Honda HRC Castrol

Honda HRC Castrol is the official factory team of the Honda Racing Corporation in the MotoGP class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing (World Championship road racing), formerly backed by principal sponsor Repsol for 30 years until the end of 2024.

History

1990s: Doohan dominance, Crivillé championship

Honda first entered the premier 500cc (now MotoGP) class in 1966. Prior to the modern era, works efforts ran under various sponsorships, including the Rothmans Honda team in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1995, Honda restructured its factory premier class programme into a single entity in partnership with Spanish oil company Repsol.[AI-retrieved source]

In 1995 the newly branded Repsol Honda team entered a three-rider lineup with Mick Doohan, Àlex Crivillé and Shinichi Ito all riding the Honda NSR500. Doohan won seven races and secured a second consecutive World Championship in Argentina. Crivillé finished the season ranked fourth in the standings, with one race win, while Ito finished fifth. The team expanded its lineup to four riders in 1996. Doohan and Crivillé rode the NSR500 while Ito and Tadayuki Okada rode the Honda NSR500V. Doohan won his third World Championship with eight race wins, and Crivillé finished runner-up with two wins. Okada finished seventh, and Ito twelfth.

The four rider line-up continued in 1997, with Doohan, Crivillé and Okada on the NSR500 and Takuma Aoki on the NSR500V. Repsol Honda won all fifteen of the season's races. Doohan alone won twelve of them, breaking Giacomo Agostini's record for victories in one season, on his way to his fourth World Championship. Okada finished runner-up, with one race win. Crivillé, who had to miss five races after a serious crash at Assen, finished fourth with two race wins. Aoki finished fifth. Repsol Honda riders took all of the podium positions at four events, in Japan, Spain, Germany and Indonesia.

In 1998, Doohan, Crivillé and Okada continued to ride the NSR500 and Sete Gibernau joined them on the NSR500V. Doohan continued to dominate the championship: he won eight races and was crowned World Champion for the fifth time in front of his home fans in Australia. Crivillé finished third, with two wins. Okada had to miss three races after breaking his wrist during practice of the Italian Grand Prix and finished eighth. Gibernau finished eleventh.

Doohan, Crivillé, Okada and Gibernau all returned in 1999. During qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, Doohan had a serious crash which would ultimately cause his retirement from the sport. Crivillé won six races, and clinched his first World Championship in Rio de Janeiro. Okada finished third, with three race wins. Gibernau – who started the season on the NSR500V before replacing Doohan on the NSR500 – finished fifth. The team managed an all-Repsol Honda riders' podium at Catalunya with Crivillé first, Okada second and Gibernau third.

2000s: Rossi, Hayden championships

Crivillé, Okada and Gibernau remained with the team for the 2000 season, all riding NSR500 motorcycles. This was a difficult year for Repsol Honda: Crivillé won one race and finished ninth overall, Okada finished eleventh and Gibernau fifteenth. In 2001, Crivillé was joined by Tohru Ukawa in a two-rider lineup. This season was not much better than the previous one, as Crivillé could only manage two podiums and finished the season eighth, while Ukawa finished tenth with a single podium finish.

In 2002, the debut year of the new MotoGP class, Valentino Rossi joined the team alongside Ukawa riding the new Honda RC211V. They were the only two riders to use the new motorcycle until near the end of the season, when Alex Barros and Daijiro Kato were also given the RC211V. Rossi dominated the season with eleven race wins, and became World Champion with four rounds remaining. Ukawa took one victory and eight podiums to finish third overall. 2002 AMA Superbike Champion Nicky Hayden joined Rossi in 2003. Hayden finished the season in fifth, with two podium finishes. Rossi took nine wins and finished on the podium in every race to secure another championship. He then left Honda for Yamaha.

