TOKYO, June 27, 2023 – (JCN Newswire) – Honda announced an overview of its main teams to compete in 2023 FIM(1) Endurance World Championship “Coca-Cola” Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Road Race 44th Tournament (Suzuka 8 Hours), to be held at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan, on Sunday, August 6, 2023.
Team HRC, which brought Honda its first victory in eight years last year, will compete again this year as a Honda factory team(2) with a factory bike based on the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP. This year, the team will be represented by FIM Superbike World Championship (WSBK) riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, and Takumi Takahashi, who is competing in the MFJ(3) All Japan Road Race Championship (JRR) ST1000 class this season. Takahashi was one of the winning riders at last year’s event, and a victory this year will be his fifth in total, tying him for the most wins in the Suzuka 8 Hours.
2022 EWC series champion F.C.C. TSR Honda France will be represented by its regular riders Josh Hook, Mike Di Meglio and Alan Techer. The team won the season-opening Le Mans 24 hours race, is currently one point behind the series leader, ranked second this season (as of the end of Round 2). The team is aiming to gain as many points as possible at Suzuka, to defend the championship.
SDG Honda Racing will be represented by MFJ JRR JSB1000 class rider Teppei Nagoe, once again joined by Spanish Superbike Championship (ESBK) rider Naomichi Uramoto, and ST1000 class rider Yuki Kunii.
Honda Asia-Dream Racing with SHOWA, currently competing in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship Asia Superbike 1000 (ASB1000) class, will be represented by Md Zaqhwan Bin Zaidi, Andi Farid Izdihar, and Supersports 600 (ASS600) class rider Nakarin Atiratphuvapat.
(1) FIM: Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme
(2) Factory team: Racing team managed by the bike manufacturer.
(3) MFJ: Motorcycle Federation of Japan
For more information, visit https://global.honda/newsroom/news/2023/2230627eng.html.
