Although the agreement had already been taken for granted for a few weeks, this Tuesday morning Repsol and Honda officially announced, through a statement, their intention to continue together for at least two more seasons, until the end of 2024, sealing a new contract extension for one of the longest-lasting and most successful associations in the history of motorcycling, which will reach 30 years of marriage at the end of the contract that is now being renewed.
Two seasons in which the official team of the Japanese manufacturer will keep the six-time MotoGP champion Marc Márquez in its line-up, and will welcome the Mallorcan Joan Mir, champion in 2020 with Suzuki.
“Repsol is proud to continue our successful history with Honda”, explains Marcos Fraga , Director of Communications and Corporate Marketing at Repsol, in the note.
“This collaboration has been, is and will be history in the world of motorcycling and an example of continuous innovation, teamwork and improvement.”
“In our 28 years of partnership, we have faced many challenges together, but now we have an even more ambitious goal: to return to the top in a more sustainable way.”
For his part, Koji Watanabe , President of Honda Racing Corporation, explains the importance of the association between both companies.
“It is a great pride for us to continue our collaboration with Repsol once again, prolonging a long and fruitful association. We do not work simply as a sponsor and manufacturer; we are a true team with a deep level of technical collaboration”, he points out.
“With the upcoming changes in fuel regulations, having a partner like Repsol is essential. Together we have celebrated the good days and worked together to overcome the bad ones; we remain focused on getting back to the top of the World Championship.”
Repsol and Honda joined forces in 1995, with the Spanish company sponsoring the Japanese constructor’s team in the 500cc World Championship, taking advantage, at that time, of the presence of the Spanish Alex Crivillé , along with Mick Doohan , in the official HRC line-up.
Since then, under the name of Repsol Honda, the team has added a total of 16 world championships, the five of Doohan himself (1994-1998), the first world championship of the queen class of a Spaniard, that of Crivillé (1999) , two with Valentino Rossi (2002-2003), the world championships with Nicky Hayden (2006) and Casey Stoner (2011) and the six titles won by Marc Márquez in the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Among the factors that Repsol is committed to in order to maintain its fruitful relationship with Honda, in addition to the advertising return or keeping Márquez in its line-up, with the addition of another talented champion like Mir next year, is the possibility of using the MotoGP World Championship as a bench for testing and development of fuels of non-fossil origin, following the guidelines of the championship, which from 2024 requires all teams to use 40% of the fuel they use, becoming completely mandatory from 2027.
