Alex Rins will miss the MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix having been faced with yet another setback with the recovery of the broken left leg he suffered at Mugello in June.

The LCR Honda rider spent nearly four months in rehab trying to recover from the injury he sustained as a result of a crash in the Italian GP sprint race, the Spaniard returning to action in practice at Motegi at the start of October.

Having been forced out of action in Japan due to pain from his leg, he made a full comeback for the Indonesian GP – in which he finished an impressive ninth. He then had to pull out of last weekend’s Australian GP after suffering pain once again in the healing leg.

After tests in Australia failed to show what was causing his latest bout of discomfort, Rins headed to Madrid for further examination of the appendage. It was subsequently found that a hernia had developed on his healing fibula.

Further surgery will now be undertaken to remedy the problem so that he can try and make his return for the final three races of the 2023 campaign. LCR won’t replace Rins for this weekend’s Thai GP due to the short turnaround time.

“Happy after our doctor’s appointment today , the injury keeps a positive evolution,” said Rins on social media after the source of his recent leg pain was found.  

“We’ve identified the cause of the pain and we’ll undergo a small surgery to ease it. We won’t be at the Thai GP but we keep working towards a full recovery.”

Rins’ absence from Thailand means Honda will have just three bikes on track at the Chang International Circuit. Marc Marquez and Joan Mir will be in action for the factory Repsol Honda outfit, while Takaaki Nakagami will fly LCR’s flag on the sole remaining RC213V run the by Italian team.

Yuki Tsunoda has opened up on rumours linking him with a switch to Aston Martin once it partners with Honda, contending he hopes to still be in the frame for a Red Bull seat.

Tsunoda currently drives for Red Bull’s second-string side, presently known as AlphaTauri, and has recently been assured of his place for a fourth term next season.

Amid Sergio Perez’s continued struggles at Red Bull, the opportunity could be there for either Tsunoda or team-mate Daniel Ricciardo to secure a promotion for 2025.

But Tsunoda, whose racing career has been supported extensively by Honda, has been linked with a move to Aston Martin as it prepares to liaise with the Japanese manufacturer from 2026 onwards.

However, the 23-year-old insists that he doesn’t want Red Bull to be “misunderstood” about his intentions and hopes to be a candidate to accompany Max Verstappen.

When asked on Thursday in Qatar if he felt he was an option for a Red Bull seat, Tsunoda stated: “I hope so, to be honest.

“Obviously, the main thing is I don’t want Red Bull to misunderstand something, like for example that I’m just focusing now on Aston Martin or anything [like that].

“I’m at AlphaTauri, and I’ve been with Red Bull since I was 18 years old. So, I am now focusing to perform for Red Bull, not for Aston Martin.

“Hopefully they don’t have misunderstood those things and hopefully they really consider my future seriously.

“If I perform well as a driver, hopefully they consider me more and obviously, if I didn’t, I understand. But if I’m able to show my performance, I would like to have a bit more kind of rotation.”

Honda’s partnership with Red Bull will come to an end after 2025, with the latter opting to work with American automotive giant Ford on the new engine regulations for 2026.

Meanwhile, Honda will maintain its presence in the sport beyond the current rules cycle having agreed to power Aston Martin, who currently use Mercedes units.

Tsunoda wants to avoid his Honda links denying him a Red Bull drive, asserting that the engine manufacturer only wants a Japanese driver thriving in F1.

Pressed on whether Honda’s impending tie-up with Aston Martin could impact his chances with Red Bull, Tsunoda replied: “If that’s the case, I’m not happy with it.

“I don’t know how the conversations are going with Honda [and Red Bull], because Honda is still supplying the engine.

“But I think from the Honda side, what they’re saying is that as long as I can succeed, as long as a Japanese driver can one day achieve success, they don’t care where I go.

“They want a Japanese driver to be successful. Obviously, it would be lucky if we worked together and achieved success, but in the end they don’t care about it. And that’s what I really like about Honda.

