Honda PH to boost on-road motorsports activities for 2023

Honda Philippines Inc. (HPI) will continue its goal of becoming the leading name in motorsports for 2023 through the numerous collaborations lined up within the year.

HPI — under the leadership of company president Susumu Mitsuishi — bared its on-road racing plans following the company’s off-road motorsport strategy revealed in November last year. Per HPI, the company’s blueprint is aimed at launching Filipino riders in their bid toward World Championships.

At the international racing competitions, HPI will continue its support to racing teams particularly in the Moto 2 and 3 Idemitsu Honda Team Asia; as well as Honda Asia Dream Racing with Showa at the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) ASB1000 class, and at the Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race (with the participation of the first and only Filipino mechanic in the crew).

Meanwhile, HPI will still join domestic racing competitions such as IRGP (Inside Racing Grand Prix), MotoIR Championship, Super Series, among others, and again hold the Honda Pilipinas Dream Cup (HPDC) try-outs this year as part of its grassroots initiatives for the year.

Further, HPI has started a partnership with HARC-PRO Philippines, a professional racing team that originated in Japan.

HARC-PRO’s arm in the Philippines — in collaboration and support from HPI — will continue to participate in Asia Road Racing Championships under Showa Denki Group (SDG) with their riders Haruki Noguchi and Chihiro Ishii.

Aside from that, HARC-PRO shall share the knowledge and experience it has acquired over the years to the country's budding athletes at the 2023 Honda Young Riders Training Program (HYRTP). Participants under the aforementioned training program, which will start in February 2023 at the Tarlac Circuit Hill, will use the CBR300R motorcycles. 

“In this program, Filipino riders will now have a chance to achieve their dream to become World Class competitive riders participating in International races in the future,” Mitsuishi said.

Under the helm of Shigeki Honda, HARC-PRO has produced world-class talents like Hiroshi Aoyama (former GP250 World Champion and now Honda Team Asia’s Team Manager); Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Team competing in MotoGP and a former Japan Road Racing Champion); former MotoGP World Champions Casey Stoner, Nicky Hayden and Jack Miller; World Superbike racers (WSBK) Michael Van der Mark and Leon Haslam, and former Moto 3 rider Yuki Kunii to name a few.

Relatedly, HPI gave Filipino racers Jakob Sablaya and Alfonsi Daquigan their respective plaques of appreciation for their performance in the last year’s domestic racing competitions onboard the SupraGTR150 and CBR150R. “The “Honda racing spirit” is a testament to our commitment to winning by developing our people and technologies. With this in mind, we take on the exciting journey of training and developing Filipino young racers, in collaboration with SDG MS HARC-PRO Honda PH,” the HPI president noted.

Photos from Ruben Manahan IV, Honda Philippines Inc. 

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