Advertisement

Honda Performance Development to rebrand as Honda Racing Corp. US in 2024

nathan brown, indianapolis star
·4 min read

After 30 years of working as separate racing divisions within the Honda umbrella, the Japan-based Honda Racing Corp. and southern California-based Honda Performance Development will formally join forces Jan. 1, 2024 with an eye at integrating the American racing company into Honda’s global racing platform.

With the change, HPD will become known as HRC US, with Honda IndyCar entries and IMSA Acura cars badged as such, starting with the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona in late-January. The move isn’t meant to take away from those North American-based racing projects, said HPD president David Salters, but instead will give the American-based racing organization a chance to lend a hand in HRC’s Formula 1 power unit development and race support – with five North American F1 races currently on the calendar.

In 2022, HRC dipped its toes into the auto racing space, after decades dedicated to motorcycle racing dating back to its berth in 1982. For the last couple years, they’ve built powertrain units for Red Bull’s F1 team, with an already-announced switch to working with Aston Martin as its official engine supplier starting in 2026.

In addition, this union could allow HPD’s sportscar programs to better explore the possibility of racing in the World Endurance Championship in 2025 and beyond – including a potential berth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This week, Honda Performance Development president David Salters (left) and Honda Racing Corp. president Koji Watanabe announced a rebranding of HPD, starting in 204, in a move that will bring both of Honda's racing units under one umbrella to focus on a more global strategy.
This week, Honda Performance Development president David Salters (left) and Honda Racing Corp. president Koji Watanabe announced a rebranding of HPD, starting in 204, in a move that will bring both of Honda's racing units under one umbrella to focus on a more global strategy.

Insider: IndyCar's 2024 schedule is proving tough to put together. Here's where things stand.

“We are thrilled and very proud to join forces with our friends and colleagues at HRC in Japan and represent Honda Racing as a global racing organization,” Salters said in a media availability. “We need to continue to improve and rise to new challenges, which is exactly why we race – and there really is no one like Honda racing globally.”

Salters and Koji Wantanabe, the president of HRC Japan, offered few specifics as to how this new formal partnership might look and run moving forward, but the discussions centered around those currently working for HPD getting a chance to explore new opportunities in the F1 and WEC spaces – pointedly without neglecting the series HPD has long competed in.

HPD was established by American Honda in 1993 as a separate racing arm with which to compete in what was then CART, and they’ve since expanded into IMSA, the Baja 1000, Touring Cars, Formula 4 and Formula Regional Americas. Over that span, HPD has amassed 280 wins in 510 IndyCar races – 180 of them from 410 events with multiple manufacturers competing in the series. They’ve won the Indianapolis 500 15 times – nine with multiple manufacturers in the race – and they’ve also bagged 13 drivers’ championships and 10 manufacturers’ championships during periods of the sport with multi-manufacturer competition.

After formally clinching his second IndyCar championship in three years two weekends ago in Portland, Alex Palou got a chance to thoroughly celebrate at Laguna Seca. Still, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver faces an ongoing court battle with McLaren this offseason.
After formally clinching his second IndyCar championship in three years two weekends ago in Portland, Alex Palou got a chance to thoroughly celebrate at Laguna Seca. Still, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver faces an ongoing court battle with McLaren this offseason.

IMSA at Indianapolis: Championships come into focus

Court documents: McLaren Racing claims Alex Palou signed 3-year IndyCar deal last October

In IMSA, HPD has spearheaded three consecutive wins in the Rolex 24, along with three manufacturers’, drivers’ and team championships since 2018. Bolstered by a strong, consistent season from drivers Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, Acura’s top-performing team IMSA GTP team, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, sits three points out of the drivers’ championship with this year’s season-finale at Road Atlanta remaining.

And now – no sooner than 2025 – HPD has the green light to explore taking the prototype team that will expand to two IMSA entries in 2024 to the biggest sportscar race in the world.

Presently, HPD is thrashing behind the scenes, along with its IndyCar competitor Chevy, to get IndyCar’s new hybrid powertrain units ready for competition in 2024 – the series’ first serious engine development project in more than a decade. That advancement, along with the series’ recent switch to Shell’s 100% renewable race fuel, has helped Salters continue to see it to be a productive, progressive place to compete.

In October 2020, Honda and Chevy announced alongside IndyCar a lengthy extension among all sides that takes the three-way partnership “well into the end of the decade.”

“It’s business as usual. We’re responsible for North American motorsport, and we’ve been very successful in IndyCar and are currently very successful in IndyCar,” said Salters, basking in Chip Ganassi Racing’s driver Alex Palou’s recent championship – the third in four seasons for HPD. “We have a lot of optimism for the future, but as always, we evaluate these things as we move forward.

“But right now, we’re pretty excited about IndyCar.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Honda Performance Development to rebrand, link with HRC's global efforts