Spanish petroleum giant Repsol has announced that they have extended their sponsorship of Honda’s factory team for two more seasons.
The Spanish corporation will continue to sponsor the Repsol Honda team through 2024, which will mark the 30th anniversary of their deal, the longest running sponsorship backing in history.
While the announcement is hardly unexpected, it does bring an end to what has become an almost annual ritual of speculation over whether Repsol would remain with HRC or not. For the next two years, Repsol is staying put.
One interesting motivation for Repsol to remain with Honda is MotoGP’s imminent switch to non-fossil fuel sources. From 2024, 40% of the fuels used in MotoGP must be from non-fossil sources, with that increasing to 100% by 2027.
With pressures on motorsport and on oil companies to speed up decarbonization, MotoGP is an ideal laboratory to work on producing hydrocarbon fuel sources of similar performance but obtained from non-fossil sources.
It is an opportunity that other oil companies may choose to follow, with Shell backing Ducati and Petronas still heavily involved at several levels.
Source: Repsol Honda
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