Honda is combining its Japanese and American racing departments in order to allow them to work more closely together. Among other things, that will mean that the power units the company plans to build for the Aston Martin F1 team starting in 2026 will be partially developed in the U.S.
Honda Racing Corporation was founded in 1982 in Japan as a motorcycle racing team. For 40 years, it has been recognized as one of the world’s best, and has taken home trophies in a variety of categories, including WGP/MotoGP, Superbike, Motocross, World Trial, and the Paris Dakar rally.
Meanwhile, Honda Performance Development was established in the U.S. in 1993. A separate entity, it has been more focused on auto racing, earning 280 wins across series like IndyCar, IMSA, Baja Off-Road, Touring Cars, and Formula Regional America.
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Now, they will both officially be a part of the Honda Racing Corporation, and they will be referred to as HRC and HRC US. Together, they will work to achieve the automaker’s motorsports ambitions.
“Our goal is to increase the HRC brand and sustain the success of our racing activities and we believe that uniting Honda motorsports globally as one racing organization will help achieve that,” said Koji Watanabe, the president of HRC Japan. “Our race engineers in the U.S. and Japan will be stronger together and I am so happy to welcome our U.S. associates to the HRC team.”
HRC U.S.’s experience in auto racing will be put to good use, as it will be involved in the Formula One power unit development and race support as of 2026. The division already has some experience with building a V6 hybrid power unit for racing, having taken victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona earlier this year with just such a drivetrain in the Acura ARX-06.
“We are thrilled and very proud to join forces with our friends and colleagues in HRC Japan and represent Honda Racing as a global racing organization,” said David Salters, president of HPD, who will become president of the new HRC US. “We will continue to challenge ourselves in U.S. motorsports activities even as we develop our people and technology to compete on a rapidly changing global motorsports stage.”
