Honda Racing CEO Watanabe to retire at end of 2026

Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) has announced its CEO and president Koji Watanabe will retire at the end of this year.

Watanabe took over the role as president of HRC in 2022, when the automotive and motorcycle racing divisions were combined under the same racing banner, and was part of the program when it opted to return to Formula 1 as a full power unit suppler in 2026. He will now hand over to HRC’s current executive vice president and representative director Keiichi Yasuda, who only joined the HRC project earlier this year.

“It is my honor serving as a president of HRC with the wonderful colleagues” Watanabe said. “I embarked on the project to integrate automobile racing development into HRC, as I became responsible for the operation and communication of motorsports as Honda's chief officer for brand and communication operations in 2020. HRC previously was a motorcycle racing company, and I integrated automobile racing into it.

“In 2022, I assumed the post of president of the new HRC, unifying both motorcycle and automobile motorsport activities. Since then, we decided on our return to F1, expanded our global motorsport structure by reorganizing HPD in the U.S. into HRC US and establishing HRC UK, and worked on building HRC's global brand. For the remaining three months of my presidency, I will continue to do my utmost, aiming for victory until the very end.”

Honda says the change in leadership is part of the planned periodic personnel rotation that takes place within the company, and while it would usually have seen Watanabe depart at the start of April, he will be replaced by Yasuda in January to align with the motorsport calendar.

“I consider it my mission to firmly inherit the solid foundation built by Watanabe.” Yasuda said. “Evolve it further, unite everyone's vector toward the single goal of winning in races, and make HRC even stronger.

“Leveraging my management experience as president of overseas local entities and my background in HR, I will focus on investing in people and strengthening our organization toward victory. I will devote myself to building an HRC whose challenges resonate with our stakeholders and motorsport fans, so that we can share the emotion of victory together.”