39th Coca-Cola Zero Suzuka 8 Hours
FIM Endurance World Championship
Suzuka Circuit, Japan
July 31, 2016
Race Results:
1. Yamaha Factory Racing Team (Katsuyuki Nakasuga/Pol Espargaro/Alex Lowes), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, Bridgestone, 218 laps, Total Race Time 8:00:40.124, 2:08.411
2. Team Green (Akira Yanagawa/Leon Haslam/Kazuki Watanabe), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, Bridgestone, -137.883 seconds, 2:08.805
3. Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance (Takuya Tsuda/Josh Brookes/Noriyuki Haga), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, Bridgestone, -1 lap, 2:09.070
4. YART Yamaha – Official EWC Team (Broc Parkes/Kouta Nozane/Takuya Fujita), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, Pirelli, -4 laps, 2:09.789
5. Moto Map Supply (Josh Waters/Nobuatsu Aoki/Yoshiniro Konno), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, Bridgestone, -4 laps, 2:11.147
6. Team Kagayama (Yukio Kagayama/Naomichi Uramoto/Ryuichi Kiyonari), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, Dunlop, -5 laps, 2:08.896
7. EVA RT TEST TYPE-01 Trick STAR (Osamu Deguchi/Hitoyasu Izutsu/Erwan Nigon), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, Dunlop, -5 laps, 2:11.580
8. Satu HATI Honda Team Asia (M. Zaqhwan Zaidi/Dimas Ekky Pratama), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Bridgestone, -6 laps, 2:10.990
9. Mistresa with ATS (Takahiro Nakatsuhara/Ryuta Kobayashi/Taro Sekiguchi), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Bridgestone, -6 laps, 2:11.747
10. au&Teturu Johara RT (Damian Cudlin/H. Ohkubo/K. Akiyoshi), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Dunlop, -6 laps, 2:10.277
11. TOHO Racing (Gino Rea/Tatsuya Yamaguchi/Ratthapark Wilairot), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Bridgestone, -7 laps, 2:09.789
12. Team R2CL (Aaron Morris/Sebastien Suchet), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, Dunlop, -8 laps, 2:12.702
13. Honda Endurance Racing (Julien Da Costa/Sebastien Gimbert/Freddy Foray), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Dunlop, -8 laps, 2:11.652
14. GMT94 Yamaha (David Checa/Niccolo Canepa/Lucas Mahias), Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, Dunlop, -8 laps, 2:10.959
15. Team Bolliger Switzerland (Horst Saiger/Michael Savary/Gianluca Vizziello), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, Pirelli, -9 laps, 2:12.792
16. Team Tras 135HP (Y. Kodama/R. Katahira/G. Johnson), BMW S1000RR, Superbike, -9 laps, 2:13.073
17. Motorrad Rennsport (K. Teramoto/Pedro Vallcaneras/T. Soma), BMW S1000RR, Superbike, -10 laps, 2:12.674
18. F.C.C. TSR Honda (PJ Jacobsen/Dominique Aegerter/Kazuma Watanabe), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Bridgestone, -10 laps, 2:09.034
19. Team April Moto Motors Events (Gregg Black/G. Fastre/Alex Cudlin), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, -10 laps, 2:12.493
20. Team Frontier (Kazuki Tokudome/Satoru Iwata/Tomoyoshi Koyama), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Dunlop, -10 laps, 2:12.448
23. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent Philippe/Anthony Delhalle/Etienne Masson), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, Dunlop, -13 laps, 2:11.447
61. Rosetta Motorrad 39 (Kenny Foray/Lukas Pesek/D. Sakai), BMW S1000RR, Superbike, Bridgestone, -19 laps, DNF, 2:10.567
62. Team SRC Kawasaki (Gregory Leblanc/Matthieu Lagrive/Jeremy Guarnoni), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, Pirelli, -56 laps, DNF, 2:11.132
65. MuSASHI RT HARC PRO (Michael van der Mark/Nicky Hayden/Takumi Takahashi), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, Bridgestone, -144 laps, DNF, 2:08.829
More, from a press release issued by Eurosport Events:
YAMAHA FACTORY TRIUMPHS AGAIN AT SUZUKA
Yamaha Factory Racing Team has won the Suzuka 8 Hours for the second consecutive year. Pol Espargaró, Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Alex Lowes steered the Yamaha #21 to victory, ahead of Kawasaki’s factory Team Green and Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance.
