Honda resumes 2nd season of ‘IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Hunt’ The Ultimate hunt for Next-Gen racing talent starts in Pune

• 22 young riders including 2 female riders from 10 to 18 years of age join the Hunt in Pune • Shortlisted candidates will getprofessional racing training at Honda Ten10 Racing Academy • The final selected riders will get direct entry to IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup2020 - CBR 150Rclas

Pune, 11 December 2019: After fast-tracking the racing career of young racing talent from Chennai and Bengaluru to IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup 2019, the round 3 of ‘IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Hunt 2019’ has now arrived in Pune to hunt for next-gen racing talent from the racing hub of West region.

The IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Hunt is Honda’s unique initiative to identify young racers starting as early as 10 years of age. Through this platform, Honda 2Wheelers India is grooming the best of young Indian riders for a racing career, spanning national and international championships.

The 3rdround in Pune saw overwhelming participation of 22youngsters from Pune, Mumbai, Vadodra, Dehradun, Chennai, Kohlapur, Nagpur, Pimpri, Satara, and Jalgaon. The candidates went through rigorous 3 levels of tests. First being their physical fitness, second their race orientation and riding skills especially for the race track. This was followed by a one-on-one interview with candidates and parents/guardians to understand both their motorsport passion and family support to become the next iconic rider from India.

After shortlisting in phase 1, the top candidates of the Talent Hunt of Pune will be trained and given opportunity to improve their skills at the Chennai race track in Phase II. From this pool of riders, Honda will then pick the best talent and provide them with direct entry to the Honda Talent Cup CBR 150R class in 2020 season in the first phase.

Further continuing our hunt to find the next racing sensation, Honda shortlisted 3 riders from the Chennai leg of 2nd edition of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Hunt. Post the Pune edition, Honda’s Talent Hunt will travel to 2 more cities across India in the coming months.

Honda’s two pronged approach of creating development structure for new riders and creating best of domestic and international racing platforms has boosted motorsport in India.

Sharing an overview on Honda’s aim for developing ‘Iconic Indian Riders’, Mr. Prabhu Nagaraj, Vice President – Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said, “The 2019 racing season was extremely successful for Team Honda. Our 19 selected riders of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup 2019 got step up opportunity in national racing. After the initial leg of CBR 150R talent cup, we fast-tracked the career of 8 riders by giving them opportunity to race on NSF250R – Honda’s world class Moto3 machine. In fact, Honda gave the opportunity to 2of our Talent Hunt riders to ride with best of Asian riders at Thailand Talent Cup. In long term, our focus is to put young Indian talent on multiple world class platforms from CEV, Asian Talent Cup, going up to premier class MotoGP. This weekend, the racing passion of young boys and girls from Pune to make a career in professional racing has been overwhelming. This is just the start. With the grooming from Honda, our budding riders will change motorsport scenario in not just India but make a mark at world stage too.”

Past success stories of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Hunt: Our 2019 season find 15-year-old Md. Mikail has already created fastest lap time record at MMRT on a 250cc, won the NSF250R cup and in the same year itself got chance to upskill on international platform. Accompanying him was another young talent – KritikHabib from Karnataka. Similarly, Aizawl’s budding racer LalNunsanga won the CBR150R Cup.

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