Honda announces it will compete in the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) with the Honda Civic.

“We have made a decision” said Honda CEO, Takanobu Ito “to enter into the WTCC with the European Civic. We will develop a totally new engine for this project and we are all excited about starting this new challenge.”

For this project, Honda has formed a joint partnership with Mugen and J.A.S. Motorsport. Honda R&D is developing a bespoke racing engine, while Mugen will manufacture and maintain it. J.A.S. Motorsport will develop the race car, using the new Honda Civic 5 door produced in Honda’s manufacturing plant located in Swindon (UK).

The racing engine is a 1.6 litre 4 cylinder direct injection turbo-charged petrol engine, developed in accordance with FIA’s Super 2000 regulations.

Racing has always been fundamental to Honda’s DNA. In the late 1950s Honda first entered the Isle of Man TT, taking the first win in 1961. Honda moved into Formula 1 in the 1960s and following this, began to capture many successes on the world stage on both two- and four-wheels, the most recent success being the 2011 MotoGP World Championship.

The FIA WTCC is the next chapter in Honda’s on-going commitment to world motor sport and provides a perfect platform to demonstrate its racing spirit to Honda’s numerous fans around the world.