Concept to Champion: the Honda CR Electric PROTO

Honda and racing go hand in hand, as Soichiro Honda famously said “without racing there is no Honda”. Technological advancement is something that Honda is also known for, whether it’s in motorcycles, cars or mobility products like the UNI-ONE and especially relevant in terms of electrification.

This year Honda has merged the worlds of off-road racing and electric diversification with great success: a full factory entry in the FIM E-Xplorer Championship where riders Tosha Schareina and Francesca Nocera put the CR Electric PROTO through its paces.

Tosha, who is also a rally rider in the Monster Energy Honda Team, notes that “it is a totally new challenge for the whole team, we are pioneers in this championship. It has been a year of complete development of the electric bike, of course we have a lot of work ahead of us, but the team has given 100%”.

That 100% effort resulted in points and prizes throughout the season. The first round of the year, which also happened to be Honda’s home round, saw the team take top honours in Osaka – immediately proving the strength of the electric concept machine.

There was another visit to the podium in the second round, held in Olso, Norway, where the team showed their resilience to injury and fought back from falls to end the event as runners up. “Unfortunately while leading the practice, I had a big crash in Qualifying and it was really hard to finish the races,” Francesca says. In fact, Francesca’s comment doesn’t show the lengths she went to in competing.

The Italian rider had been to the hospital for checks in the morning but made it back to the track to ride in the afternoon races and score valuable points for Team HRC, narrowly missing out on the win.

There were ups and downs in the final round in Switzerland, where the team battled hard for the top honours in both the riders’ and teams’ championships. Nocera was unfortunate to suffer from another fall in practice, which hampered her efforts. Despite this, she was still able to secure second place in the female riders’ championship in what she described as “an amazing and painful season…but I have no regrets”.

Francesca also states that it “has been the best experience of my life! Being in the HRC family as an official rider is amazing. It makes me feel so proud and has definitely changed my career”.

Tosha also had his struggles in the final round, thanks to a poor start in the first race, but he soon bounced back and proved that the CR Electric PROTO is an extremely capable machine – doing enough to secure top honours in the male riders’ championship and helping Team HRC take the runner up spot in the teams’ championship.

He notes that “we have been very consistent with podiums and victories during all the races, both in individual and team races. It’s a pity in the last race that Francesca had that hard crash, but that’s racing. I’m very proud of her for giving it her all”.

Although it has been a development year for the team, the success that they have seen is testament to the work that has gone into the CR Electric PROTO, and there will be even more advances made thanks to the work of Francesca and Tosha.

But how different is riding the electric prototype to riding an Enduro bike like Francesca’s CRF250 4T or Tosha’s Rally bike the CRF450 Rally? “For sure you can feel some difference, it’s normal,” Francesca says. “This bike is really nice to ride and although you don’t hear that usual sound, you still really enjoy riding it”.

Tosha feels like there are more differences though. “The power is very good, you can regulate the throttle and power distribution as you want, as well as the engine brake. The weight is very similar to the 450, maybe a little more but the reality is that when you ride the bike you don’t notice it.

“The biggest difference for me is not having a clutch. I’m a rider who likes to have a lot of sensitivity with the bike and that’s something I miss by not having a clutch. I have to say that there will be new things to come in the future”.

The FIM E-Xplorer Championship isn’t the only category where Honda is testing its electric prototypes and vehicles. Recently the Team Manager of Repsol Honda Trial Team, the very experienced Takahisa Fujinami competed in the International A Super (IAS) Class of the MFJ All Japan Trial Championship Series with the RTL ELECTRIC Trial bike.

The CR Electric PROTO’s success this season is only part of Honda’s electrification story, to find out more click here.