Italians on the Podium at Suzuka 8 Hour Team Amadeus X One Finish 39th Overall 2nd in SuperProduction Class The Suzuka 8 Hour is probably the toughest race of the world endurance championship season; a challenging circuit, extremely difficult climatic conditions with high temperatures and high humidity, and the strongest competition of the year from the Japanese manufacturers, whose official teams monopolise the leading positions in the race. With this in mind, the objective of the weekend for Team Amadeus X One was to avoid making any mistakes and to finish the race. The two riders, Tessari and Ricci, did an excellent job and their only misfortune was a loss of petrol from the fuel tank. This cost them a lot of time and many laps. Despite this setback the Yamaha YZF-R1 of Team Amadeus X One finished the race in 39th place overall (from 82 teams entered), in 11th place amongst the teams participating in the world endurance championship (scoring 5 vital championship points) and in second place in the SuperProduction class. More, from a press release issued by Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki: Yukio wins the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours! Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama has won the prestigious Suzuka 8 hour race in Japan! Riding a GSX-R1000, for team Suzuki Yoshimura with Jomo 34, he and fellow countryman Kosuke Akiyoshi took the chequered flag nearly one lap ahead of the HRC team of Tadayuki Okada and Carlos Checa, with Honda riders Yusuke Teshima and Shinichi Itoh third. Yuki and Kosuke’s win for Suzuki was the factory’s first win since 1983 and also broke Honda’s ten-year long winning streak. For many race fans, the Suzuka 8 hour race may just be one round of the Endurance World Championship, but for the Japanese manufacturers, who all put massive effort and expense into it, the race is more then just that – it is the race of the year! Afterwards, Yuki said, “This feels so good. To win this race against HRC is really rewarding because they are serious and here to win. They encourage us to race better and race harder. I want to thank all the fans for patiently waiting for Yoshimura Suzuki to win again.”