Source: Supplied.

Repsol will remain the title sponsor of Honda Racing Corporation’s MotoGP team through the 2018 season, resulting in a 24-year partnership and 12 rider championships to date.

Honda has reigning world champion Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa under contract for the next two years, making for an all-Spanish rider line-up in the Repsol Honda squad.

Repsol’s director general of communications and presidency Begoña Elices and HRC director general manager race operations management division Tetsuhiro Kuwata put pen to paper on the extension contract.

“We are delighted with the renewal of the agreement with our title sponsor Repsol through the end of 2018,” Kuwata said. “This year we celebrated together our 12th MotoGP world title in 22 years of collaboration, an amazing achievement in the history of the motorcycle world championship.

“This record demonstrates the great value of this partnership which, in addition to including a great sponsorship agreement, has also benefitted us with crucial technological development. We are proud to continue working with Repsol through 2018 and hopefully many more years beyond!”

Repsol and HRC began their journey together in February 1995, in a relationship of trust based on technological development that has led to a perfect combination of rider, motorcycle, fuel and lubricant.

These more than two decades have seen the Repsol Honda team achieve 12 individual titles, 151 victories and 392 podiums in 500cc and MotoGP. In addition, they have been proclaimed team champions on by seven occasions since the award was created in 2002.

The partnership between Repsol and Honda goes beyond conventional sports sponsorship and is based on a close relationship between Honda’s laboratories in Saitama, Japan, and the Repsol Technology Centre, located in Mostoles, Spain.

These more than 20 years of teamwork are an example of a lasting collaboration between two global companies striving for excellence. Repsol and Honda have been able to take full advantage of each others’ strengths and achieve a winning formula. The collaboration began in the 1990s with the development of two-stroke engines and fuel and then took on the challenge of developing the best four-stroke engines and fuels in the world.

More than half of the premier class world titles since 1995 have gone to the Repsol Honda team. Champions such as Mick Doohan, Alex Criville, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez have made this pairing the most recognisable partnership in the world championship.