Woodhall Spa motorcycle racing star, Steve Plater has joined a new Honda team and will contest the 2011 Endurance World Championship partnered by John McGuinness and Keith Amor. Honda Motor Europe has launched an all-new motorcycle racing team for an assault on the World Championship and to contest selected road-race meetings, bridging the gap between the two disciplines. The Honda TT Legends team will compete on the legendary Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade machinery in the 2011 FIM Endurance World Championship, together with world famous road-race meetings such as the Northwest 200 and the Isle of Man TT. The team will comprise of Lincolnshire rider Steve Plater, who claimed the British Supersport title with Honda in 2009, to contest the full 2011 FIM Endurance World championship. Plater also has a great deal of experience in Endurance World championship racing, including victory in the Albacete 6 Hour. The 40-year-old Englishman has also scored podium finishes at Le Mans, the Bol d’Or and competed at the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hour race in Japan. He will be joined in the new Honda team by TT legend, John McGuinness winner of no fewer than 15 races around the demanding Isle of Man TT course, and second only to former Honda hero, the late, great Joey Dunlop. The English duo will be joined by Scotsman Keith Amor for the 24hr endurance races at Le Mans and the Bol d’Or. The 30-year-old Scot, who is a roads specialist, has two TT podiums, and a Northwest 200 victory to his name. Alongside McGuinness, he will also contest selected road races, under the banner of Honda TT Legends. However, Plater will concentrate solely on the FIM Endurance World Championship series. The Honda TT Legends team will be run from Louth in Lincolnshire the same UK base that operates Honda (UK)’s British Superbike championship team and managed by the experienced former TT and endurance racer, Neil Tuxworth. A new experience for Plater will be his appointment as Race Coordinator and he will be involved in the day to day running of the team on the roads and the World Endurance championship. Steve said: “This has been under discussion for the past 18 months or so and has now come to fruition. I’ve been riding in the World Endurance championship for something like 12 years and finished runner-up twice so it’ll be good to go back there and win it with a good team! I won’t be doing any road racing next year that’ll just be John and Keith but I’ll still be involved with the team and helping wherever I can. I wanted to concentrate on the endurance side of things for 2011 and it’s great that Honda Motor Europe has come in to explore and this side of racing too.” Neil Tuxworth, Team Manager, Honda TT Legends said: The idea of this team came from Honda Motor Europe, who wanted to promote the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade in another class at world championship level. TT riders are older, more experienced and generally safer, which is what you want in endurance racing you need to keep that little bit in reserve. The bikes will be different, too, for the roads and WEC, where reliability becomes an issue, as well as speed. We’re particularly excited about the British round at Donington, where there will be a real festival atmosphere.” The 2011 race dates which are still provisional – are: April 17 Bol d’Or; May 29 TBA; June 26 Albacete; July 31 Suzuka; Donington Park TBA; Sept 25 Le Mans; Nov 6 Bahrain TBC; Nov 13 Doha.