Honda sets record straight amid WEC hypercar rumours
Honda has returned to F1 with Aston Martin in 2026
New Aston Martin F1 engine partner Honda has confirmed to PlanetF1.com that it has no plans to enter the World Endurance Championship.
However, the Japanese manufacturer has not ruled out a deal with customer teams to field the Acura ARX-06 car in the hypercar category of the WEC and the United States-based IMSA series in the future.
Honda not interested in factory World Endurance Championship entry
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust
Following the conclusion of its highly successful partnership with Red Bull at the end of last year, Honda has linked up with the Aston Martin team ahead of the F1 2026 season.
Honda’s union with Aston Martin technically marks a return to the sport for the Japanese manufacturer, which originally withdrew from F1 at the end of the 2021 season.
Honda continued to provide technical support to Red Bull until the end of 2025 and announced its partnership with Aston Martin in May 2023.
Honda PU: The great unanswered question for Adrian Newey and Aston Martin
What if the Honda PU rains on Adrian Newey’s parade?
Adrian Newey masterclass revealed as Aston Martin AMR26 dissected
Unsubstantiated reports over recent weeks claimed that Honda was on the verge of entering the hypercar category of the WEC as soon as next season.
A number of F1 manufacturers – Ferrari, Aston Martin, Alpine and Cadillac – already have a presence in hypercar with McLaren, the reigning world champions, set to enter the category in 2027.
In a statement provided to PlanetF1.com, Chuck Schifsky, the manager of Honda & Acura Motorsports, confirmed that there are no plans to enter the WEC.
However, Schifsky left the door open to customer teams running the Acura ARX-06 car in the elite categories of the WEC and IMSA in the future.
He said: “Honda, Acura nor Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) have any plans to enter the FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC).
“We would certainly welcome customers running the ARX-06 in either IMSA GTP or WEC Hypercar, but there are no imminent plans for this to happen.”
The Acura ARX-06 has established itself as one of the most prolific cars in sportscar racing over recent years.
It won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Petit Le Mans in 2023 before adding the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2024, becoming the first car to win the three main IMSA events in the GTP era.
Aston Martin launched its F1 2026 car, the AMR26, on Monday ahead of the start of the second pre-season test in Bahrain tomorrow (Wednesday).
Koji Watanabe, the president of the Honda Racing Corporation, said: “The AMR26 is a strikingly beautiful livery and I am immensely proud to see the ‘POWERED by Honda’ logo return to the pinnacle of automobile racing.
“It fills everyone at Honda with pride to see our logo on the AMR26 for the first time.”
Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.
You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!
Read next: Andy Cowell to depart Aston Martin after role shift under Adrian Newey
