History of MIE in WSBK

MIE Racing has competed in the WorldSBK championship since 2019, entrusting its Honda machinery to a number of talented young riders. Having partnered with Malaysian energy company PETRONAS in 2023, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team currently competes in both WorldSBK and WorldSSP.


In 2019 MIE Racing participated in a joint project with Honda and Althea Racing, entering the FIM WorldSBK Championship with an HRC factory-supported team, the Moriwaki Althea Honda Team, and fielding experienced British rider Leon Camier and Japanese rider Ryuichi Kiyonari. MIE Racing founder and Team Principal Midori Moriwaki managed the project and, though challenging, the 2019 season allowed MIE Racing and Honda to gain valuable experience ahead of the 2020 season.

For 2020, MIE Racing solidified its commitment to the FIM WorldSBK Championship by entering the series with the satellite MIE Racing Honda Team and 2017 MFJ*3 All Japan Road Race Championship winner and factory HRC rider Takumi Takahashi.

As the 2021 season approached, MIE Racing Honda Team announced that Leandro “Tati” Mercado would ride the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE in WorldSBK. The former 2014 Superstock 1000 champion had regularly demonstrated his ability to adapt fast and be quick aboard different machines and in various categories, including six seasons in the Superbike World Championship. Mercado was reconfirmed for the 2022 season and was joined by Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin.

In 2023, after announcing that Eric Granado would compete in the Superbike World Championship alongside reconfirmed Hafizh Syahrin, the Team inked a new deal with Malaysian energy company, PETRONAS, thus becoming the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team. The agreement with PETRONAS enabled Midori Moriwaki’s team to expand upon its projects and set itself some ambitious goals for 2023 and beyond. While the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team continued to compete in World Superbike with riders Hafizh Syahrin and Eric Granado, the 2023 season also brought a Supersport team, which fielded talented young riders Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin. At the Czech round, Mackenzie scored the team its first victory in WorldSSP, with Norrodin also placing top five.

For 2024, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team ‘promoted’ Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin to its Superbike ranks on the back of their positive 2023 performance. The team also hired experienced riders Khairul Idham Pawi and Kaito Toba as its Supersport representatives for the season. Just prior to the start of the season, the four riders and Midori Moriwaki unveiled the beautiful new livery of the Honda CBR1000RR-R and Honda CBR600RR machines. 

The 2024 season brought its challenges for both the Superbike and Supersport squads, but all four riders worked hard to develop their respective packages and score the best possible results over the course of the season. In the Superbike garage, Mackenzie scored points in both Assen races and qualified eighth at Estoril, but his season was not without its setbacks, a serious incident at his home round of Donington unfortunately sidelining the rider for almost two months. On the other side of the garage, Norrodin was unlucky to sustain more than one injury during the 2024 season. This meant that the Malaysian sadly missed several rounds and was unfortunately denied the chance to demonstrate his full potential as a result. In Supersport, Toba made good progress over the course of the year, regularly fighting for the top fifteen, scoring points across five rounds and achieving a best result of sixth in race 2 at Assen. The Japanese rider placed twenty-third at the end of his debut WorldSSP season. Malaysian rider Pawi finished three races inside the points zone in what was his rookie WorldSSP campaign and also represented the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team as a wildcard in the Malaysian Moto2 round.

For the 2025 race season, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team has reconfirmed Mackenzie, who will be joined by new-entry Zaqhwan Zaidi on the Superbike squad. In Supersport, the team will field Kaito Toba for a second consecutive season, in addition to category rookie Syarifuddin Azman.

Together with PETRONAS, MIE Racing intends to focus on wider-ranging, long-term projects as well as the development of an ‘academy program’ that will see the partners join forces to harness WorldSBK and WorldSSP as the platforms and catalyst for a Malaysian talent development program that seeks to promote and develop the talents of up-and-coming riders. This venture will enable PETRONAS to exhibit its expertise and conduct product testing and development with the team, which will help amplify the energy company’s premium products for the high-performance production Superbikes.

2019
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2020
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2021
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2022
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2023 - SSP
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2023 - SBK
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2024
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