Alex Barros joined Hayden at Repsol Honda in 2004. Barros finished the season fourth with four podiums, and Hayden eighth with two podiums. Neither rider secured a race victory. In 2005, Max Biaggi replaced Barros opposite Hayden. Hayden claimed his first MotoGP victory at his home race, the United States Grand Prix. He finished the season third overall. Biaggi finished in fifth place, with four podiums.

In 2006, Hayden was joined by 250cc World Champion Dani Pedrosa. Hayden led the championship race for most of the season, but at the Portuguese Grand Prix, Pedrosa recklessly crashed into him. Both riders recorded a DNF, and Rossi took the championship lead for Yamaha with one race remaining. At the final round in Valencia, Rossi fell off his bike on lap 5 trying to make up for a poor start. Hayden rode a conservative race to finish in third, and thus became World Champion. He had scored two race wins and eight other podium finishes across the season. Pedrosa finished fifth, with two race wins and six other podium finishes.

Hayden and Pedrosa were retained for 2007, riding the new 800cc Honda RC212V. The bike did not perform well at first, but improved throughout the season. Pedrosa got two race wins and became championship runner-up, while Hayden could only manage three podium finishes and finished the season in eighth. Both riders remained at Repsol Honda in 2008, with Mike Leitner and Pete Benson as Pedrosa and Hayden's chief mechanics, respectively, and Kazuhiko Yamano as team manager. During the season Pedrosa switched to Bridgestone tyres and a wall was placed between the two riders' garages to prevent observation of tyre data. This idea was borrowed from Rossi, who had instituted a wall at the beginning of the same season between himself and his teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

In 2009, Pedrosa was partnered by Andrea Dovizioso. They finished in third and sixth respectively.

2010s: Stoner championship, Márquez dominance

Pedrosa and Dovizioso were retained for the 2010 season. Pedrosa clinched another runner-up finish in the championship, after winning four races. Dovizioso finished in fifth. Honda were eyeing Casey Stoner to join the factory team, but Dovizioso's contract contained a performance clause that meant a fifth-place championship finish in 2010 would secure his seat for the next year. Repsol Honda therefore ran a rare three-rider lineup in 2011. Stoner won nine races to secure the championship. Dovizioso finished third, and Pedrosa finished fourth, having missed three rounds due to injury.

Pedrosa and Stoner were retained for 2012, riding the Honda RC213V. Pedrosa finished runner-up, despite winning more races than eventual champion Jorge Lorenzo. Stoner missed three races after an injury sustained during qualifying in Indianapolis, and finished third. On May 17, 2012, Stoner shockingly announced his retirement from the sport aged just twenty-seven.

On 12 July 2012, it was announced that Moto2 rider Marc Márquez had signed a two-year contract to replace Stoner as Pedrosa's teammate from 2013 onwards. Márquez finished ahead of Pedrosa to claim a podium on his MotoGP debut in Qatar. Márquez won the next race in Texas to become the youngest premier class race winner of all time. He won five more races throughout the season and clinched the championship at the last round in Valencia, becoming the youngest premier class champion of all time. He was aided by midseason injuries for Lorenzo and Pedrosa, who finished in third overall. Honda secured the Teams' and Constructors' championships.

Márquez and Pedrosa were retained for 2014. Márquez won the first ten races of the season and thirteen overall, breaking Doohan's record for wins across a single season. He won the championship, while Pedrosa finished fourth. Honda once again secured the Teams' and Constructors' championships. Honda's bike was more fractious in 2015: Márquez recorded five race wins but six DNFs, and Pedrosa missed three races due to injury. They finished third and fourth in the standings. During this season, Red Bull became a main sponsor for the team.

Márquez and Pedrosa were retained for 2016. The season initially looked daunting for Repsol Honda, who were concerned about the RC213V's compatibility with MotoGP's new tyre sponsor Michelin. After a frantic preseason, these issues were resolved. Márquez won five races and rode comfortably to his third MotoGP championship. Pedrosa finished sixth, with one race win. The pair were retained for 2017, where Márquez retained the championship and Pedrosa finished fourth, and 2018, where Márquez retained the championship and Pedrosa finished eleventh.