“They don’t care which team you are at. So, I don’t think they’re really focusing on Aston Martin or whatever. They are just focusing as a driver, on Yuki Tsunoda, and the support to make me a successful driver.”

Over the course of a couple days at the end of this past week, IndyCar’s two engine manufacturers Honda and Chevy put the latest iterations of their new hybrid system to the test.

After having completed tests on road courses, a simulated street course in the form of Sebring, and a short oval, the new system was finally given a run on the 2.5-mile oval of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Six drivers hopped behind the wheel with the new systems affixed, and up to four cars were on track at a time. In all 1,325 laps were turned around the famous track at speeds over 220 MPH.

They tested all aspects of the hybrid power system, including deployment and regeneration of the super capacitor, drafting techniques, and of course reliability of the system.

IndyCar officials were on site to participate in the testing of the components that are due to be implemented for the full 2024 season, as were many high-ranking engineers from both engine manufacturers.

Matt Niles, Senior Engineer at Honda Performance Development, is the project lead for HPD’s version of the hybrid components, and offered his thoughts on the tests so far.

“I think, yeah, we’re pretty set on where we are with the energy storage [capacity],” said Niles. “I think we’ve been finding out how all these different components survive in this environment.

“The vibration is unique. Also the temperatures that we deal with. We’ve been learning a lot about that. But I think going forward, a lot of it is really how we use the system and the parts and pieces we have, and how that’s regulated on track and how the drivers use it, how the engineers interface with it, how we go racing.

“That’s where we’ve been going through sort of street course at the short course at Sebring, we’ve been running short ovals, road courses, and now we’re here at this hallowed ground to see how it works here.

“We just kind of have to go back through all the data, start making some decisions on how we go to St. Pete.”

IndyCar’s implementation of hybrid components has been a long time coming, and was delayed for a couple years due to complications surrounding the pandemic.

The system is also unique among other racing series that have their own electrification components.

IndyCar devised a way to stick with its existing 2.2-liter engine, and placed the super capacitor energy store within the bell housing, which sits between the engine and the gearbox.

This allows for a direct attachment to the drivetrain, and also keeps the entire package small and light, which is crucial for an open wheel car.

Different levels of driver control have been tested throughout the development cycle as well, with every option from manual regen and deployment to fully automatic usage through software programming put through its paces.

When the driver is in full control of the system, the clutch pedal on the steering wheel is repurposed as the regen paddle, and a button on the front of the wheel deploys the stored energy.

The final decision about how the hybrid power will be controlled has not yet been made, but the goal for IndyCar officials is to get that finalized soon. And the goal for Honda and Chevy is to get the new components sent out to all the teams in time for them to have the system implemented at the first race in early March.

“I think to get all the teams have their hands on it, our goal is to have that before the end of the year,” continued Honda’s Matt Niles.

“I think getting all the parts and pieces in place by St. Petersburg is going to be a challenge. But that’s what we do here, is challenges. So we’re going to keep pushing ahead and get it done.

“We had [steering wheel] paddles on the car already. Using that for regen seemed like the natural thing to do. We had to do some software trickery to reassign the clutch paddle for use while out on track.

“But it seems like it could work, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out here today and tomorrow, is get the drivers out there together and see if we could get it to work in a pack.”

Although secretive, the two-day test was presented as successful. Drivers were able to drive in a pack, plan their regen strategies, deploy extra power for a pass, and all the things they expected to be able to do.

A couple of the drivers with the most experience testing the hybrid systems were part of the test at Indianapolis, with the two most recent series champions Will Power and Alex Palou providing their insight.

Alexander Rossi, Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson, and David Malukas were also part of the test, and were able to give a wide range of feedback to the engineers directing the procedures.

The feedback from all sides was positive, and there was next to no downtime due to technical issues or repairs. Driver’s thoughts instead focused on the differences in driving techniques to fully utilize the hybrid power.

“I have to say, in qualifying, you’re going to be pretty busy on that first lap,” said Will Power describing how an Indy 500 qualifying run might proceed. “Pretty sure you regen on that lap, decide when you deploy.