As in 2015, Yamaha Factory Racing Team swept the board at the Suzuka 8 Hours, claiming both pole position and a win. Pol Espargaró, Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Alex Lowes led the race for practically all of the 218 laps. Ryuichi Kiyonari, who got off to a brilliant start in the saddle of Team Kagayama’s Suzuki, was the only one to briefly wrest the lead out of their grasp. Head and shoulders above the others with a fastest lap of 2’08.411, Yamaha Factory Racing Team widened the gap with the other potential winners as the hours slipped by.
Second past the finish line, Team Green ran a superb race with riders Akira Yanagawa, Leon Haslam and Kazuki Watanabe. Team Green and Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance had waged a heated battle for the second step of the podium in the final few hours of the race, but Team Green managed to turn the duel to its advantage. 2009 was the last time there was a Kawasaki on the Suzuka 8 Hours podium. Eva RT Trick Star too had finished second that year. Musashi RT Harc-Pro was missing from the roll call of favourites. The Honda #634 had to withdraw because of engine failure.
FIM EWC championship thrown wide open
YART Yamaha Official EWC Team finished fourth – the best-placed of the FIM EWC championship teams – and is now back in the running for the world title, on par with Team SRC Kawasaki and just ahead of Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and F.C.C. TSR Honda. All three teams, likely candidates for a FIM EWC 2016 championship win, had a tough time of it at Suzuka. Team SRC Kawasaki looked settled in 10th place after a very focused start by Gregory Leblanc, Matthieu Lagrive and Jérémy Guarnoni. But a rear wheel axle issue forced them to withdraw six hours into the race. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team was among the top 10 in the first hour, but after a stop-and-go penalty for a jump start and Vincent Philippe crashing due to a passing backmarker, the team finished 23rd. F.C.C. TSR Honda started from 4th on the grid and did battle with the leading pack for the first few laps, but slid down the rankings after Dominique Aegerter crashed on the 5th lap. F.C.C. TSR Honda finished 18th.
Team April Moto Motors Events still leading the championship
Moto Map Supply were fifth past the finish line with Josh Waters, Nobuatsu Aoki and Yoshihiro Konno, ahead of another Suzuki – the Team Kagayama machine. Yukio Kagayama, Naomichi Uramoto and Ryuichi Kiyonari were slowed down by an especially laborious refuelling stop, followed by a flat tyre. Eva RT Trick Star finished 7th with riders Osamu Deguchi, Hitoyasu Izutsu and Erwan Nigon. This competitive Japanese team has announced its intention of taking part in the entire FIM EWC championship next season.
A tight group of four Japanese teams on Hondas finished in 8th to 11th place: Honda Team Asia, Mistresa with ATS, Teluru Kohara RT (who’d got Damian Cudlin on board) and Toho Racing. Team R2CL, Honda Endurance Racing, GMT94 Yamaha and Team Bolliger Switzerland finished in the top 15. GMT94 Yamaha had the best grid position of these four permanent FIM EWC teams, but a rear wheel issue followed by electrical problems slowed them down. Team April Moto Motors Events was 19th at the finish. The upsets that afflicted the favourites at Suzuka enabled this French privateer to hold on to the top spot in the provisional FIM EWC championship standings, with an 8-point lead over Team SRC Kawasaki and YART Yamaha Official EWC Team.
So the teams will have to do all their catching up in the last round of the season: the Oschersleben 8 Hours, scheduled for Saturday 27 August. With only 17 points separating the top seven teams, the last race of the season is set to be a thrilling one. The Oschersleben 8 Hours winner will pick up 35 points.
