MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Honda Performance Development will become Honda Racing Corporation USA, joining forces with Honda Racing Corporation Japan, beginning Jan. 1, 2024.
The organizational restructuring was announced Sept. 21 at 9 a.m. (ET).
“This just made sense, to be really honest to you,” HPD President David Salters said. “We looked at how we did our racing and it just made sense. It was a sensible decision to use the different skills of the different areas and put it together to go forward. Honda is a racing company. We don’t want duplication, so we aligned our businesses to move forward.
“We are a global brand. We have different opportunities. In the future, we must think what makes sense — business sense and competitive sense, our people, and our brands.”
Honda is one of the most successful manufacturers in international auto racing. With the announcement, HPD will formally become Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) starting with the 2024 motorsports season.
HRC was established in Japan in 1982 as Honda’s motorcycle racing arm and is recognized for more than 40 years of championship racing heritage in pinnacle global racing categories such as WGP/MotoGP, Superbike, Motocross, World Trial and the Paris Dakar rally.
In 2022, HRC added auto racing including Honda’s F1 program to its responsibilities, with the Sakura Center dedicated for auto racing and Asaka Center focused on motorcycle racing. The company is located in Sakura, Japan.
Honda Performance Development (HPD) is based in Santa Clarita, Calif., and was established by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. in 1993, as a separate racing arm to compete in the NTT IndyCar Series. For 30 years, HPD has competed in various racing series including IndyCar, IMSA, Baja Off-Road, Touring Cars and Formula Regional America.
Through HPD, Honda has 280 wins from 510 races in IndyCar competition, including 180 wins from 410 events with multi-manufacturer competitions. At the Indianapolis 500, Honda has won 15 times, nine with multi-manufacturer competition.
Honda has won 13 drivers championships and 10 manufacturers championships in years with multi-manufacturer competition. HPD also has led the Acura brand to three consecutive wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and three IMSA manufacturers, drivers and teams championships since 2018.
With this change, HRC US will play an integral role in Honda’s global motorsports activities, which includes contributing to the company’s Formula One (F1) program. Collaborating as one global HRC entity, the two independent racing arms of Honda will combine their unique expertise and resources to strengthen Honda’s overall motorsports capabilities.
“We have established a new structure for different activities that we believe will lead to the sustainability of Honda’s participation,” said Koji Watanabe, the president of HRC Japan. “Until now, our activities have been project oriented — staffing up and disbanding when the project was over. And then, repeating the cycle.
“Going forward, HRC will be responsible for our own activities. This includes the budget for technology development with an eye to the future, such as use of carbon neutral fuels. At the same time, the motorsports industry is rapidly changing. Formula One has five races in North America and is seen as one of the premier events to attend.”
Watanabe and HPD President Salters came to an understanding to reinvent the structure of Honda’s racing organization globally to make it more competitive. On Jan. 1, 2024, HPD will join HRC as HRC US.
HRC’s auto racing development center in Japan currently supports Red Bull Powertrains for F1 power units and contribute to world championship victories.
Starting in 2026, HRC will partner with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 team as the official engine supplier. With three F1 races now in the U.S. (Austin, Miami, Las Vegas), the new HRC US will be involved in Formula One power unit development and race support starting in 2026.
“Honda’s racing heritage is unparalleled and over the last 30 years and the talented men and women of HPD have contributed to that success in the U.S.,” said Salters, who will become president of the new HRC US. “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.
“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.”
The 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona, scheduled for Jan. 27-28, will mark the inaugural race for the new HRC US, with the defending champion Acura ARX-06 prototypes to sport HRC logos on their racing liveries.
“I have great respect for our engineers, which has always been one of the benefits we get from racing,” Watanabe said. “Racing also is one way we connect to the people emotionally and create the new fans of Honda. This is the key focus of our global brand slogan — ‘The Power of Dreams. How we move you.’
“What new dreams can we create and realize for our customers? That will be a key objective for HRC. I have great respect for HPD’s brand and our racing engineers in the United States and Japan will represent something bigger and stronger together — uniting Honda’s motorsports globally under one brand.”
The current HPD will collaborate with HRC in Japan and work on global racing, focusing on efficiency and focus on all racing opportunities.
“Not everything has been decided, but we are excited about the opportunities to contribute to global racing platforms like Formula One and possible WEC (World Endurance Championship),” Salters said. “The H that is in front of HPD and HRC is Honda. We are racing people. We are a racing company.
“This is the next big step for our company where we can proudly promote Honda and Acura brands here, there, and everywhere.”
According to Salters, the automotive world is changing rapidly related to motorsports.
That means embracing opportunity and change. Watanabe and Salters began discussing a bigger collaboration between HRC and HPD and creating a more focused and global racing organization.
“We need to continue, improve and rise to new challenges,” Salters said. “That is exactly why we race. Honda has such an amazing racing heritage, past and present, four wheels and two wheels. There really is nothing like Honda Racing globally.”
Salters said HRC US will continue to challenge in United States racing pursuits but develop its people and technology to compete on global stage.
“We race to develop our people and our technologies, while providing thrills to our amazing fans of Honda and Acura brands,” said Salters, who spent 14 years working in Formula One in powertrain development for two different teams. “We will continue to develop powertrain units and chassis areas in IndyCar, IMSA, Baja, Rally Cars and iRacing.
“But we have also been asked to contribute to global motorsport, which is the next big step for HPD.”
Salters said Honda will evaluate what makes competitive sense and business sense for the brands as it considers other racing endeavors.
As for IndyCar, Salters said, “It’s business as usual. We are responsible for North American motorsport. We have been very successful in IndyCar. We are very successful in IndyCar. We have low carbon fuels. We have hybrids coming. There is a lot of optimism for the future.
“We will evaluate these things as we move forward, but right now we are pretty excited about IndyCar. The racing is thrilling. There is some good technology coming through. We are helping with our technology. There is a lot to be optimistic, I think.”
Honda will have a new engine in F1 in 2026. The new organizational structure will help bring the best ideas to the project.
“This May we started our plans to work on Formula starting in 2026 and have been working on development on both the car side and the engine side,” Watanabe said through an interpreter. “We are focusing on that moving forward. Of course, HRC USA and HPD, there are many excellent engineers with excellent abilities.
“We are looking at what areas they can participate in, how those resources can help out with that development. There is nothing concrete we have decided yet, but we will find out what areas we can focus on, where our engineers can participate and using their resources to focus on both the engine and car development for Formula One.”
Sharing strengths and expertise is a key reason for the organizational restructuring.
“Up until now, we have been sharing technical knowhow with each of the departments, but the global environment for racing has changed,” Watanabe said. “With that in mind, we need to share more information.
“We will split our technical knowhow and engineering expertise throughout the individual divisions where needed, but moving forward, we would like to share that knowhow and strategy and think of races not only in the United States, but globally as well.
“HPD will be supporting Formula One races and in Japan, the HRC side will be supporting races in the United States. That is the direction we want to go moving forward — to support each other and have a global direction to move in.”