Motegi · Profile

Mobility Resort Motegi is a motor racing complex in the town of Motegi, in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Owned by Honda and operated since 2006 by its subsidiary Honda Mobilityland, it opened on 17 August 1997 under the name Twin Ring Motegi. It has staged the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix every year since 2004, except 2020 and 2021. Its 4.801-kilometre road course, with 14 corners, has also hosted Super Formula since 1997 and Super GT since 1998.

Origins and construction

Work on the site began in January 1995. Honda built the facility for around 5 billion yen, partly to gain experience of American open-wheel racing at a time when the manufacturer was pushing to bring the CART series to Japan. The result was an unusual layout for Japan: a road course and an oval on the same grounds, hence the original name, Twin Ring. The oval measured 2.493 kilometres and had four corners banked at 10 degrees. Smaller layouts were added around the main circuit: an East course of 3.4 kilometres, a West course of 1.4 kilometres, a short northern track for karting and Formula 4, a dirt oval and a trials area.

The oval years: CART and IndyCar

The Indy Japan 300 was run for the first time on 28 March 1998 and won by the Mexican driver Adrián Fernández. CART raced on the oval from 1998 to 2002, and the Indy Racing League took over the date in 2003. Honda had to wait until 2004 for its first win at its own speedway, with Dan Wheldon. In 2008 Danica Patrick won there ahead of Hélio Castroneves and became the first woman to win an IndyCar race. The 2011 edition was the last. The Tōhoku earthquake of March that year had damaged the oval, so the race moved to the road course, although the decision to drop Motegi from the calendar had been taken before the quake. The oval also hosted a NASCAR exhibition, the 1998 Coca-Cola 500, won by Mike Skinner.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Motegi staged the Japanese Grand Prix for the first time in 1999. From 2000 to 2003 the Japanese round returned to Suzuka, and Motegi held a second event on the calendar, the Pacific Grand Prix. In 2004 it became the permanent home of the Japanese Grand Prix, which it hosted every season until 2019. The race was not held in 2020 or 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and came back to the calendar in 2022.

Titles decided at Motegi

Because the race falls late in the season, Motegi has often been where the championship was settled. In 2007 Casey Stoner finished sixth there and secured his first premier-class crown, the first for Ducati, while his teammate Loris Capirossi won the race. In 2008 Valentino Rossi won the Grand Prix and sealed his sixth premier-class title with three rounds to spare. On 12 October 2014 Marc Márquez finished second behind Jorge Lorenzo and retained the MotoGP title. He was the first Honda rider in any class to clinch a world championship at the manufacturer’s home circuit. On 21 October 2018 he won the race and took his fifth premier-class title after Andrea Dovizioso crashed at turn 10 on the penultimate lap. In 2025 Márquez finished second behind Francesco Bagnaia and sealed his seventh MotoGP title, his first with Ducati.

Other championships and facilities

The road course has been a regular venue for Japan’s domestic series, with Super Formula since 1997 and Super GT since 1998. The World Touring Car Championship held its Race of Japan there from 2015 to 2017, and the Asia Road Racing Championship has raced at Motegi since 2024. The complex also houses the Honda Collection Hall, which displays Honda racing and production cars and motorcycles from different eras, and the Honda Fan Fun Lab, which covers technologies such as robotics, fuel-cell vehicles and aviation. A Gran Turismo café opened on site in 2009.

A new name in 2022

On 1 March 2022, the circuit’s 25th anniversary, Twin Ring Motegi was renamed Mobility Resort Motegi. MotoGP returned the same year after two seasons away. In 2026 the Japanese Grand Prix was the sixteenth round of the championship. Marc Márquez won the sprint and then, on 4 October, the Grand Prix itself, 1.363 seconds ahead of Jorge Martín, with Marco Bezzecchi third.