Gordon Ritchie | February 17, 2019
Honda Racing WorldSBK Team unveils 2019 colors. — One day after the all-conquering KRT squad had their global launch ahead of the final test of the pre-season at Phillip Island, the official Honda Racing WorldSBK effort unveiled its factory machines near the venue for the first round of the new-look WorldSBK championship.
Camier (left) and Kiyonari (right) have the hopes of HRC resting on their shoulders for WorldSBK glory.
Honda and HRC top brass joined the 2019 rider line-up of Leon Camier and Ryuichi Kiyonari. This confirmed that the overall CBR1000RRSP2 effort in 2019 will be an officially sanctioned one, with direct factory support and development as an integral part of the package.
Honda is back, HRC is back, no doubts now.
The color-bomb of a 2019 WorldSBK Honda Fireblade was unveiled in its predominantly red white and blue colors, with Moriwaki’s traditional blue and yellow also unmissable in its intensity along its midriff. Looking chiseled from solid billet, from the outsize disc rotors to the footrest hangers, the bike itself has already been out on the track, with Camier and Kiyonari, at the Thai circuit of Buriram.
Now the Honda Racing WorldSBK team will join its rivals on track for the first time on Monday, February 18, on the first of two days of testing at PI, the venue for the opening round, to be held between February 22-24.
Camier Ready for 2019
Amazingly still without a win in 205 WorldSBK starts, Camier will not have a better chance than 2019 to correct that stat.
Leon Camier, on whom lots of Honda’s immediate hopes rest, said, “I think for me the whole project is really exciting. Having the support of HRC and Honda and the experience of Althea and Moriwaki—it is going to be a really interesting project. There is a lot to learn from the bike for sure. But at the same time, I have quite a lot of experience in this championship now and I hope to be able to keep steering in the right direction. I think we can come good quite quickly, hopefully. We have had a couple of tests that have gone well and for sure it will be interesting to be on track with some of the others to see where we are stronger and where we are struggling.
“All in all, I think we are sort of ready to start and it would be good to have these extra two days to compare everything on track, but I think we are as ready as we can be to start. You always want to win but I think we have to be a bit realistic with expectations, in the beginning, especially because the team is new for a start, a new project and the bike has been developed in another championship, so it needs time to come together.”
Kiyonari, the winner of the final round of the Japanese championship in 2018 on a Pirelli-shod Moriwaki Honda, said of his 2019 chances, “Always I want to win—championships and each race—but I know that especially this championship is very, very difficult. But I have a good bike, a good team, and if I can ride well and show good speed I think we can finish in strong positions.”
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