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Sponsorship Agreement Reached with LCR Honda; Full-Season MotoGP Entry as Pro Honda LCR

News Provided by JCN Newswire2026-01-09

TOKYO, Japan, January 9, 2026 – Honda has reached a sponsorship agreement with Honda LCR, which competes in the MotoGP class of the FIM* Grand Prix World Championship.

For the 2026 season, Honda LCR will campaign a two-bike lineup in MotoGP. Alongside Johann Zarco (France, age 35) aboard the CASTROL Honda LCR, the team will introduce a second entry titled Pro Honda LCR, with Pro Honda—Honda’s genuine oil and chemical brand—serving as title sponsor. Riding for Pro Honda LCR will be Diogo Moreira (Brazil, age 21), who captured the 2025 FIM Grand Prix World Championship Moto2 title.

*FIM: Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme

Lucio Cecchinello (left), Team Principal & CEO of Honda LCR,and Kotaro Shimizu (right), Executive Officer, Customer First Operations Division, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Under the Pro Honda brand, Honda made its first MotoGP appearance with Pro Honda liveries at the 2024 season finale, the Solidarity Grand Prix, in which Stefan Bradl (Germany, age 36) raced as a wildcard entry for the Honda HRC Test Team, riding the RC213V. During the 2025 season, Aleix Espargar (Spain, age 36), a test rider for Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), and Takaaki Nakagami (Chiba, Japan, age 33), competed in the MotoGP class as wildcard entries. Espargaro made four appearances and Nakagami two, for a total of six races, all entered by Honda HRC Test Team and raced in Pro Honda livery.

Pro Honda is Honda’s global unified brand of genuine oils and chemical products, developed to maximize the performance of Honda vehicles. Technologies honed under the extreme conditions of motorsports are fed back into commercial products, providing riders with confidence and reliability.

Kotaro Shimizu,Executive Officer, Customer First Operations Division, Automobile Business,Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

“We are truly delighted to have entered into a sponsorship agreement with Honda LCR under the Pro Honda brand. Built on a strong relationship of trust with CEO Lucio Cecchinello and HRC, we will fully support the challenge undertaken by Diogo Moreira and Pro Honda LCR from the 2026 season onward, doing our utmost to contribute to both the team and the rider. We are deeply grateful for this opportunity, and as Honda’s genuine oil and chemical brand, Pro Honda will continue to deliver proven technology and reliability designed to maximize the performance of Honda vehicles, while communicating the value of Pro Honda to Honda users around the world.”

Lucio Cecchinello,Team Principal & CEO, Honda LCR

“Establishing a new partnership with Pro Honda, the official Honda brand for genuine oil and chemical products, represents a profoundly significant milestone for part of our project. By sharing common values, we are committed with this racing program to pursuing the perfect balance between competitive performance and reliability.”

Honda LCR Overview
Team Principal & CEO: Lucio Cecchinello
Founded: 1996
Base: Principality of Monaco
MotoGP class wins: 5