Suzuka 8H – Motorcycle Endurance: Honda wins the Suzuka 8H 2012 –

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Motorcycle endurance: Honda wins the Suzuka 8H 2012

Suzuka 8H - Motorcycle Endurance: Honda wins the Suzuka 8H 2012 -

The Honda FCC TSR crew (Rea, Akiyoshi and Okada) won the 35th edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours, the third round of the 2012 Motorcycle Endurance World Championship. The first manufacturer places two CBR1000RRs ahead of the Yamaha YZF-R1 of the GMT 94 and its pilots David Checa and Kenny Foray.

The Honda FCC TSR crew (Rea, Akiyoshi and Okada) won the 35th edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours, the third round of the 2012 Motorcycle Endurance World Championship. The first manufacturer places two CBR1000RRs ahead of the Yamaha YZF-R1 of the GMT 94 and its pilots David Checa and Kenny Foray.

Home double for FCC TSR Honda

Sometimes considered a "Franco-French" discipline, Motorcycle Endurance takes on a whole new dimension when it stops at Suzuka. At home, the Japanese manufacturers make it their duty to win and to this end support prestigious and experienced local teams..

Worthy of true Superbikes, the motorcycles involved are sharpened like Katana and we do not hesitate to call on top pilots. In 2001, Honda lined up Valentino Rossi (a little djeun’s on his way to the GP 500 title …) and Colin Edwards (reigning Superbike world champion) on a VTR 1000 "typed" to the core !

The "Italian-American" duo – which we will find a little later at Yamaha in MotoGP – then won at Suzuka ahead of another big name in motorcycle racing, the Brazilian Alex Barros. You said "prestigious plateau" ?

In short, Suzuka is an extraordinary event and oh so delicate for the few European teams making the trip to Japan. Under these conditions, the superb third place acquired by the GMT 94 last Sunday behind the Honda FCC TSR and Toho with Moriwaki is enough to command respect: it is the first time since 1990 that French drivers have reached the podium in Japan. !

Forced to run two after the elbow operation of their teammate Matthieu Lagrive, David Checa and Kenny Foray managed to hoist the Yamaha R1 on the third step of the podium after a hell of a fight in the last half hour with the Kawasaki Eva RT Trick Star. Carlos Checa’s brother won with a bang, just before the engine of his opponents’ ZX-10R failed.

"Today we had the chance with us. Everything went wonderfully", analyzes Chistophe Guyot, the GMT team manager. "But behind this podium, there is a real technical and human performance. The Yamaha R1 has once again demonstrated its enormous potential. Bravo to Michelin who leaves Suzuka with a record pole position and a well-deserved podium. Thank you to the Japanese for their hospitality. Thank you to Yamaha Japan for welcoming us as if we were a team of factory. Kenny and David achieved a feat ".

Marked by crashes and retirements, this 35th edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours notably saw the SERT Suzuki move from the outpost to 15th place after Vincent Philippe left the track. A hard blow for the defending constructor, coupled with the disappointment of not seeing the GSX-R 1000 entered by the famous trainer Yoshimura reach the finish line following an oil leak …

Ultra-favorite following its pole position in 2’06.845, the Yamaha of the YART also experienced a nasty disappointment following the fall of Nakasuga after half an hour of racing. In contention for second place, the S1000RR of the BMW France team was once again the victim of a technical problem: betrayed by an electronic sensor, the team that won it downgraded to 9th place..

Disappointed, the team still saves the furniture in Japan knowing that the 4-cylinder was "stuck" at 9000 rpm at the end of the race: Erwan Nigon, Sebastien Gimbert and Damian Cudlin have indeed reduced the gap with the leader of the championship (the SERT) at thirteen points, despite this frustrating…

"I am very disappointed, we are all very disappointed. We had a good race and our result does not reflect it", breathes Nigon. "It will remain a big disappointment in my career. To finish second here at Suzuka with all these top pilots would have been fabulous. I know very well that sport is like that, we can only have joys. We won in Qatar and that been great, we are blaming it today. The championship is still open, there are two races left. We will continue to fight to score the most points and aim for the title ".