“Between that, the weight jacker, switching the fuel slot, and the bars, yeah, pretty busy qualifying.

“As soon as you’re in the draft of someone [during the race], you’re going to be regenerating. Then you’re going to be trying to time that deploy of what you want to pass.

“Maybe you’re not going to get him and switch off and regen again, wait for a better run. I think that will be really based on how you’re running.

“Yeah, I think you’ll try to keep that tank full. Instead of hitting the limiter or lifting, you’ll grab the paddle to regen. Yeah, it will just be a constant changing thing.

“I think [IndyCar officials] are still playing with the rules, because you may have it where you have auto regen and deploy, but you also have the ability to pull the paddle. Instead of getting into the hard limiter in top gear, you use that as a regen tool.

“Yeah, it’s still a lot of stuff to go through. I mean, I have had a lot of miles in that thing. I think if you’re not having to pull that paddle [on the road courses], it would be an advantage because that is quite awkward on a road course to be grabbing that, hitting it every time out of a corner.

“I don’t think that will be the case. The last test we weren’t doing that. It was auto everything. I think they’re still kind of trying to understand how best to use it, which I think the best way to use it is to get the most out of it for lap time, which is using it as much as we can.

“At first, it’s going to be reliability.”

With four drivers running at a time without issue this past week, the next major goal is to have 10 cars on track at the same time.

Reliability is the number one goal for the system – teams would not be happy to have race retirements that are out of their control – and reliability is best tested with as many cars on track as possible.

A 10-car test, with 10 different teams on track at once, is currently scheduled for early December, and will represent a significant milestone towards the rapidly-approaching deadline that is the 2024 season opener.

For now, a bit of satisfaction as the system seems to have worked as expected while powering the cars for the unique demands of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Marc Marquez has confirmed that he will leave Honda at the end of the 2023 MotoGP season, with a confirmation he will join the Gresini Ducati outfit expected soon.

The Spaniard had been heavily rumored to be looking for a way out of Honda after it failed to get on top of the issues it had with its RC213V prototype throughout the 2022 campaign, resulting in it finishing that year’s championship sixth and last in the constructor’s standings.

Its problems have only worsened this year as the RC213V has proven to be the trickiest motorcycle to ride of the current crop, with its riders routinely crashing due to the lack of fidelity afforded by Honda’s current challenger.

The Japanese organisation has fired Technical Manager Takeo Yokoyama and General Manager Shinichi Kokubu across the past year, and at the behest of Marquez has started to hire personnel from European brands Ducati, Aprilia, and KTM, who are the current pace-setters in MotoGP.

Honda’s actions have come too late for its six-time champion though, and it announced on Wednesday morning that it would be parting ways with Marquez at the end of 2023. The two parties still had a further year left on the four-year deal they had signed together back in 2020.  

“Honda Racing Corporation and Marc Marquez have mutually elected to terminate their four-year contract prematurely at the end of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season,” began Honda’s brief statement on its split with Marquez.

“With a year remaining on the four-year contract between HRC and Marc Marquez, both parties have mutually agreed to end their collaboration upon completion of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season. Both parties agreed it was in their best interests to each pursue other avenues in the future to best achieve their respective goals and targets.

“Both parties will continue to give their full support for the remaining rounds of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season.

“HRC wish Marc Marquez the best in his future endeavors.”

Marquez’s Honda exit brings to an end a partnership that had lasted a decade since he made his premier-class debut with the squad for the 2013 term.

He went on to win all but one title across the following seven seasons courtesy of 59 wins, 64 pole positions, and a total of 101 rostrum finishes.

A nasty crash for Marquez in the 2020 Andalucian Grand Prix led to a three-year battle to get race-fit once again, his success in the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP at Misano his only win since his final title to date in 2019.

Marc Marquez feels that continuing Honda’s uptick in performance across the past couple of MotoGP events will be “too much to ask” in the upcoming races.  

Honda’s RC213V has shown improved form compared to the rest of the 2023 season across the last two race weekends in India and Japan. Factory riders Marc Marquez and Joan Mir showed top-five speed across the entirety of the Indian event before the Spanish pair possessed top-ten speed in the dry at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Japan.

