Honda announce 2017 factory MXGP line-up

During the traditional motorsport announcement press conference held last night at EICMA in Milan, Italy, Team HRC presented its factory line-up for the 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship, MXGP, and an evolution of team structure.

Team HRC will field two works entries in the MXGP category, where reigning World Champion Tim Gajser and Evgeny Bobryshev will continue to campaign the all-new 2017 Honda CRF450RW.

In a change to team structure, Bobryshev will move under the awning of the team that in 2016 was called Honda Gariboldi Racing. From 2017, the World Championship-winning Italian squad will be renamed Team HRC, and will be responsible for the works programme for the 450cc machines ridden by Gajser and Bobryshev.

This latest iteration of the Honda CRF is already a race winner, both at the hands of Gajser at the season-closing SMX Riders’ and Manufacturers’ Cup in Germany and in the USA with new signing Ken Roczen at the all-star Monster Energy Cup. In both instances, it was in each rider’s first race on the new machine, too.

The 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship gets underway with the MXGP of Qatar, Losail, the season’s only night race, on 25 February.

Honda’s factory line-up for the 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship: 

Team HRC

243: Tim Gajser

777: Evgeny Bobryshev

The press conference was live-streamed, and is still available to watch on Facebook here.