
#65 Toshiki Oyu Honda Collection Hall
tel. +81(0)285-64-0001, 120-1, HIYAMA, “Machines never lie. Success will always come if they’ re really good. So, let’ s MOTEGI-MACHI, HAGA-GUN, TOCHIGI 321-3597 show the world what we’ ve done. Then they can see the real Honda!” - From JAPAN these remarks by founder Soichiro Honda, the Honda Collection Hall was born. https://www.twinring.jp/collection-hall/ All displayed machines embody the dreams and passion of not only the people who founded Honda, but also everyone who has ever used and come to love a Honda product. Honda hopes visitors will enjoy the many photos and episodes displayed in conjunction with the machines that represent “the real Honda.” Aim to Be the Best in the World
Honda has honed its technology in the world of racing. The 3rd floor exhibition area introduces the history of Honda’ s challenging spirit in pursuit of excellence in motor sports. Beginning with the original bicycle engine, exhibits on the 2nd floor trace the progress of Honda’ s manufacturing with displays of actual products that have been loved for generations.
Following in the footsteps and ideas of Honda’ s founders Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa, the exhibition illustrates the company’ s direction in its early stage, when the seeds of dreams took root and blossomed, with goals realized in a way that closely matched a world rapidly changing with the times.
ACCESS
By train and bus 100 min. by bus from JR Utsunomiya Station (West exit) 20 min. by bus from Motegi Station (Mooka Tetsudo)
By car 90 min. from Utsunomiya or Kanuma interchanges on the Tohoku Expressway Here 40 min. from the Naka or Mito interchanges on the Joban Expressway Tokyo 30 min. from the Mito-kita Smart interchange (ETC-equipped vehicles Osaka only):recommended! Copyright, 2020 Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. All Rights Reserved.