Honda eyes WTCC bid

Honda is set to replace Alfa Romeo as the fourth manufacturer in the World Touring Car Championship this season.

JAS Motorsport, which has run Honda tin-top programmes since the late 1990s, will collaborate with former Alfa team N.technology to field an Accord on a semi-works basis. JAS would build the car and N.technology would run it at the races for Briton James Thompson.

Honda will not fund the project, but WTCC organisers are working to get the European arm of the Japanese company to lend its name to the assault. That would ensure it has a fourth brand alongside BMW, SEAT and Chevrolet.