More, from a press release issued by Honda Endurance Racing Team:
Drama at the Suzuka 8 Hours for Honda Endurance Racing
Suzuka 8 Hours
Suzuka Circuit, Japan
Today the 39th “Coca-Cola Zero” Suzuka 8 Hours got underway at 11.30am local time at Honda’s home circuit, Suzuka in Japan. The Honda Endurance Racing team started the historic event from 24th place on the grid after a mixed start to the weekend.
Freddy Foray started the race for the team aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP and got to work quickly moving up through the field. As Foray came in for the team’s first pit stop Honda’s endurance specialists were sitting in 16th place.
Next out for the squad was Julien Da Costa, who also quickly got to work moving the Fireblade through the pack and by the second pit stop the team were tenth. Sebastien Gimbert was out next and as his team-mates before, he masterfully guided the CBR round the Suzuka circuit, getting into the top-ten in eighth place.
As the eight hours continued the riders all pushed hard and thanks to the super slick Honda Endurance Racing crew, they enjoyed speedy pit stops. It was looking hopeful for the Honda squad as with just an hour left they were comfortably sitting in eighth place, but then disaster struck when Da Costa came in from his final stint and after the routine final pit checks an oil leak was discovered.
Returning to the garage the Honda crew got to work to identify the problem and minutes seemed like hours as the team worked hard to identify the problem. A fault in the oil hose created a small leak and the team worked to get this fixed and got Gimbert aboard the bike and he set off to finish the race.
With the time in the box and an unfortunate stop and go penalty for pit lane speeding the Honda Endurance Racing team dropped back into 14th place. However, Gimbert pushed on and after eight hours racing and 204 laps completed the team crossed the line in 13th position.
The result sees the squad seventh in the Endurance World Championship standings; they were the fifth placed Honda team overall in the race and were the third-placed EWC permanent team to finish.
The Honda Endurance Racing team will now prepare for the fourth round of the Endurance World Championship, the Oschersleban 8 hours, which takes place on 27 August.
Freddy Foray 111
It is a shame to finish 13th as it’s been a lot of hard work and we were looking good for a top-ten finish, if we had finished there we could have scored better points towards the championship, but you know this is racing and endurance. Overall I am happy as the result is not so bad, we have some points and to get into the top-ten after our start position is positive. The team worked really hard to improve our times and I’m happy with how the race went. We pushed hard and we did the job it was just a shame to have that problem in the last hour, but we had a problem and so did a lot of the other permanent EWC teams so overall we’re not in a bad position. We now need to put our heads together and be ready to come back in a few weeks in Germany.
Julien Da Costa 111
Our finish in 13th is not so bad, we had a problem and perhaps without we would have finished in the top-ten, but you know anything can happen in racing. On the track we performance a lot better than in the week, we found a good setting on the CBR in warm up this morning and improved our lap times. It was a very tough race as it was very hot and we had to push hard to make our way through the riders. We have to keep fighting and also anything can happen at the next round, so we have this to look forward to and hope we can have a good result there.
Sébastien Gimbert 111
It has been a difficult race and was hard for me, as I have been suffering with some ligament problems in my arm. For me the stints were hard and long, but I pushed hard and I am happy for my team-mates, my team, for Honda and our sponsors – this result is good! We are walking away with points for the championship and we have progressed from where we were yesterday. It’s not been an easy weekend but starting 24th and finishing 13th is not so bad, of course to finish in the top-ten would have been the dream, but today it was not meant to be. We will now refocus and be ready for Oschersleban!
Jonny Twelvetrees
Assistant team manager
Well overall we played the Suzuka 8 Hours how we set out to: let the race come to us and the guys rode well and consistent and we were slowly working our way up the order. We started 24th and in the final stages were eighth so you can’t complain too much about that. Just in the final hour at the last pit stop the crew did their standard checks, found the oil level was low, so we had to get the CBR in the garage to find the cause. We found a small leak due to a fault with the oil hose and the guys fixed the problem quickly and got Sebastien out to finish the race. We were then struck with a stop and go penalty for speeding in pit lane, so that set us down the order again. The result from today puts us seventh in the EWC standings, which is a position back from where we were, but there are not that many points separating us from the top spot, so we now need to throw all we have at Oschersleban in a few weeks time. A huge thanks to the riders and also to the crew for all their hard work, today it was just not meant to be.
