Yamaha Austria’s first in class and tenth place overall finish at Sunday’s Suzuka 8 Hour round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has dramatically closed the gap between them and championship leaders Suzuki Castrol. Before the Japanese race, 2005 World Endurance Champions Suzuki Castrol had a commanding 44 point lead; they effectively had a race in hand over their rivals. That lead has now been reduced to just 21 points after Yamaha Austria brought home the full 30 points available at Suzuka, while Suzuki Castrol scored just seven points. Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se finished third in the points at their first Suzuka 8 Hour race to consolidate their third place in the championship standings and to continue their perfect record of scoring points at every race this season. Yamaha Phase One Endurance’s second in the points finish has lifted them to fourth in the championship, ahead of Kawasaki Bolliger and within one point of third place. All of the top five teams now have a mathematical chance of winning the championship. With two tough 24 hour races still to be run and 70 points still to be scored, the World Endurance Championship is wide open. FIM WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS TOP 10 Position/Number/Team Nationality/Bike/Class/Total/Zolder/Suzuka 1 1 Suzuki Castrol Team FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 SBK 115 25 7 2 7 Yamaha Austria Racing Team AUT Yamaha YZF-R1 SBK 94 20 30 3 12 Team Fagersjo-el Suzuki SWE Suzuki GSX-R1000 SBK 68 13 19 4 3 Yamaha Phase One Endurance GBR Yamaha YZF-R1 SBK 67 11 24 5 8 Bolliger Team Switzerland Kawasaki SUI Kawasaki ZX10R SBK 58 16 0 6 55 National Motos Honda FRA Honda CBR1000RR SBK 35 0 0 7 100 Team Endurance Moto 45 Suzuki FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 STK 28 2 5 8 666 Diablo 666 Bolliger Kawasaki GBR Kawasaki ZX10R SBK 26 0 11 9 44 Suzuki No Limits & R.T. Suzuki ITA Suzuki GSX-R1000 SBK 24 0 0 10 94 Yamaha GMT94 FRA Yamaha YZF-R1 SBK 22 0 0