Pedrosa retired at the end of 2018, and was replaced by five-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo for the 2019 season. Lorenzo's 2019 was disastrous: his best race finish was eleventh, and he finished the season ranked nineteenth in the standings. Márquez meanwhile won his sixth MotoGP title for Honda to solidify his place as their most successful rider in history. He did so in dominant style, winning twelve races, and failing to finish within the top two on only one occasion, when he recorded a DNF in Texas. Off the back of his performance, Honda retained the Teams' and Constructors' championships. Lorenzo retired, and Márquez signed a new four-year contract with Honda, breaking the usual two-year contract cycle.

2020s: RC213V problems, Márquez departure

Marc Márquez's younger brother Álex joined him at Repsol Honda for the 2020 season. The season calendar was delayed and shortened due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the first race in Jerez, Marc suffered a vicious highside, ending his race and breaking his right humerus. Due to a string of surgeries and medical complications, he did not participate in another race in the 2020 season. He was replaced by test rider Stefan Bradl for the remainder of the season. Álex scored two podiums and finished the season in fourteenth place in the standings, and Bradl in nineteenth. This was Honda's least successful year in MotoGP for decades.

Marc Márquez returned to Repsol Honda in 2021, with his brother replaced by Pol Espargaró. Márquez won three races, at Germany, Texas, and the Emilia Romagna GP, but recorded four DNFs and missed four more races due to injury to finish the season ranked seventh. Espargaró finished twelfth, scoring a single podium finish. In 2022, Márquez left the grid midseason for yet another arm surgery. In spite of not starting 8 of 20 races, he finished the season in thirteenth place with 113 points, more than double that of any of his Honda stablemates. The RC213V was now alarmingly uncompetitive.

Honda's fortunes worsened in 2023, when Espargaró was replaced by 2020 champion Joan Mir. Márquez failed to finish a single race across the first nine rounds of the season due to a series of crashes on the hugely uncooperative bike. At Mugello, Márquez, Mir and satellite rider Álex Rins were all sidelined by crashes. At the Sachsenring, historically a strong track for Honda, Márquez crashed five times across the practice, qualifying and warm-up rounds and withdrew from the main race. Márquez, Mir and Rins all missed multiple races throughout the season due to injury. Márquez scored the factory team's lone podium of the season at Motegi and ultimately finished in fourteenth, Honda's best result in the standings. On October 4, 2023, Márquez announced he had terminated his contract with Honda early by mutual agreement.

Márquez was replaced by Luca Marini for the 2024 season. Mir and Marini finished the season in twenty-first and twenty-second position in the standings respectively, with their best race result an eleventh-place finish for Mir at the Emilia Romagna GP. The team finished the season in eleventh and last place overall, and Honda finished bottom of the constructors' table. On September 8, 2024, Honda and title sponsor Repsol announced that they would part ways at the end of the year. Their relationship had been strained by Honda's run of results – their worst since the 1980s – as well as the departure of Márquez. The legendary Repsol orange had already been noticeably reduced from the fairings of Honda's bikes for the 2024 season.

Mir and Marini were retained for the 2025 season. Castrol – already a title sponsor for Honda's satellite Grand Prix team LCR Honda – was announced as the team's replacement title sponsor. This season was more encouraging for Honda. Marini rode with consistency to finish thirteenth in the standings, equalling the team's best riders' result since 2021. Mir took more risks and finished in fifteenth, recording thirteen main race DNFs. However, he also took two podiums: at Honda's home race in Japan and in Malaysia. Mir and Marini will continue to ride for Honda HRC Castrol in 2026.

Grand Prix motorcycle results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

MotoGP results

By rider

By year

See also

• Honda
• Honda in motorsport
• Honda Racing Corporation
• Honda racing motorcycles

Notes

External links

• Official Honda website for motorcycle grand prix teams