Motor Racing: Honda heads back to F1 fray

MOTOR RACING

HONDA MOTORS announced in Tokyo yesterday that it plans to return to the Formula One circuit with a full racing team in 2000, marking the end of an eight-year absence from the sport its engines once dominated.

The Honda president, Hiroyuki Yoshino, told reporters that a comprehensive team, using its own engine, chassis and management, would begin full-scale testing early next year with an eye on the 2000 championship.

The new team means Honda's approach will be similar to that of the Italian constructor Ferrari, which manages its own team as well as making its own engines and chassis. Other major car makers on the circuit supply their engines for independent racing teams to use.

Honda had announced its intention to return to the track earlier this year but had given no date for its comeback, that has been the subject of much speculation in the Japanese sports press.

Honda withdrew from motor racing in 1992, stating that it had achieved its objectives in the sport.