Honda 2Wheelers India announces line-up for 2021 National Motorcycle Racing & Honda India Talent Cup
By Sanjay Jadhav
August 18, 2021
Chennai: As the 2021 season of MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) is all set to kick-off this weekend in Chennai, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) raises the curtain from its 2021 riders’ line-up for the national championship.
In 2021, Honda 2Wheelers India will give more power to its direction of ‘Developing Iconic Indian rider for National & International Championships’ with an aggressive focus on Brand Leadership & Structural Development.
Honda 2Wheelers India enters the 2021 Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC), vying to further strengthen its leadership in Pro-Stock 165cc category. With an impressive line-up of 2 seasoned riders in Pro-stock 165cc category, IDEMITSU Honda SK 69 racing team is eying for the championship this year.
Parallely, the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup 2021 will focus on developing and nurturing young potential riders of today to become India’s star riders of tomorrow. The 12 next-gen riders will ride on the Moto3 spec NSF250R in IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup NSF250R. Feeding into this as first step will be the CBR150R category of the talent cup with 14 riders, including the youngest of only 11 years of age!
Taking a step further in its endeavours to expand motorsports culture in India, Honda 2Wheelers India brings Hornet 2.0 on the racetrack with the introduction of Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race. With a grid of 15 riders, the Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race will provide opportunity to racing enthusiasts & our customers to experience the thrill of racing.
Speaking on the 2021 season, Mr. Prabhu Nagaraj –Senior Vice President – Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India. Pvt. Ltd. said, “Led by the challenging spirit, we are ready for 2021 season of the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship with an all-rounder line-up across categories and introduction of Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race. This year, with two of our expert riders in Pro-stock 165cc category, we aim for the national championship this year. At the same time, the future of Indian racing will simmer in the IDEMTISU Honda India Talent Cup when the 26 next-gen riders will hit back the racetrack. We are confident of the hard-work of our riders and expect many surprises this weekend.”
Extending leadership in the National Championship – ProStock 165cc
Taking the Honda charge ahead in Pro-Stock 165cc category of Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship will be the rider duo of Rajiv Sethu and Senthil Kumar. Honda’s 23 years old expert rider, Rajiv Sethu is three times podium finisher of national championship and a 2016 national champion whereas Senthil Kumar grabbed 2nd podium in the 2018 INMRC Pro-Stock 165cc championship. Backed by international racing experience at Asia Road Racing Championship, both riders are gunning for top spots this year.
Developing iconic Indian rider with IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup NSF250R & CBR150R
Providing opportunity to young Indian riders to race on the pure racing machine, the IDEMITSU Honda Racing India Talent Cup NSF250R will see 12 riders proving their mettle on the racetrack. In 2021, 6 of these millennial riders including Kavin Quintal, Varoon S, Geoffrey Emanuel, Charan T from Chennai; Sarthak Chavan from Pune and Mohsin from Velachery will continue to ride NSF250R for 3rd season whereas Samual Martin, AS James from Bengaluru; Deepak S from Chennai and Raj Dashwanth from Trichy will ride it for 2nd season. The remaining 2 riders – Shyam Sundar of Chennai and Vivek Kapadia of Belgaum have been upgraded from CBR150R category.
That’s not all. 14 young guns will battle it out in the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent cup CBR150R category. For the first time, the CBR150R category will see a 11-year-old youngest rider Ashwin Vivek from Chennai who was identified at Honda India Talent Hunt 2021 along with Steve Waugh Sugi of Trichy. Joining them are young racing enthusiasts hand-picked from Honda India Talent Hunt across India – be it from the Bokaro Steel City, Patna, Satara, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Malappuram & Chennai.
