30th ‘Coca Cola Zero Suzuka 8 Hours’ A pivotal race in the World Championship 18 permanent teams will go head-to-head on 29th July in Japan at the ‘Coca Cola Zero Suzuka 8 Hours’ race, the third leg of the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship. The 30th edition of this legendary endurance race is a special highlight of the racing calendar and is often a pivotal point in the World Championship race. At the top of the Championship standings is the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT), the favourites among the permanent teams. SERT has only a single Championship point advantage over Kawasaki Motor France but will have the opportunity to stretch its lead at Suzuka as Kawasaki Motor France will not be on the start line. The Suzuka 8 Hours will not, however, be straight forward for SERT. In this unusual race they will be up against a number of impressive Japanese official and semi-official teams who, although racing outside of the Championship (only Superbike, Superproduction and Superstock categories are racing for points), will be difficult adversaries, often racing high performance machines. Seventh at Suzuka in 2005, SERT only managed to finish 38th last year following three crashes. The best performance of the permanent teams in 2006 was by Yamaha Austria Racing who were placed 10th. Of the other permanent teams such as Bolliger Team Switzerland, Yamaha Phase One Endurance, Suzuki Sweden, Diablo 666 Bolliger Kawasaki and Endurance Moto 45, many have already had their first attempt at Suzuka, while others will be braving the circuit for the first time. Two permanent teams have been replaced. RT Racing & Moto Virus have taken the place of No Limits & MCS Racing on a Suzuki. Eric Monot and two Japanese riders Naoki Yamada and Yosuke Sumi will be at helm. Eurosport Benelux have partnered with the FCC TSR team. Satoru Iwata and Yoshiyuki Sugai will be guiding the Honda with Heinz Platacis. Many will remember that FCC TSR won the ‘Suzuka 8 Hours’ in 2006 with Takeshi Tsujimura and Shinichi Itoh. There is also Japanese participation in the Qatar Endurance Racing Team with Shohei Karita and Naoki Shimizu assisting Mashel Al Naimi. Finally, another absence from the starting line will be Genous Team which has forfitted this Championship leg due to a lack of budget. Thirty points are on offer to the winner at Suzuka in the Superbike, Superproduction and Superstock classes.