2016.02.12

Honda announces its team structure for 2016. This season's NSX will not be a hybrid. Kogure and Mutoh change teams.

On February 12, Honda Motor held "2016 Honda Motorsports Program Announcement" at its headquarter in Tokyo and introduced its SUPER GT team structure of this season. The manufacturer is participating in only the GT500 class this season. As in last year, third-year NSX CONCEPT-GT will be fielded to five teams. However, a significant re-work has been done on the powertrain of this season's NSX CONCEPT-GT and the car will be mounted with a direct-injected and turbocharged inline 4-cylinder engine in a mid-engine layout without a hybrid system.

 

 

 

 

The same five teams from last year will continue their participation in the GT500 class, but there was switching of drivers between two teams. For No.15 DRAGO Modulo Honda Racing, which started its participation from last year with Team Manager Ryo Michigami at the helm, Hideki Mutoh has moved in after switching his team. Mutoh will be teaming up with Oliver Turvey. Mutoh expressed his confidence in his new team, "We have done testing a few times already this year and I had sufficient feeling. I strongly feel that we can win this season."

 

Turvey and Mutoh

 

On the other hand, No.17 KEIHIN REAL RACING after Mutoh leaving the team has added Takashi Kogure as if it was an exchange. "I changed my team and, if I speak of my personal aspect, I am feeling tremendously nervous and, at the same time, having a huge expectation. First priority is to get up on the podium with my new team, and then aim for a win" commented Kogure. With the eye-catching quickness derived together with Koudai Tsukakoshi, "Bullet Boys" can very likely take SUPER GT by storm.

 

 

Tsukakoshi, Team Manager Katsutomo Kaneishi, Kogure

 

No.8 AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI（ARTA） will have the Kosuke Matsuura and Tomoki Nojiri duo for the second straight year. No.64 Epson Nakajima Racing will also have the same driver combination, Daisuke Nakajima and Bertrand Baguette, for a third year. With Naoki Yamamoto and Takuya Izawa getting back together last year, No.100 TEAM KUNIMITSU will take on the new season with no change.

 

 

The announcement was also open to the fans via Internet broadcasting.
Therefore, each driver commented on their aspiration for this season in sequence and then introduced the next driver.

 

GT Project Leader Masahiko Matsumoto (right) talks about his aspiration for this season.

 

 

During the announcement, Masahiko Matsumoto, GT Project Leader, Honda R&D, in charge of the development of NSX CONCEPT-GT, appeared on stage to give his view, "We only scored one win at SUGO last year, but I want to make this year an aggressive year. It will be the third year for NSX CONCEPT-GT and it's a crucial year for the car. I will make sure that the development team at Honda will work closely together on the development so we can also be together with the teams and drivers to capture the title."

 

Later, when a journalist asked for the reason why this year's model is not mounted with a hybrid system, Matsumoto replied, "We were conveyed from the supplier (manufacturer) of the battery (used for the hybrid system) that it became very difficult to supply, so we also considered developing on our own, but we found out that is also difficult, therefore, we had to give up (the hybrid system)." Also, to the question of whether not having the hybrid system will be merit/demerit, "It was certainly heavier to have a hybrid system, but to not have it on the car will be plus (be lighter) as well as minus (less power for not having the hybrid, or weight balance will change). As far as this year's car is concerned, the importance will be how we can utilize the fact that it's lighter on the car." He indicated that there is a new issue in development.

 

 

 

Reflecting Honda's effort in the motorsports of not only the four-wheel but also two-wheel, a huge amount of representatives of the company had gathered including drivers, riders, team managers, and Honda staff.

 

2016 SUPER GT Series (abstract from News release)

 

News release "Honda 2016 Motorsports Program Overview"
http://world.honda.com/news/2016/c160212eng.html

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