Honda Confirms Three-Rider Team and Repsol Sponsorship

After declaring its intention to field a three-man team in the 2011 MotoGP season with riders Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, and Casey Stoner, HRC went immediately into circles about how it would pull-off such an arrangement when the money to finance a larger factory squad did not materialize. Exploring avenues that would see a second, single-bike, factory team (rumored to be sponsored by Red Bull) centered around Andrea Dovizioso, Honda also tried to stick the Italian rider inside the Gresini Honda satellite squad (with the promise of factory support), but both efforts came to no avail.

With Dovizioso holding his ground, and Honda bound by a contract, questions regarding how the Japanese manufacture would handle its predicament were a common source of conjecture in the MotoGP paddock. This speculation has finally come to a conclusion though, as HRC has announced it has secured Andrea Dovizioso in the factory team for 2011, which will will continue to be sponsored by Repsol Honda.

Repsol will not only be ponying up more funds for Honda’s MotoGP racing efforts, but the Spanish petroleum company has also signed-on to sponsor Honda for another two years in the premiere motorcycle racing class.

We are delighted to announce that our valued partners at Repsol will once again join us in our quest for the MotoGP World Championship next year,” said HRC President Tetsuo Suzuki. “We are also very pleased to expand the Repsol Honda Team to once again include three riders next year. Our current riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will be joined by Casey Stoner in Repsol Honda colors to form a truly formidable line-up that we believe can fight for victory at every race and achieve our joint goals: recapturing all three MotoGP World Championship titles.”