Honda wants to be victorious again in the 8 Hours of Suzuka
Suzuka 8 hours
Suzuka Circuit, Japan
This weekend, on Sunday, July 28th, the legendary 8 Hours of Suzuka will take place, which will also mark the finals of the FIM World Endurance Championship 2018-2019. Honda will seek to regain the title of this prestigious race after winning the event a total of 27 times. The first Honda win goes back to the second edition of the race in 1979.
The Red Bull Honda team (# 33, Takumi Takahashi, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Stefan Bradl) was already on pace during the tests before the event and was only a fraction of a second outside the course record. Takahashi leads the All Japan Road Racing Superbike 1000 series. Kiyonari is a three-time WorldSBK race winner and current works driver for the Moriwaki Althea Honda team in the FIM Superbike World Championship. Stefan Bradl is the current HRC MotoGP test team rider and 2012 Moto2 World Champion. Red Bull Honda is one of 18 Honda teams that will compete on Fireblade machines over the weekend.
FCC TSR Honda France (Freddy Foray, Mike di Meglio, Josh Hook) arrives in Suzuka and has the chance to defend their world title they won on the same track a year ago. The team has set itself the goal of asserting itself against its EWC rivals, who are currently in third place in the championship standings with 109 points, just 23 points away from the leaders.
The Honda Endurance Racing Team is aware of the difficulties that the Suzuka 8 Hours will bring. The aim is to be the best European endurance team when the race ends on Sunday. Sébastien Gimbert, Randy de Puniet and Yonny Hernandez all have a lot of experience on the Suzuka Circuit, with de Puniet already on the podium twice.
MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO.Honda has also put together a strong line-up. The Japanese rider Ryo Mizuno, currently fourth in the All-Japan Road Racing Superbike 1000 series, is supported by the Spanish rider Xavi Fores – currently sixth in the British Superbikes BSB classification – and the Moto2 race winner Dominique Aegerter from Switzerland.
There are countless successes among this year’s Honda drivers: 38 Grand Prix victories and a total of 128 GP podiums are shared by drivers such as de Puniet, Aegerter, Bradl and Co.
The 42nd edition of the 8 Hours of Suzuka begins on Sunday, July 28th at 11:30 a.m. local time (BST +8 hours). For the latest news and updates on Honda at the 8 Hours of Suzuka, follow @HondaProRacing on Twitter.