The Japanese team – the 2017-2018 FIM Endurance World Championship winners – presented their rider line-up for 2021 at Suzuka. Japanese rider Yuki Takahashi joins Australia’s Josh Hook and Frenchman Mike di Meglio in the F.C.C. TSR Honda France ranks for the next season of the FIM EWC.
FIM Endurance World Championship factory team F.C.C. TSR Honda France will go into the 2021 season with a new three rider line-up.
Yuki Takahashi, who caught the eye in the GP250 (5th in 2008) and subsequently in Moto2, has also made his mark in the JSB 1000 Superbike championship (5th in 2018), and recently won the first All Japan Superstock 1000 title in the new category the Japanese championship introduced in 2020.
Most importantly, though, Yuki Takahashi has a strong track record in the Suzuka 8 Hours. He climbed the third step of the 2010 Suzuka 8 Hours podium with F.C.C. TSR Honda, and finished 2nd in 2012 in the saddle of Toho Racing with Moriwaki’s Honda. He then continued racing with Moriwaki, regularly finishing in the Top 10 at Suzuka.
Yuki Takahashi has now signed up to be a full-season FIM Endurance World Championship rider alongside another two of the sport’s great champions.
Josh Hook, who won the 2017-2018 FIM EWC title with F.C.C. TSR Honda France, stepped onto the Suzuka 8 Hours podium for the Japanese team in 2015 and 2017.
Mike di Meglio, the GP125 world champion in 2008, not to mention Moto2 and then MotoGP rider, has forged a brilliant career in endurance racing since 2017.
Goal: the title
Having won the 24 Heures Motos this past August on the 2020 CBR1000RR-R’s maiden outing, F.C.C. TSR Honda France are clearly aiming to reclaim the world title with their new line-up.
Masakazu Fujii, team manager of F.C.C. TSR Honda France
Yuki Takahashi took part in our tests in Japan before the 24 Heures Motos. This project was not on the cards back then. But you have to make constant progress and try to improve the entire team – the riders, the machine and the technical crew – to win. Yuki Takahashi is an excellent rider, with a personality I relate to and appreciate. This project will further strengthen our East-West collaboration.”
Yuki Takahashi, rider for F.C.C. TSR Honda France
I’m thrilled to join the F.C.C. TSR Honda France team. As a child, my dream was to become world champion. I have MotoGP and World Superbike experience. I’ll do my utmost to become the world champion in the FIM EWC with this team.
More info about F.C.C. TSR Honda France
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]
