“The Philippines is lagging behind in terms of competitiveness in racing, not only in the world stage but also here in Southeast Asia,” those are the words that came out of Honda Philippines’ president, Susumu Mitsuishi, during a recent press con held at the Honda Safety Driving Center (HSDC) in Paranaque City.
What Honda PH’s president meant was our neighbors Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have a very big industry and community when it comes to motorcycle racing, hence, are producing more world-class talent than the Philippines.
The good news is that the Philippines have a big potential and Honda recognizes it.
With the help of HARC-PRO – a Japan-based company that specializes in motorsports – Honda Philippines commits itself to developing young talents with the ultimate goal of sending a Filipino to race in MotoGP.
“The ‘Honda racing spirit’ is a testament to our commitment to winning by developing our people and technologies. With this in mind, we take on the exciting journey of training and developing Filipino young racers, in collaboration with SDG (Showa Denki Group) MS HARC-PRO Honda Ph,” says Mitsuishi.
These young and aspiring riders will go through scholarship training, one of the first for HPI, the 2023 Honda Young Riders Training Program (HYRTP) that will be instructed by World Class riders Yuki Kunii and Haruki Noguchi sharing their skills respectively starting this February 2023 at the Tarlac Circuit Hill using the CBR300R racing bikes. Honda is also set to discover a new set of young aspiring riders thru the Honda Pilipinas Dream Cup (HPDC) program starting with the Try-Outs this 2023.
HARC-PRO president Shigeki Honda
HARC-PRO, headed by Shigeki Honda, is known for producing world-class talents such as Hiroshi Aoyama former GP250 World Champion and now Honda Team Asia’s Team Manager; Takaaki Nakagami of LCR Honda Team competing in MotoGP and a former Japan Road Racing Champion, and other famous and former MotoGP World Champions Casey Stoner, Nicky Hayden and Jack Miller including World Superbike’s (WSBK) Michael Van der Mark and Leon Haslam are also former HARC – PRO Suzuka 8 Hour Riders including former Moto 3 rider Yuki Kunii to name some few personalities.
HARC-PRO’s Philippine headquarters is in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.
