2021 FIM Endurance World Championship
F.C.C. TSR Honda France announce 2021 team
The F.C.C. TSR Honda France team, of the FIM Endurance World Championship will go into the 2021 season with a new three rider line-up, with Yuki Takahashi joining Australian Josh Hooks and Frenchman Mike di Meglio, with the line-up announced at Suzuka.
Yuki Takahashi, who caught the eye in the GP250 (5th in 2008) and subsequently in Moto2, has also made his mark in the JSB 1000 Superbike championship (fifth in 2018), and recently won the first All Japan Superstock 1000 title in the new category the Japanese championship introduced in 2020.
Most importantly, Yuki Takahashi has a strong track record in the Suzuka 8 Hours. He climbed the third step of the 2010 Suzuka 8 Hours podium with F.C.C. TSR Honda, and finished second in 2012 in the saddle of Toho Racing with Moriwaki’s Honda. He then continued racing with Moriwaki, regularly finishing in the top 10 at Suzuka.
Yuki Takahashi
“I’m thrilled to join the F.C.C. TSR Honda France team. As a child, my dream was to become world champion. I have MotoGP and World Superbike experience. I’ll do my utmost to become the world champion in the FIM EWC with this team.”
Yuki Takahashi has now signed up to be a full-season FIM Endurance World Championship rider alongside another two of the sport’s great champions.
27-year-old Josh Hook, who won the 2017-2018 FIM EWC title with F.C.C. TSR Honda France, stepped onto the Suzuka 8 Hours podium for the Japanese team in both 2015 and 2017.
Mike di Meglio is the team’s final rider, and was the GP125 world champion in 2008, not to mention a Moto2 and then MotoGP rider, and has been proven a force to be reckoned with in EWC since 2017.
Josh Hook and Mike di Meglio campaigned the F.C.C. TSR Honda France Fireblade to third in this year’s championship, taking victory at 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as second at the 12 Hours of Estoril, ending the season just six-points off second placed YART, while trailing SERT by 24-points.
The 24 Heures Motos victory in August on the 2020 CBR1000RR-R’s was its maiden outing, with F.C.C. TSR Honda France aiming to reclaim the world title with their new line-up in 2021, on the new machine.
Masakazu Fujii – Team Manager of F.C.C. TSR Honda France
“Yuki Takahashi took part in our tests in Japan before the 24 Heures Motos. This project was not on the cards back then. But you have to make constant progress and try to improve the entire team – the riders, the machine and the technical crew – to win. Yuki Takahashi is an excellent rider, with a personality I relate to and appreciate. This project will further strengthen our East-West collaboration.”
Source: MCNews.com.au