Honda revamps MotoGP livery for first time in three decades

Repsol first joined forces with Honda in 1995, with its famous orange colours going on to become one of the most recognisable in the history of motorcycle racing.

Repsol and Honda are entering the 30th year of their long-standing partnership, but the Spanish oil giant has scaled down its involvement in the wake of Marc Marquez’s departure to Gresini Ducati.

This means that for the first time in 30 years, Honda has made a major change to its MotoGP livery, reducing Repsol branding on the RC213V in favour of HRC’s red, blue and white colours.

The hybrid HRC/Repsol livery was unveiled by Honda at the launch of the 2024-spec RC213V at an event organised by Repsol in Madrid on Tuesday.

Both 2020 champion Joan Mir and Luca Marini were present at the launch of the bike in Spain, along with Honda’s senior management.

2024 marks an important year for Honda as it begins life without six-time champion Marquez, the rider with which it built its modern-day success in MotoGP. It has hired Marini from VR46 as his replacement, with 2022 champion Mir – who joined the team last year to replace Pol Espargaro – now in charge of leading its revival.

Honda has significantly overhauled its RC213V bike over the winter, undertaking a top-to-bottom revamp in its bid to become a front-runner in MotoGP again.

The initial reaction from the riders has been overwhelmingly positive, with the likes of Mir, Marini and even Pramac recruit Johann  Zarco revealing that the overhauled bike is a step ahead of its predecessor. 

However, the magnitude of the task that lies ahead for Honda is not lost on them, with Mir conceding that it cannot completely turn around its fortunes before the start of the new season in Qatar.

Honda scored just a single victory in 2023, courtesy of LCR rider Alex Rins at the US Grand Prix in Austin. The factory HRC team scored a single podium all year, courtesy of Marquez at its home event at Motegi.