WSB: Camier & Kiyonari confirmed in all-new HRC squad

Honda Racing Corporation will return to the Superbike World Championship with a full factory effort in 2019, run through a collaboration between Moriwaki Engineering and Althea Racing.

There is no name for the all new squad as yet, which will replace the Ten Kate team that have run Hondas in World Superbikes since 2004, however Leon Camier and Ryuichi Kiyonari have been confirmed as the riders, as revealed by MCN earlier this week.

“It was a big surprise to get the call from HRC,” Kiyonari said. “It has been almost ten years since I rode in World Superbikes, but I am very happy to be joining this big, new project.

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“I rode in WSB in 2008 and 2009 and it is very competitive. It’s not easy to win, it’s not easy to finish in the top six, but we have a good bike, the team will be good and I hope I can do a good job and achieve good results.”

Camier, who heads into his second year with Honda, added: “This is a massive opportunity and it’s massively exciting for HRC to come back to World Superbikes. This is incredible, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s not going to be a simple transition and there’s a lot to learn, a lot of experience to gain. The level of World Superbikes is really high and Jonathan Rea has set the bar very high. Our plan is to try and improve and hopefully we can be fighting at the front at some point. This is a new team and a lot of new things will be coming together, but this is a big thing to get right straight away.

“I feel the bike has a lot of potential and we did not get the most out of it this year. There should be no reason we can’t be knocking on the podium if not further when this project finds its feet.”

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