Honda UK to set up “new motorcycle racing division”

A new motorcycle racing division is being set up by Honda UK, it has been revealed.

In an announcement that Honda UK’s Head of Motorcycles, Neil Fletcher, will be replaced in the role by Andrew Mineyko on 1 April 2025,a detail about Fletcher’s future was included.

Having been in Honda UK’s Head of Motorcycles post for seven years, Honda says that Fletcher will “[transfer] internally to establish a new motorcycle racing division”.

Recent rumours in WorldSBK have suggested that Honda Racing UK, Honda UK’s race department that runs the official BSB and road racing teams, could take on the factory World Superbike programme of HRC in the future.

This is down to the continued struggles of the current Barcelona-based setup that runs out of the same base as the factory MotoGP team which has run the factory HRC WorldSBK effort since 2020. 

In the  five seasons, plus the two rounds of the 2025 season, it’s been racing in the premier production derivative series, the Barcelona-based squad has scored six WorldSBK podiums and no wins.

In comparison, Honda Racing UK finished second in the 2020 and 2022 British Superbike Championships with Glenn Irwin, and second again in 2024 with Tommy Bridewell, who wildcarded at the Cremona and Jerez WorldSBK rounds last year, and tested at the WorldSBK test at Portimao in early-February.

Crash.net reached out to Honda UK for comment on the new racing department that Neil Fletcher is due to set up, and whether it pertains to WorldSBK at all.

Honda UK’s response reads: “The primary role of the new division will be to operate and run the development team which serves to accelerate and enhance the competitiveness of all Honda’s production derived racing programmes, and to manage commercial racing related interests in the region.”

It also confirmed that Honda UK “is not taking over the WSBK programme in any capacity,” and that further details on the new racing division will be “revealed in due course”.