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
YOSHIMURA SUZUKI RACE TO SUZUKA 8-HOUR PODIUM
Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance took third place in today’s 39th Coca-Cola Zero Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance Championship round in Japan after an exciting battle that saw just a handful of seconds separate them from the second-step of the podium after a total of 218 laps of drama-packed action.
Team riders Takuya Tsuda, Nori Haga and Josh Brookes were just over 10 seconds behind race-long rivals Team Green; that saw Haga locked-in an incredible dice for second with Leon Haslam at mid-race distance where the lead change several times per lap once the pair got into backmarkers.
Japan’s most-prestigious motorcycle event saw three Suzuki GSX-R1000-mounted teams in the top-10: Moto Map SUPPLY riders Nobuatsu Aoki, Josh Waters and Yoshihiro Konno scored an impressive fifth position; and Team KAGAYAMA Suzuki’s Yukio Kagayama, Naomichi Uramoto and Ryuichi Kiyonari sixth place; both having suffered issues during the race.
Reigning World Endurance Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) were unlucky not to score points after an enforced penalty, capped-off with a high-speed crash early-on in the event, but fought back from 48th to 22nd and still hold fourth in the series, just nine points off the championship lead, which is still held by Suzuki GSX-R1000-mounted Team April Moto Motors Events (Gregg Black, Gregory Fastre and Alex Cudlin) – who scored two points in 19th position with a total of 208 laps.
The start at 11:30am local time under 28 degrees (air) and 37 degrees (track) temperatures saw two Suzuki’s in the lead: #17 Ryuichi Kiyonari got a perfect start for Team KAGAYAMA and finished the first lap leading #12 Tsuda on the Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance GSX-R1000.
Kiyonari kept his lead until the 18th lap when the eventual race winners Yamaha Factory Racing took over at the front. Kiyonari pitted on lap 26 and handed over to Kagayama, but a problem changing the tyre cost the team dearly and they dropped down to sixth.
With Yoshimura Suzuki holding third, SERT was given a ‘stop-and-go’ penalty for an alleged jump-start, so had to do a ride-through; and then the 14-time World Champions suffered a high-speed crash trying to make-up the time, when Philippe swerved to avoid another rider, but he picked-up his GSX-R1000 and rode back to the pits with a very damaged machine, complete with a punctured rear tyre; dropping down 48th position, but earning the applause of the fans for the team’s super-quick efficient repair to send rider and machine back-out on track.
Problems also hit the Kagayama Suzuki team on the 52nd lap when a problem with the front tyre forced Kagayama to have an extra pit-stop; again dropping the team down the leaderboard, but in the coming hours, they fought back heroically.
With 30 minutes to go, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Brookes held third, Moto Map SUPPLY’s Waters fifth, Kagayama – riding some impressive lap-times – seventh; and SERT’s Philippe 26th. Kagayama excelled in the closing moments as darkness fell, to move up another position; and SERT also reeled-off another four positions. Ultimately, they scored no championship points but kept the team’s 2016 World Championship – a potential 15th – alive with such a determined effort.
With the final race of the season taking place in Germany on August 27th for the Oschersleben 8 Hours, just 17 points separate the top-seven teams; and 35 points are available to the winner.
SUZUKI TEAMS HOUR-BY-HOUR:
Hour 1: 3 – Yoshimura, 6 – KAGAYAMA, 10 – SERT, 11 – Moto Map SUPPLY.
Hour 2: 3 – Yoshimura, 5 – Moto Map SUPPLY, 14 – SERT, 28 – KAGAYAMA.
Hour 3: 3 – Yoshimura, 4 Moto Map SUPPLY, 17 – KAGAYAMA, 48 – SERT.
Hour 4: 2 – Yoshimura, 5 – Moto Map SUPPLY,13 – KAGAYAMA, 41 – SERT.
Hour 5: 2 – Yoshimura, 5 – Moto Map SUPPLY, 12 – KAGAYAMA, 35 – SERT.
Hour 6: 2 – Yoshimura, 5 – Moto Map SUPPLY, 9 – KAGAYAMA, 29 – SERT.
