Press release | 17th June 2019
The 42nd edition of the 8 Hours of Suzuka will take place in Japan on Sunday July 28th
This is a press release from the FIM Endurance World Championship …
40 days before the 8 Hours of Suzuka, the 2019 race will be an unforgettable race. The official Japanese factory teams start the race with a clear goal: With the victory, the hopes of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team for a fifth victory in a row are dashed. The 42nd edition of the 8 Hours of Suzuka is also the finale of the FIM EWC season. Team SRC Kawasaki France, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and FCC TSR Honda France are the title contenders.
The Yamaha Factory Racing Team, unbeaten at the 8 Hours of Suzuka since 2015, are once again setting up their winning line-up for 2017 and 2018. Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark ride a Yamaha Tech 21 Shiseido in the historic colors of the first factory machine used by Yamaha in 1985 and are aiming for a fifth win in a row.
Kawasaki’s return
The other Japanese manufacturers are joining the Yamaha Factory plans. Kawasaki returns to Suzuka with a KRT factory team. After the Kawasaki Racing Team stood on the podium as Kawasaki Team Green for the past three years, this year’s Kawasaki Racing Team is aiming for victory with drivers Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Toprak Razgatlioglu. The three riders are among the top 7 of the FIM Superbike World Championship. Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam took 3rd place in Suzuka with the Kawasaki Team Green last year.
Yoshimura Suzuki upholstery lineabove
Regarding Suzuki, Yoshimura has announced a number of seasoned drivers. Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli, Suzuki’s MotoGP test rider, will be in the saddle with two Japanese riders, Kasuki Watanabe and veteran Yukio Kagayama, who is making a comeback in the Yoshimura colors. He finished second at Suzuka in 2011 before joining his own team, Kagayama, which monopolized the third step of the podium from 2013-2015.
Lots of Hondas in the wake of HRC
The Honda colors will dominate at Suzuka. After returning to Suzuka racing last year, Honda HRC lined up Takumi Takahashi, the current leader in Japanese superbike JSB1000 and three-time Suzuka 8 Hours winner, Ryuichi Kiyonari, the FIM Superbike World Championship rider with four Suzuka victories His merit and HRC’s MotoGP test rider Stefan Bradl for driving the # 33 Red Bull Honda. The Honda fleet also includes Musashi RT Harc-Pro Honda, Au Teluru RT, KYB Moriwaki Racing, Honda Asia Dream and Honda Dream RT Sakurai, not to mention FCC TSR Honda France who still have the chance to finish the 2018-2019 period to win FIM EWC titles and Honda Endurance Racing who will seek retaliation after the withdrawal in Oschersleben.
Three world title contenders in the Japanese arena
Three teams compete for the title of the FIM World Endurance Championship at the 8 Hours of Suzuka. In the run-up to the Grand Final, the SRC Kawasaki France team led the table with 132 points, ahead of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team with 127 points and the FCC TSR Honda France with 109 points. The aim is to compete against the best Japanese teams on their homeland and use the opportunity that the season finale offers to score 150% of the regular points and secure the world title. The winner of the 8 Hours of Suzuka will receive 45 points.
The 42nd edition of the 8 Hours of Suzuka will take place in Japan on Sunday July 28th.