Asian Motor Sports

On Monday Jenson Button wowed thousands of fans at the “Enjoy Honda – Honda Racing Thanks Day” event at Honda’s Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan.

The annual one-day event brings together Honda Racing machines and stars from two- and four-wheeled competition, both from Honda’s racing past and current series. This year, 25,000 fans were treated to on- and off-track attractions designed to help them “see”, “feel” and “experience” Honda’s passion and commitment to motor sport.

Activities at the event included track rides with the drivers and riders, a lap of the track in the tour bus while SuperGT cars stormed past, racing machine displays, an F1 cockpit experience, karting time trials, autograph sessions, driver and rider interviews, children’s attractions, and a hot-air balloon experience.

Jenson was involved in many activities throughout the day, the highlight of which was a demonstration run in his Honda RA108 Formula One car around the Twin Ring Motegi’s oval circuit. Honda motor sport stars joining Jenson at the event were MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa, Trials World Championship rider Takahisa Fujinami, FIM Superbike World Championship riders Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari, and IRL IndyCar Series driver Hideki Muto.

Rain brought some of the planned activities to a premature end but didn’t deter Jenson from heading out in the RA108 for a late afternoon run to demonstrate his driving prowess in the wet conditions.

“I look forward to coming to the Honda Racing Thanks Day every year because our Japanese fans are so passionate and supportive,” he said. “They welcome and cheer me on as much as my home British fans. This year I was able to demonstrate Honda’s European Civic Type-R road car in addition to the RA108, and it’s always great to see so many Japanese fans at the autograph session and talk show; it was a wonderful day. I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all fans who cheered me on right up until the end of the event, in spite of the cold rain that they had to endure.”