A fall by Ryuichi Kiyonari after five hours of racing also deprived Musashi RT Harc-Pro of a possible victory. For its first participation in the Japanese event, the permanent Suzuki team of Team R2CL finished 24th with Jerôme Tangre, Amaury Baratin and Raphaël Chausse on the handlebars of the GSX-R n ° 2.

In the end, two CBR1000RRs mounted on Brigestone tires won the 2012 Suzuka 8 Hours ahead of a Yamaha in Michelin. Brilliant winner, the Honda FCC TSR team (Jonathan Rea, Kosube Akiyoshi and Tadayuki Okada) signed the double at Suzuka with four laps ahead of the Fireblade of the Toho Racing with Moriwaki team piloted by Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Yuki Takahashi and Yusuke Teshiima.

These 8 Hours of Suzuka revive the championship somewhat: the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) remains in the lead with five points over the Honda TT Legends team (10th in Japan), but GMT 94 is now ahead of the BMW Motorrad France team at the third place and back in the title race two rounds from the end of the championship.

 
Next stop of the World Endurance Championship on Saturday 11 August for the 8 Hours of Oschersleben in Germany. Stay connected !

2012 Suzuka 8 Hours Results

  1. F.C.C. TSR HONDA F.C.C. TSR HONDA HONDA
  2. TOHO RACING WITH MORIWAKI TOHO RACING WITH MORIWAKI HONDA
  3. YAMAHA – GMT 94 – MICHELIN – YAMALUBE
  4. MOTO MAP SUPPLY MOTO MAP SUPPLY SUZUKI
  5. HONDA SUZUKA RACING HONDA SUZUKA RACING HONDA
  6. HONDA DREAM RT SAKURAI HONDA DREAM RT SAKURAI HONDA
  7. TELURU & EMOBILE * KOHARA TELURU & EMOBILE * KOHARA HONDA
  8. TEAM MOTORRAD 39 TEAM MOTORRAD 39 BMW
  9. BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE THEVENT BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE THEVENT BMW
  10. HONDA TT LEGENDS HONDA TT LEGENDS HONDA
  11. BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND KAWASAKI
  12. TEAM SUGAI RACING JAPAN WITH HOKKAIDO SABEDER TEAM SUGAI RACING JAPAN WITH HOKKAIDO SABEDER DUCATI
  13. RS-ITOH & ASIA RS-ITOH & ASIA KAWASAKI
  14. HONDA RYOKUYOUKAI KUMAMOTO RACING TEAM HONDA RYOKUYOUKAI KUMAMOTO RACING TEAM HONDA
  15. SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM SUZUKI
  16. TEAM EBATA TEAM EBATA HONDA
  17. DOGFISH O-TEC SUZUKA & PLEASING DOGFISH O-TEC SUZUKA & PLEASING HONDA
  18. TEAM TRAS-BMW S1000RR TEAM TRAS-BMW S1000RR BMC
  19. IWATA RACING FAMILY IWATA RACING FAMILY YAMAHA
  20. TEAM DDD NOI: Z & CLEVER WOLF TEAM DDD NOI: Z & CLEVER WOLF YAMAHA
  21. HONDA EG RACING HONDA EG RACING HONDA
  22. JIB CLAYMORE JIB CLAYMORE SUZUKI
  23. HONDA DREAM RT WAKAYAMA HONDA DREAM RT WAKAYAMA HONDA
  24. TEAM R2CL TEAM R2CL SUZUKI
  25. HONDA TEAM ASIA HONDA TEAM ASIA HONDA

Provisional classification of the EWC World Endurance Championship 2012

  1.  SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM 60 points
  2. HONDA TT LEGENDS 55
  3. YAMAHA – GMT 94 – MICHELIN – YAMALUBE 49
  4. BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE THEVENT 47
  5. SRC KAWASAKI 40
  6. BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND 39
  7. YAMALUBE FOLCH ENDURANCE 37
  8. F.C.C. TSR HONDA 35
  9. TOHO RACING WITH MORIWAKI 29
  10. MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA – YART 28

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