Hour 7: 3 – Yoshimura, 5 – Moto Map SUPPLY, 7 – KAGAYAMA, 26 – SERT.
Hour 8: 3 – Yoshimura, 5 – Moto Map SUPPLY, 6 – KAGAYAMA, 22 – SERT.
Takuya Tsuda:
“This result happened because the team fought in unison, I’m not entirely satisfied with the result, but I can accept it. I want to make machine for next year and I will r-de with Noriyuki and Josh. I have my eyes set on victory.”
Noriyuki Haga:
“I was separated by Kawasaki because of my stint and I feel this is the cause we weren’t able to get second place. But Takuya and Josh made up for it: I’m grateful for their help. If there is a chance, I want to challenge again with the team next year.”
Josh Brookes:
“On a test, there is the choice of tyre, soft or hard. I choose the soft tyre like nobody else in the first stint, because the track temperature was higher than the test and the race week, but I couldn’t show the expected performance and I almost crashed three times; I couldn’t increase the machine’s pace. I choose the hard tyre in the next stint, but choose the soft tyre in the last. I feel sorry that I was not able to contribute more to the team.”
Yukio Kagayama:
“It is really disappointing that we could not stand on the podium today. Thinking about the efforts of mechanics, team staff, riders, we were able to get a second podium. We had problems and my heart was almost broken, but we discussed with the riders and confirmed ‘We won’t give up and we Challenge’ with full effort.”
Ryuichi Kiyonari:
“I always thought about riding with every effort after I decided to race in the team. I wanted to take the ‘holeshot’ after having been told I was the first rider on the bike. And I concentrated on that and I was with the leaders in the early stages. I was able to carry it out, but unfortunately we could not get the good result which we wanted because of the issues today. If it is possible, I hope to race with this team again and win.”
Naomichi Uramoto:
“I am frustrated with my poor performance. I imagined I could help more but I feel I did a bottom-end job. But I learned lots of things from both experienced riders during the test days, race week and today and I want to thank everyone for this experience.”
Yoshihiro Konno:
“ Josh and I were preparing for this Suzuka 8-Hours Endurance and raced in the All Japan Championship in SUZUKA 2&4 race and SUGO. I am very happy with the result. It was very hot and we had to endure it. The road surface temperature got lower, but our bike and tyres were good. Thank you for all our supporters and sponsors. I really appreciate the support we have had.”
Nobuatsu Aoki:
“I prepared in various ways for this race since last year, and it led to a good result. I had a hard time in the final qualifying, but it all came together today for us.”
Josh Waters:
“I really enjoyed the race and riding in a perfect team. I’m grateful for the support by Nobu-san and Yoshihiro. Because of it, I could give everything to my riding. The atmosphere of the team was the best and it was a really enjoyable race week. Thank you so much!”
Vincent Philippe:
“It has not been a great race for us. We got a penalty and when I was trying to avoid a rider crossing in front slowly, I slipped down. We tried to get the points, but we could not today. It is very disappointing but we will switch our mindset and prepare for the next race.”
Anthony Delhalle:
“It became very hot today – which we did not experience during the test days – and race week. Also we had an unlucky accident. We tried to get one single point in the end, but couldn’t. It was very difficult race today.”
Etienne Masson:
“It was very tough race. It has become the race to put a burden on Vincent.
I realise that I lack experience here, need to improve my skills and hope to help team mates more in future.”
Suzuka 8-Hour Final Result: 1 Yamaha Factory Racing Team (Yamaha) 218 laps, 2 Team Green (Kawasaki) 218, 3 Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance – Tsuda, Brookes, Haga – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 217, 4 YART (Yamaha) 214, 5 Moto Map SUPPLY – Waters, Aoki, Konno – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 214, 6 Team KAGAYAMA – Kagayama, Uramoto, Kiyonari – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 213, 7 EVA TEST TYPE-01Trick Star (Kawasaki) 213, 8 SatuHATI Honda Team Asia (Honda) 212, 9 Mistresa with ATS (Honda) 212, 10 au&Teiuru-KoharaRT (Honda) 212.