Repsol appeared on the livery of the Honda NSR500 within the premier class of the world championship in 1995, with Mick Doohan and Alex Criville as riders.
Since then, the partnership has remained uninterrupted, with the present season marking its thirtieth anniversary.
The partnership between Repsol and Honda has yielded 15 championship titles, 183 victories and 455 podiums.
Nevertheless, after Marc Marquez’s departure on the finish of 2023, the oil firm enforced a clause in its contract to cut back its monetary contribution and, in alternate, its presence on the livery of this 12 months’s bike.
The bike, ridden this 12 months by Luca Marini and Joan Mir, options Honda’s branding predominately over Repsol’s.
The transfer was made in anticipation that media publicity, particularly on TV, could be significantly affected by the departure of eight-time world champion Marquez, who left Honda after 12 years to trip a Ducati with the Gresini crew.
Joan Mir, Repsol Honda Crew
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photos
With Marquez’s exit, Honda had additionally misplaced Pink Bull’s sponsorship, the Austrian power drink firm deciding to observe the Spanish rider to Gresini as his private sponsor.
Whereas the Japanese producer has a number of affords to brighten its bike from subsequent 12 months, Repsol desires to give attention to the promotion of non-fossil fuels.
Repsol is believed to be considering persevering with to hyperlink its picture to MotoGP sooner or later, particularly by being one of many suppliers of the brand new, extra sustainable fuels adopted by the sequence.
The present laws launched for this 12 months made it necessary for MotoGP groups to make use of 40% non-fossil fuels, a share that ought to attain 100% in 2027, the primary 12 months of the technical regulation change.
Honda has continued to wrestle to be aggressive in 2024, with manufacturing unit rider Mir having scored 13 factors whereas Marini is the one full-time rider but to attain.
Honda is final within the constructors’ standings, 185 factors behind Ducati after six rounds.
