This year’s Suzuka 8-Hour got off to a soggy start, eventually cutting the full running time to six hours and thirty-five minutes.
The TSR Honda team that included Jonathan Rea got off to a strong start and lead during the early stages of the race, however Kosuke Akiyoshi had a huge off at the 130R corner, breaking his femur in the process. It didn’t stop him from getting the Fireblade back to the pits though and the team eventually finished down in 40th.
The early exit of the TSR Honda allowed the Musashi team, winners of last year’s event, to claim its second Suzuka victory on the trot. The Japanese team comprised of Leon Haslam, Takumi Takahashi and Michael Van der Mark and finished a minute ahead of its nearest rival after 172 laps.
In second place was the Yoshimura Suzuki team of Takuya Tsuda, Randy de Puniet, and Josh Waters. The Suzuki legends team only manged six laps before Nobu Aoki crashed and was taken away to hospital.
This meant Kevin Schwantz didn’t get to turn a single lap in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour, a huge letdown for the American who claimed a podium in 2013.
Taking the final podium position was Team Kagayama – the team that Schwantz raced with last year.. Comprised of Noriyuki Haga, Dominique Aegerter, and Yukio Kagayama, it’s the second time in a row now that Team Kagayama has taken the final podium slot at Suzuka.
Pos. | Team | Bike | Riders | Diff. |
1 | MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO | Honda | Takahashi/Haslam/van der Mark | 172 Laps |
2 | Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance | Suzuki | Tsuda/Waters/De Puniet | +59.844 |
3 | Team Kagayama & Verity | Suzuki | Haga/Aegerter/Kagayama | 1 Lap |
4 | Monster Energy Yamaha with YSP | Yamaha | Nakasuga/Parkes/Brookes | 1 Lap |
5 | TOHO Racing with Moriwaki | Honda | Kunikawa/Yamaguchi/Kobayashi | 2 Laps |
6 | Honda Suzuka Racing Team | Honda | Hiura/Morii/Yasuda | 2 Laps |
7 | Honda Team Asia | Honda | Hook/Zamri Baba/Ekky Pratama | 3 Laps |
8 | Suzuki Endurance Racing Team | Suzuki | Delhalle/Nigon/Cudlin | 3 Laps |
9 | Yamaha Racing GMT94 Michelin | Yamaha | Foray/Gines/Checa | 4 Laps |
10 | Monster Energy Yamaha YART | Yamaha | Bridewell/Maxwell/Olson | 4 Laps |
11 | Honda Kunamoto Racing | Honda | Yoshida/Kojima/Kokudome | 4 Laps |
12 | Team Green | Kawasaki | Yanagawa/Watanabe/Fujiwara | 5 Laps |
13 | Bolliger Team Switzerland | Kawasaki | Saiger/Stamm/Sutter | 6 Laps |
14 | CONFIA Flex Motorrad 39 | BMW | Sakai/Takeishi/Oonishi | 6 Laps |
15 | Honda Escargot & PGGR & H-TEC | Honda | Kuboyama/Nakatsuhara | 6 Laps |
16 | Team Tras 135HP | BMW | Teramoto/Vallcaneras/Cho | 6 Laps |
17 | Patlabor Team JP Dog Fight Racing | Yamaha | Fujita/Kruger/Oikawa | 7 Laps |
18 | Kawasaki K-TEC Team38 PS-K | Kawasaki | Karita/Tsukamoto/Yamashita | 8 Laps |
19 | Team R2CL | Suzuki | Jones/Giabbani/Lagrive | 8 Laps |
