Peter Lyon
August 12, 2025
It was a championship day for Honda and Honda Racing Corporation USA as they clinched both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship titles.
The championship win is the first for Honda in the manufacturers’ title chase since 2021 in a dominant season where Honda teams and drivers have won 12 of 15 races in 2025—with two races still remaining.
Honda’s 12 wins have come on all four primary track types the IndyCar series races on, road courses (Thermal, Barber, Indy GP, Road America, The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca), street circuits (St. Petersburg, The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Detroit), short ovals (World Wide Technology Raceway, Iowa Speedway) and speedways—where Honda scored their 16th Indianapolis 500 victory.
While it has been a season largely dominated by Alex Palou, all five of the Honda IndyCar teams—Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Global, Meyer Shank Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan and Chip Ganassi Racing—notched points to make the 2025 manufacturers” championship possible for Honda.
This is Honda’s seventh championship in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and 11th in American Open Wheel competition. Honda’s previous titles came in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005 and a four-year consecutive run from 2018 to 2021.
Alex Palou’s championship is the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s third consecutive championship title and fourth in five years, as well as the 20th Honda-powered drivers’ title in American Open Wheel competition.
This year has been a dominant season for Palou, winning eight races on the year and on all major circuit types the IndyCar series races on—including claiming his first Indianapolis 500 victory.
Palou joins rarefied air with his fourth championship win, tying legends like Dario Franchitti, Sebastien Bourdais, and Mario Andretti.
Twelve wins in a single season is a record for Honda in the current generation of NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition. Although Honda and HRC have both drivers’ and manufacturers’ championship wrapped up, two races still remain in the 2025 season to further the record-breaking performance.
CARLIST THOUGHTS
It’s great to see Honda doing so well in Indycar—already having chalked up 12 wins to clinch the championship—of which the brand has captured no less than 10 titles over the last three decades. Enthusiasts cannot help but recall Honda’s dominance of F1 back in the late 80s through the early 90s with McLaren Honda with Senna and Prost battling it out.
