DENSO Corporation has decided on its two-wheel motorsports sponsorship plan for the 2006 season. It will support the Honda LCR team, which plans to make its debut in the Moto GP class, the top of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (WGP), with Australian Casey Stoner as rider, as well as support for other teams.

The Honda LCR team changed its entry class from the 250cc to the Moto GP class, and DENSO will supply its spark plugs for a Moto GP class vehicle for the very first time. Also, it continues supporting Tomoyoshi Koyama, who belongs to Malaguti Ajo Corse in the 125cc class.

By supplying its spark plugs to the two-wheel racing teams, DENSO intends to improve recognition and sales of its Iridium Power spark plugs. DENSO continues to develop more advanced technological products by taking advantage of its experience accumulated through motor sports.

Details of the sponsorship are as follows:

Honda LCR (Rider: Casey Stoner, Australia)

DENSO continues to support Team LCR, which is making its debut in the Moto GP class. This is the first time that DENSO spark plugs will help power a Moto GP class vehicle. DENSO continues to develop and supply high-performance plugs - DENSO racing plugs for Honda LCR's exclusive use - based on its experience and skills in two-wheel and four-wheel races and other different motor sports.

Casey Stoner is a promising young rider, who finished second in the world 250cc class last season and is expected to perform well this year.

The DENSO Iridium Power logo will be located on the front portion of the lower cowling and the knuckle on the upper cowling of the vehicle. The logo will also be on the rider's jacket and other places as usual.

Malaguti Ajo Corse (Rider: Tomoyoshi Koyama, Japan)

DENSO continues to support Malaguti Ajo Corse and Tomoyoshi Koyama, 2005 WGP 125cc Rookie of the Year. Koyama became a Malaguti works rider this year. DENSO supplies Malaguti AJO Corse with Iridium Racing spark plugs made exclusively for racing.

Reference information - Iridium PowerSpark plugs using an iridium alloy centre electrode with a 0.4mm diameter. This is the world’s smallest diameter on a spark plug. The following three types of Iridium Power spark plugs are now available.

• Iridium Power: A high-performance spark plug using an iridium alloy centre electrode with the world’s smallest diameter at 0.4mm.
• Iridium Tough: A Spark plug using a platinum ground electrode to achieve longer operating life while maintaining the high performance of Iridium Power (limited distribution).
• Iridium Racing: A high-performance spark plug tuned exclusively for racing (limited distribution).