Having finished seventh in Saturday’s sprint race, Marquez then made the most of a sodden circuit in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix to secure his first Sunday podium finish since last year’s Australian GP behind title contenders Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.

Marquez warned though that he felt Honda’s recent upturn in performance likely wouldn’t last into the following weekends, the six-time premier class world champion feeling that the more stop-start layouts of the Buddh and Motegi venues helped to mask the limitations of Honda’s current package.  

“Normally on these kind of tracks I’m quite good in the wet as last year I got pole in the rain, so I followed everyone in and then tried to manage the race well,” explained Marquez following the Japanese GP.

“No (can’t fight for top results in dry), that’s too much to ask right now. India and here have similar kinds of corners where I can make the difference in the braking zones and also pick the bike up quickly and get a good exit.

“Mandalika there are a few corners where you need to use the banking where edge grip and traction are important, and this is where we struggle and are losing a lot.

“You can’t do anything and you just spin but I’ll do my best, but for sure it’ll be more difficult which means enjoying the good moments are even more important.”

Marquez added that scoring a long-awaited rostrum result at Honda’s home race is “important” for he and the manufacturer, adding that his feeling with the RC213V improved the wetter the track became.  

“This is an important podium, we’ve been looking for it for the entire season. It’s arrived a bit late but it’s good that it has come at the home circuit (for Honda) and a day where I took profit from the wet weather,” continued Marquez.

“I tried to manage the race in the best way, I knew when we changed the tyres on the first lap that the race would be very long.

“You have different moments in the race because at the beginning I was struggling a bit too much but trying to manage the tyre, but when the track became really wet I started to attack and get faster and faster. Today we’ll definitely take the podium.”

Jaume Masia eases to a commanding win in the Moto3 Indian Grand Prix, the Spaniard leading every lap to become the first grand prix rider to win in the country.

The Leopard Racing pilot made a good start from pole position to establish himself out in front from the outset, Masia swiftly aiming to break up the pack as he unleashed his pace.

Title rival Ayumu Sasaki was the only man able to keep up with his blistering pace as the pair broke comfortably away from their pursuers, their gap standing at around 2.5 second by the time Sasaki’s Husqvarna team-mate Colin Veijer broke through to third and stemmed the flow around mid-distance.

Sasaki began to labor though as the final third of the contest came around, Masia maintaining his speed as the Japanese rider seemingly began to struggle with his tyres.

Masia extended his advantage rapidly as Sasaki fell away, leaving to eventually take the chequered flag 5.5 seconds clear of the intense battle for the runners-up spot that developed across the closing stages.

Such was the extent of Sasaki’s slump, Veijer managed to bridge the 2.5-second gap to his team leader, the Dutchman also bringing Sic58 rider Kaito Toba along.

The trio tussled over the final couple of laps and traded places almost every corner before disaster struck on the final tour, Sasaki attempting to dive through on Veijer at Turn 13 before running wide.

This pushed him on into the side of Veijer, causing him to crash out and retire on the spot, the carnage leaving Toba to come through and secure his first rostrum result of the year while Sasaki clung onto the final podium spot.

Daniel Holgado, who held the points lead heading into the weekend, failed to match the speed of the leaders but still completed a decent damage limitation mission to claim fourth ahead of GasGas’ David Alonso.

David Munoz was sixth for BOE Motorsports ahead of the sister Sic58 entry of Ricardo Rossi, with MTA Angeluss pair Ivan Ortola and Stefano Nepa shadowing each other home in eighth and ninth respectively.

Jose Antonio Rueda rounded off the top ten on his Ajo-run KTM, his team-mate Deniz Oncu only rebounding to 14^th in the end after starting from the rear of the field with a long-lap penalty after ignoring a black flag during qualifying.

Diogo Moreria looked to be in with a shout of the podium battle in the early goings but eventually fell back to 13^th for the MT Helmets – MSI outfit.

