Honda Rebrands, Reshuffles Racing Organizations as HPD Becomes HRC US

• Honda Performance Development (HPD) has a new name and, likely, new responsibilities.

• The rebranding is intended to help unite Honda’s motorsports globally under one Honda Racing brand.

• Honda didn’t spell out exactly what that combining expertise means, but the corporation has already announced that it will return to F1 in 2026.

Do you like corporate acronyms? Then you’ll love this: HPD will join HRC as HRC US. It likely means the former HPD will get into F1, but we don’t know yet.

A little background:

Honda Racing Corporation was founded in Japan in 1982 to race motorcycles. It did this well, winning championships in Moto GP, endurance racing, motocross, trial and Dakar Rally – the latter accomplished two years ago with American rider Ricky Brabec. Two years ago, HRC added auto racing to its portfolio, including F1.

Honda Performance Development in Santa Clarita, Calif.—HPD for short—was established by American Honda Motor Co. (AHM) in 1993 as a sort of engine rebuilding facility for Honda’s IndyCar efforts. Over the years HPD has taken on greater responsibility, including everything from IndyCar and IMSA to Touring Cars, Baja Off-Road and something called Formula Regional America.

It did pretty well. Out of 510 IndyCar races since then, Honda-powered cars have won 280, more than half (granted, some of those years Honda was the only engine supplier, but 180 of those wins came from the 410 races with more than one engine mfg.). HPD/Honda won the Indy 500 15 times, nine of those with multi-manufacturer competition. Honda and HPD have also won three Rolex 24s at Daytona, and three IMSA titles, including manufacturer’s, driver’s and team’s championships.

Now HPD has a new name and, likely, new responsibilities.

“Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) in Sakura, Japan, and Honda Performance Development (HPD) in Santa Clarita, CA, jointly announced today that HPD will formally become Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) starting with the 2024 motorsports season,” Honda said. “With this change, HRC US will play an integral role in Honda’s global motorsports activities, which includes contributing to the company’s Formula 1 (F1) program.