Honda reveals 2020 World Superbike challenger

Having been a WSBK regular in the past, Honda has upped its presence in the championship as it enters with a full-factory effort.

It has signed riders from Ducati and Kawasaki in Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam for its 2020 campaign, which was launched in Tokyo at the Honda Welcome Plaza Aoyama.

In light of the current COVID-19 outbreak, there was no public admission to the launch event.

The WSBK factory team's livery features traditional HRC colours of blue, white and red with the latter as the dominant one.

Bautista and Haslam extensively tested the bike over the winter and it also appeared in the WSBK test at Portimao in January, where Haslam topped a rainy opening day.

However, Honda ended that test 0.851s off the pace and Haslam claimed the bike is 'not even in the fine-tuning stage'.

Althea Racing, the second team to run Honda bikes in WSBK this year, also unveiled a black livery with previously-confirmed rider Takumi Takahashi attending the event.

Jordi Torres, who lost his ride at Pedercini Kawasaki to Sandro Cortese, will join the team from the third round of the series in Jerez onwards.

2020 WSBK line-up so far:

Team	Riders
Kawasaki	Jonathan Rea Alex Lowes
Ducati	Chaz Davies Scott Redding
Crescent Yamaha	Toprak Razgatlioglu Michael van der Mark
GRT Yamaha	Federico Caricasulo Garrett Gerloff
Honda	Alvaro Bautista Leon Haslam
BMW	Tom Sykes Eugene Laverty
Puccetti Kawasaki	Xavi Fores
Pedercini Kawasaki	Sandro Cortese
Orelac Kawasaki	Maximilian Scheib
Barni Ducati	Leon Camier
Go Eleven Ducati	Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Motocorsa Ducati	Leandro Mercado
Ten Kate Yamaha	Loris Baz
MIE Honda	Takumi Takahashi Jordi Torres