Matteo Bertelle also looked to possess strong speed but dropped his Snipers-run bike from third at Turn 1 early on, while Taiyo Furusato saw a promising top-ten run end with a crash at Turn 4 around half-distance while running tenth.

Holgado will head into next weekend’s Japanese GP a joint series leader with Holgado, the duo just a solitary point clear of Sasaki.

Honda Racing is combining two of its major racing divisions, with Honda Performance Development (HPD) and Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) merging to become Honda Racing Corporation US (HRC US) starting with the 2024 season.

The two independent divisions of the company have operated beside each other for 30 years, with each handling different areas of Honda’s worldwide racing ambitions.

By joining into a single entity, HRC US will be able to combine the unique knowledge learned across all motorsports divisions to help push the program forward.

David Salters, the current president of HPD, will become the president of the newly-combined entity starting next year.

“Honda’s racing heritage is unparalleled and over the last 30 years and the talented men and women of HPD have contributed to that success in the U.S.,” said Salters in the press release.

“We are thrilled and very proud to join forces with our friends and colleagues in HRC Japan and represent Honda Racing as a global racing organization.

“We will continue to challenge ourselves in U.S. motorsports activities even as we develop our people and technology to compete on a rapidly changing global motorsports stage.”

HRC was established in Japan in 1982, and has overseen the company’s motorcycle racing endeavors, and recently added Honda’s F1 program to its responsibilities.

HPD was established in 1993, and has been the entity serving America’s racing needs. HPD has managed Honda’s IndyCar and IMSA programs, as well as multiple other touring car and off road series.

HRC US will officially debut for the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 27-28, when the Acura prototypes will carry the new HRC logos as part of their liveries.

Takaaki Nakagami will remain with the LCR Honda MotoGP outfit for 2024 after signing an extension with the squad, the Japanese secured for a further season in the premier class.

Nakagami has competed in MotoGP with the Italian outfit as a Honda-contracted pilot since making his bow in the series in 2018, the two-time Moto2 race winner running in the colours of Japanese oil company Idemitsu throughout his stay in MotoGP.

Rumours have been abound in recent months that he may be moved aside for Honda’s young protégé Ai Ogura, who is currently contesting his third season in Moto2 with the Japanese manufacturer-backed Honda Team Asia team.

With Honda struggling to make headway with its tricky RC213V premier class machine though, it has elected to keep the experienced Nakagami as it looks to rebuild its programme. This news seemed all but confirmed after Ogura signed with new Moto2 outfit MT Helmets – MSI last week, though he remains contracted to Honda going forward.

Nakagami says he is “excited” to continue his MotoGP journey with Honda and LCR, adding he feels all three parties are a “good match.”

“I feel LCR is part of my family, and of course, I’m excited to be with them for another season,” said Nakagami.  

“I want to thank them and HRC for the opportunity, as I know we are a good match. Now it’s time to work even harder to be ready for the future”. 

LCR Team Principle Lucio Ceccinello echoed Nakagami’s thoughts and says he is “proud to count” on the services of Nakagami for 2024.

“I’m proud to count on Nakagami for another year,” said Ceccinello.  

“He’s a fast rider who can get good results, and alongside HRC, we believe it’s time to keep pushing, as he’s one of the most experienced guys with this bike. We will give our best to fight for the positions we aim for”.

Nakagami currently sits 17^th overall in the riders standings on 35 points, his best result of eighth coming off the back of a strong run at Assen in the Dutch TT.

He remains 12 markers adrift of injured team-mate Alex Rins despite the Spaniard having been forced to sit on the sidelines with a broken leg since the Italian Grand Prix back in June. The bulk of Rins’ points were scored as a result of his stand-out Americas GP weekend, where he scored an unlikely victory in Sunday’s grand prix as well as a runner-up finish in Saturday’s sprint contest.

Rins will remain out of action until at least the Indonesian GP in mid-October after a recent Aragon test to evaluate his physical condition didn’t produce the desired results.

With the 2023 IndyCar season now concluded, Chevrolet has clinched the Manufacturers Championship for the second year in a row.

