HRC · History

Based in Asaka, in Japan’s Saitama Prefecture, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) has competed in the premier class of the motorcycle World Championship since it was set up on 1 September 1982. It is Honda’s racing division and runs the factory team in 500cc and MotoGP, as well as the brand’s motocross, trials, rally-raid and endurance programmes. Since April 2022 it has also been responsible for Honda’s car racing activities, which it manages from a second centre in Sakura, Tochigi Prefecture.

Origins: from the NR500 to the 1982 merger

Honda returned to Grand Prix racing in 1979 with the NR500, a four-stroke machine developed by the so-called NR block within the company’s research and development arm. Alongside it stood the Racing Service Center (RSC), a separate company that handled motorcycle racing and support for Honda riders. On 1 September 1982 the two structures merged to form HRC. Its first president was Shoichiro Irimajiri, who had been in charge of the NR block. The new company brought the development of racing machines and the service to teams under one roof.

The first 500cc titles

The first riders’ championship came quickly: Freddie Spencer won the 500cc crown in 1983 and again in 1985. Wayne Gardner took the title in 1987, and Eddie Lawson, whose earlier championships had come with Yamaha, won it on a Honda in 1989. Between 1994 and 1998 Mick Doohan put together five consecutive championships, and in 1999 Àlex Crivillé became the first Spaniard to win the premier class. In the constructors’ standings, Honda collected the titles of 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989 and 1992 in that period, plus five in a row from 1994 to 1998.

Repsol and the MotoGP era

In 1995 Repsol became the factory team’s title sponsor, a partnership that lasted thirty seasons, until the end of 2024. Valentino Rossi won the last 500cc title with Honda in 2001 and the first two of the MotoGP era in 2002 and 2003. Nicky Hayden claimed the 2006 championship and Casey Stoner the 2011 crown. On the technical side, HRC developed a seamless gearbox that was first used on the RC212V. The factory team won ten teams’ titles between 2002 and 2019.

Marc Márquez and his six titles

Marc Márquez stepped up to MotoGP in 2013 with the Repsol Honda team and won the championship in his debut season. He retained it in 2014 and, after losing out in 2015, won four straight titles from 2016 to 2019. With his crowns, Honda reached 21 riders’ championships in the premier class between 1983 and 2019. The team also won the teams’ standings in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and the manufacturer has collected more than twenty constructors’ titles in the premier class.

Motocross, trials, endurance and rally-raid

Away from road racing, Honda won its first 500cc Motocross World Championship in 1979 and has 39 riders’ titles in the discipline. In trials it competes with the works team Repsol Montesa HRC, the result of its technical alliance with Montesa. At the Suzuka 8 Hours, HRC took eight of Honda’s ten consecutive wins between 1997 and 2006, and won the race again in 2022. At the Dakar, where the brand had triumphed with the NXR750 from 1986 to 1989, HRC returned to the top step in 2020 with Ricky Brabec and repeated in 2021 with Kevin Benavides. In the World Rally-Raid Championship it won the manufacturers’ title in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Formula One and the end of the Repsol deal

On 1 April 2022 HRC took over Honda’s car racing activities, including Formula One. That year it began supplying power units to Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri through Red Bull Powertrains, and in 2023 the RBPTH001 engine won 21 of the 22 races of the championship. The brand also agreed to become Aston Martin’s works engine supplier from 2026. In MotoGP, after Repsol’s sponsorship ended in 2024, Castrol became the team’s title partner, and the squad has raced as Honda HRC Castrol since 2025.