20 | Honda QCT Meiwa Racing | Honda | Yamanaka/Ando/Kohara | 10 Laps |
21 | Winner Z-TECH & NCXX Group | Suzuki | Kunimatsu/Yoshida/Miyazaki | 10 Laps |
22 | Team Vital Spirit Shark Energy Drink | BMW | Okuno/Mukoyama/Tsujimoto | 10 Laps |
23 | Honda SAYAMA Racing | Honda | Kawaguchi/Endo/Yamashita | 11 Laps |
24 | EVA RT Test Type-01 SynergyForce Trick | Kawasaki | Deguchi/Izutsu/Leblanc | 11 Laps |
25 | Team Motors Events April Moto | Suzuki | Storrar/Savary/Fastre | 12 Laps |
26 | DOGFISH O-TEC Suzuka | Honda | Ouchida/Yoshimichi/Watase | 12 Laps |
27 | B-Square Racing & Nozuka | Kawasaki | Ohta/Harada/Sugawara | 12 Laps |
28 | Team Honda Technical College | Honda | Kodama/Furusawa/Kitaguchi | 12 Laps |
29 | Y’s distraction Dog House | Suzuki | Yamauchi/Iwatani | 13 Laps |
30 | All Japan Honda DREAM Central | Honda | Suzuki/Nakai/Takahashi | 13 Laps |
31 | Motobox Kremer Racing | Suzuki | Scherrer/Paavilainen/Miyajima | 13 Laps |
32 | Samurai 3601 | BMW | Yasutomi/Arai/Tani | 13 Laps |
33 | Honda Endurance Racing | Honda | Da Costa/Gimbert/Foray | 13 Laps |
34 | Clever Wolf Racing & NOI:Z | Yamaha | Nakai/Sawamura/Adachi | 14 Laps |
35 | au&Teluru Kohara RT | Honda | Watanabe/Nagashima/Itoh | 14 Laps |
36 | RS Garage Harada Himeji | Kawasaki | Harada/Tanaka/Nakayama | 14 Laps |
37 | Banner Racing H-K-C | Ducati | Kaneda/Dan/Honda | 15 Laps |
38 | Club Bali Racing | Kawasaki | Nakajima/Morimoto | 15 Laps |
39 | Honda DREAM RT Wakayama | Honda | Nishinaka/Shinjo/Kishida | 15 Laps |
40 | F.C.C. TSR Honda | Honda | Akiyoshi/Rea/Zanetti | 15 Laps |
41 | Team Flembbo Leader Team | Kawasaki | Prosenik/Bellucci/Derine | 15 Laps |
42 | Plus One MCRT & Solar Ichiban | Kawasaki | Imazu/Asahina/Tajima | 16 Laps |
43 | Team Hashimotogumi Akeno Speed | Suzuki | Inagaki/Tata Pradita/Kanayama | 17 Laps |
44 | Honda Kouyoukai DREAM RT | Honda | Kurayama/Ebinuma/Nakamura | 18 Laps |
45 | Y’s distraction Nergal | Yamaha | Tonari/Nakao/Sumi | 19 Laps |
46 | Team Hooters with Shota Saito | KTM | Okuda/Dairaku/Soma | 21 Laps |
47 | TAKEUP & Team JP | Suzuki | Tamura/Nagano/Kimura | 21 Laps |
48 | Hinoseiki Iwaki & T2 with fenice | Suzuki | Yamauchi/Takama/Kuno | 22 Laps |
49 | Honda EG Racing | Honda | Honda/Kuribayashi | 26 Laps |
50 | Hamamatsu Team Titan | Suzuki | Shimizu/Inuki/Ohshiro | 26 Laps |
51 | Motorrad Toyota Nagasaka Racing | BMW | Noda/Sasaki/Nakamura | 27 Laps |
52 | KTM Hamaguchi Bakuon Racing | KTM | Fujishima/Nakasako/Fukatsu | 29 Laps |
53 | Team Favorite Factory | Suzuki | Fukuyama/Kisamori/Sago | 29 Laps |
54 | Team Massa-R | Yamaha | Mogi/Okada/Toyoda | 31 Laps |
55 | Motobum with Ishigaki Island Tuna | Honda | Ooki/Matsukawa/Igarashi | 36 Laps |
56 | Honda BlueHelmets MSC Kunamoto | Honda | Ohashi/Mori/Otsuka | 42 Laps |
57 | FFree Ride IMT satoracing | Yamaha | Sato/Sato | 42 Laps |
58 | YamashinaKawasaki & BusinessRalliart | Kawasaki | Yamasaki/Matsumoto | 43 Laps |