The American company beat out its rival Honda by a small margin to earn its eighth championship since returning to IndyCar competition in 2012.

Chevy outscored Honda by 28 points in the final round from Laguna Seca, which allowed them to leapfrog to the front and take the honors by a slim 12-point margin.

Representatives from the company’s management were on hand to witness the achievement, and were very proud to see the numbers tip their direction when the checkered flags flew.

“It was close,” said Jim Campbell, vice president of General Motors. “Big thanks to Will Power and Callum Ilott. They got the key positions for the key points to put us right over the top.

“Super proud of the fact this is the second in a row, eighth overall since we returned to IndyCar in 2012. It feels really good. Obviously proud of the five wins with Josef [Newgarden] with four, Scott McLaughlin one at Barber.

“Certainly would have loved more wins, but we got the Manufacturers Championship. Super proud of that.

“I think what makes IndyCar unique, one of the reasons we love it, those engines run 2000-plus miles on different disciplines. So we go short oval, big oval, road course, street course.

“We really exercise those engines in so many different ways. We love the diversity of it, and it makes days like today very gratifying.”

Part of the reason Chevy gained so much ground in the final race is because entrants that have used more than the allowed number of engines do not accrue manufacturer points.

The top two Honda finishers this weekend, Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, were using their fifth and sixth engines respectively, which is above the four engine limit set by IndyCar.

Chevrolet does not win any money for the achievement, but will now have bragging rights and the ability to market the company’s success in advertisements for its public-facing products.

Both Chevrolet and Honda have been working with IndyCar over the past couple years to integrate with the series’ new hybrid components, which are set to debut for the 2024 season.

The NTT IndyCar Series has only a couple races left before it is set to introduce a new hybrid component to its engines beginning at the start of the 2024 season.

Both Honda and Chevrolet have been testing multiple iterations of the hybrid systems over the past year, which employ a unique layout that places the batteries within the engine bellhousing.

According to Honda representatives, one of the biggest concerns from the manufacturers has been reliably sourcing components for the all-new design. But development has continued steadily regardless, and the weight of the system has been reduced drastically over the course of the past year.

The components have been put through ever more stressful tests, and so far seem to be holding up well enough for the series to continue on with the 2024 introduction timeline.

Scott Dixon has been tipped to be Honda’s designated test driver throughout the development process, and related recently that he has noticed big improvements during his recent tests.

“It’s definitely still a work in progress,” said Dixon about the new hybrid system. “I think the last few iterations have been a big jump forward.

“I think there’s a big relevance for technology that is key for our manufacturers, right, and what they do on a global kind of scale, especially what cars they produce for Honda. The hybrid situation is very big for them. I know they’ve put a lot of effort into it. The same with IndyCar. It’s something that they’ve committed to.

“I think it was kind of iffy for a period of time there for [implementation] next year. The last test went really well at Sebring. Logged a lot of miles. October, November, December, even in January with a lot more cars running it.

“The technology is pretty cool. It’s not our usual systems that I think we’ve seen in IMSA or other formulas. I hope they stick to not going automated, that it’s really on a driver input factor, which I think will spice up our racing, as well.

“I think it’s heading in the right direction. We’ll have to see once we get closer to the time. There’s a lot of effort that’s brought to this and it’s cool to see the tech they’re bringing it.”

IndyCar initially planned to introduce the hybrid systems, along with a new 2.4-liter engine, for the 2023 season, but development issues combined with pandemic-related supply chain problems forced a delay.

Development of the larger engine was paused while efforts were concentrated on getting the hybrid components race ready.

With testing becoming more frequent, and less secretive, as time goes on, fans of the sport have been pleased to note that the engine noise remains unchanged with the new components.

That particular point is another positive in Dixon’s mind, who understands that sound plays a crucial role in the entertainment factor.

“Yeah, for sure,” continued Dixon. “I’m passionate about cars that sound like race cars. That is definitely prominent for IndyCar’s future.

“Again, hopefully they spotlight the technology, too. I think it’s definitely different from what we’ve seen in other formulas.”