Honda heads into the 2026 motorsport season feeling cautiously optimistic of a breakthrough return to form across the board in MotoGP, WorldSBK and British Superbikes.
The Japanese manufacturer – which at times has been the undisputed racing force on two-wheels over the years – has endured a lean few years in both MotoGP and in the Superbike ranks amid a decline in form.
However, it will hope an injection of fresh blood across its rider line-ups will be the impetus to bring the best out of its packages and see it challenging for regular wins once again.
2026 MotoGP World Championship
Teams and Rider Line-Ups:
Castrol HRC Honda – Joan Mir, Luca Marini
LCR Honda – Johann Zarco, Diogo Moreira (R)
Continuity is broadly the theme for Honda in MotoGP this season as it looks to continue along a promising trajectory back towards the sharp end of the grid in 2025.
A period of steady decline in the wake of its most recent title in 2019 – which was compounded further by multiple injury timeouts and eventual departure of star rider Marc Marquez –finally gave way to a spring back to form last year, culminating in four very welcome podiums.
Better still, one of those rostrum visits was to the very top, courtesy of Johann Zarco, who scored a famous victory on French home soil at Le Mans. The experienced two-time MotoGP race winner remains within the Honda fold for 2026, once more with the satellite LCR set-up.
He’s not the only seasoned hands steering the 2026-specification Honda RC213V this year with Joan Mir and Luca Marini teaming up again to race the factory-prepared Castrol HRC entries.
Completing LCR’s line-up will be one new figure, however, in 2025 Moto2 World Champion Diogo Moreira, who makes his premier class debut this season.
After coming from behind to clinch the intermediate class title at the season finale, Moreira ‘s promotion to MotoGP will see him become the first Brazilian at the highest level since Alex Barros in 2007.
2026 WorldSBK Championship
Teams and Rider Line-Ups:
HRC Honda WorldSBK – Jake Dixon, Somkiat Chantra
Honda heads into the 2026 WorldSBK Championship with a fresh new outlook having parted ways with Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge after four seasons in favour of an all-rookie line-up comprising Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra.
While both are new to WorldSBK racing, both Dixon and Chantra arrive in the factory Honda squad boasting some impressive credentials all the same.
Chantra becomes the latest rider to make the direct switch from the MotoGP premier class to WorldSBK. While that one and only season in the top flight would prove chastening for the Thai rider, Chantra is nonetheless a seasoned race winner at Moto2 level.
Moto2 is also where Dixon makes his move from after seven full seasons in the competitive category. Notching up seven victories in that time, Dixon would also finish inside the top five in the overall standings on two occasions.
Perhaps more importantly though, Dixon is no stranger to Superbike action having finished runner-up in the 2018 British Superbike Championship as an up-and-coming youngster prior to his Moto2 move.
2026 British Superbike Championship
Teams and Rider Line-Ups:
Honda Racing – Ryan Vickers, Jason O’Halloran
DAO Racing – Josh Brookes, Lee Jackson
MasterMac Hawk Racing – Rhys Irwin, Eugene McManus
TAG Racing – Charlie Nesbitt, Fraser Rogers
Whitecliffe CDH Racing – Luke Hedger
As ever, Honda will have a substantial presence at domestic level with at least five teams and nine Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade entries already confirmed to be on the grid for the opening round in April.
Heading up the Japanese firm’s assault is the factory-supported Honda Racing outfit, which adopts a fresh rider line-up in 2026 with a pair of BSB returnees in Ryan Vickers and Jason O’Halloran.
Both esteemed race winners at BSB level, Vickers is back on home soil after a character-building first and final season competing in the WorldSBK Championship, while O’Halloran is back on a factory Honda for the first time since 2018.
Incredibly, the Australian – a 28-time race winner and overall runner-up in 2020 – is back in BSB a full 18-years on from his debut, also on a Honda, back in 2008.
Having joined the BSB winners’ circle for the first time last season, DAO Racing won’t be messing with its winning formula having opted to retain Josh Brookes and Lee Jackson.
Two of the most experienced riders on the grid, Brookes’ landmark first win as a DAO Racing rider was also the 55th of his glittering BSB career. Jackson, meanwhile, will look to bounce back from an injury-stunted campaign as he eyes a return to the form that has made him a BSB race winner in previous years.
MasterMac (nee Hawk Racing), meanwhile, are investing in the future by hiring Rhys Irwin and Eugene McManus for what will be their rookie BSB campaigns.
The duo are standouts from the supporting British Supersport Championship, the title of which would go Irwin’s way in 2025. Both will look to follow in the wheeltracks of other BritishSSP-turned-BSB alumni such as Rory Skinner, Charlie Nesbitt and Kyle Ryde.
TAG Racing enjoyed a breakthrough BSB campaign in 2025 with Fraser Rogers scoring a well-deserved first podium in the rain at Knockhill.
The former Moto2 World Championship rider will stay put for 2026, where he will be joined by impressive youngster Charlie Nesbitt, who switches Honda allegiances from MasterMac to TAG in his bid to build on promising 2024 and 2025 campaigns.
Elsewhere, Whitecliffe CDH Racing have confirmed at least one rider for the 2026 BSB season by retaining Luke Hedger for a third campaign with the team. After breaking into the top ten on the Honda package for the first time last year, Hedger is bidding to push even further up the grid for Season 3.
In the support classes, Jack Kennedy is eyeing a record sixth career British Supersport title – his second aboard the Honda CBR600RR – while Dean Harrison will heads up Honda’s Superstock challenge.
2026 Isle of Man TT & North West 200
Harrison will also be front and centre once more for Honda Racing’s 2026 Isle of Man TT bid.
Following a long-awaited return to winning ways with Harrison in 2025, the five-time TT race winner is among the favourites for the big silverware across the main classes aboard a Honda in 2026.
Joining him in Honda’s line-up will be undisputed road racing legend John McGuinness MBE, who heads into the 2026 edition of the TT celebrating his 30th year of competition.
He, like Harrison, will also warm-up for the motorcycle racing festival by competing at the North West 200 in 2026 too.
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