Honda confirms ARC entry

Honda Australia has confirmed it will contest the Australian Rally Championship. It is the first time the Japanese marque has fielded a factory team in the championship.

Honda joins Toyota as only the second fully manufacturer-backed entry in the struggling championship. The maker will contest two rounds in 2008 and has committed to a full program in 2009.

The news Honda would join the championship was first broken by the Carsales Network in early March (more here).

Official confirmation that Honda Australia would contest the Rally Canberra and Rally Melbourne rounds of the 2008 title came late last week. British rally champ and former Suzuki Junior World Rally Championship driver, Guy Wilks, will campaign Honda Australia's entry, a purpose-built Civic Type R R3 rally car.

The Type-R is the handiwork of Italian-based company JAS Motorsport. JAS Motorsport has been the official partner of Honda in European and world touring car series since 1998. Type Rs (pictured) have campaigned in national rounds and the IRC series for more than 12 months.

The front-wheel-drive Civic is built to the new international R class regulations and is powered by a 2.0-litre engine by Mugen, Honda's long-time engine tuning partner. It will run on Pirelli tyres.

Wilks and co-driver Phil Pugh will also race a Type R at rounds of the World Rally Championship (Rally Finland) and Intercontinental Rally Challenge (Rally Russia). A further fifth international rally outing is still to be confirmed.

Honda Australia's entry into local rallysport is being driven by local CEO, Yasuhide Mizuno. Mizuno-san, who took over the reins of the Honda Australia operation last April, is a keen motorsport fan and fostered a significant motorsport program during his time at the helm of Honda's operations in Malaysia.

Mizuno-san has confirmed, the two-rally campaign in 2008 is a preview to a full series effort in 2009.

"This year is all about understanding the car and championship prior to contesting the entire 2009 season," Mizuno-san told the Carsales Network.

The Type R's first official will be the Rally of Canberra on May 10-11.

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