Sportbike World Championship: Honda joins as the seventh manufacturer with a permanent team

The World Sportbike Championship is already a resounding success. The field of competitors is strong, with six manufacturers – Aprilia, Kawasaki, Kove, Suzuki, Triumph and Yamaha – involved to varying degrees. Honda had also homologated a suitable motorcycle, but no team wanted to field the CBR600RR.

The only appearance by a Honda rider came at the season opener in Portimão, when Frenchman Diego Poncet took part on a wildcard and impressed with two seventh-place finishes – proof that the restricted Mini-Fireblade can be competitive.

However, something surprising happened between the Superbike rounds at Aragon and Misano. AG Motorsport Italia – a long-standing partner of Yamaha – announced on the international stage that it was switching to Honda mid-season.

“We are proud to be starting a new chapter with Honda motorcycles,” said team principal Alessandra Gambardella. “For AG Motorsport Italia, this decision reflects our ambition to continue developing our sporting programme to a high standard and to compete alongside a strong and prestigious manufacturer.”

That is exactly what the Italian team did at Misano: just a few days after the manufacturer switch, Taiyo Aksu – AG Motorsport’s sole rider – took to the track on a CBR600RR in sportbike configuration without any test rides. As in most of his previous races on the Yamaha R7, the Australian rider with Japanese roots missed out on the points in both races, but there were positive signs.

“I’m absolutely thrilled with the new bike and am enjoying every lap to understand it better and learn how I can improve,” said Aksu. “In Superpole, we were able to take a huge step forward and achieve our best result of the season. Unfortunately, a minor technical infringement means I have to start from the back of the grid. We knew it wouldn’t be easy starting from the back, but I managed to fight my way up from 33rd to 16th and was just about to catch up with the next group. Regrettably, a crash in Turn 1 whilst braking brought an end to what had been a really strong comeback up to that point. The second race was another tough battle from start to finish. A few mistakes and some heavy collisions with other riders pushed me off the track several times, which significantly hampered my race.”