Honda has supplied engines to IndyCar teams since 1994, but there is a risk that the American division of the Japanese car giant will honor its current obligations to the series organizers, but not renew them.
Honda’s current contract with IndyCar expires in 2026, and the reason that could force drivers to cancel the program is related to rising costs.
“We are very concerned about rising costs,” Chuck Schifsky, head of Honda Motorsport Americas, told Racer. – If we decide not to renew the contract, it will be for this reason, and it is very clear. IndyCar does not have a third engine supplier (only Honda and Chevrolet) and that is precisely due to the high costs. If the return on investment matched their level, many engine builders would be happy to come to IndyCar.”
Honda’s costs are due to the fact that its engines power more than half of IndyCar’s cars, and each year it is necessary to provide technical support to the competitors of the traditional Indy 500 race, of which there are usually be even more, i.e. the number of client machines reaches 16-18. The American series uses V6 turbo engines with a displacement of 2.2 liters as standard.
“We would like to see major changes in engine regulations so that annual costs can be significantly reduced,” Schifsky continued. “If this does not happen, the costs will be too high and we will have to.” do something else. It could be NASCAR, or we will increase our investment in the program in Formula 1. Or we will turn our attention to something else that has nothing to do with motorsport at all.”
In 2023, Japanese motorists through the premium brand Acura, Honda’s American subsidiary, and Honda Performance Development (HPD) achieved success by developing their own hybrid powerplants for the first time for the Acura ARX-06 GTP sports prototypes competing in the IMSA championship.
According to Schifsky, modern endurance racing has something that IndyCar lacks: “Look at the IMSA series, there are now 18 or 19 different manufacturers. Or look at the development of classes like GTP and LMDh on a global scale – there are a lot of factory teams there, and there are rumors that there will be more because the costs there are in line with the values of IMSA and WEC.”
If IndyCar series organizers cannot reduce motorists’ annual costs, which are estimated at eight figures, the alternative could in theory be the emergence of a third-party power unit supplier. If Honda and Chevrolet supply two-thirds of the championship teams with their engines, and someone else takes over the remaining third, this could be a way out of a difficult situation, and IndyCar is working in this direction.
It has now been announced that the transition to hybrid powertrains planned for 2024 has been postponed until the second half of the IndyCar season. The reason is that Honda and Chevrolet did not have time to sufficiently test the new generation of engines and achieve the required level of reliability.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
