Takahashi rewrites his own record, Honda makes it five in a row at the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours

Honda HRC won the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours ahead of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team and the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. An eighth win in the event for Takumi Takahashi, and a piece of history for BMW, on the podium at Suzuka for the first time.

Nobody has ever done better, and the margin keeps growing. Takumi Takahashi claimed his eighth Suzuka 8 Hours win on Sunday, extending a record he already owned. Sharing the #30 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP with Jonathan Rea and Somkiat Chantra, the Japanese rider carried Honda HRC through 188 laps of a race that ended behind the safety car due to heavy rain. For Honda, the numbers speak for themselves: a fifth consecutive win on home soil, a 32nd overall in the event.

The threat, in the end, came from elsewhere. Long glued to the HRC's pace, the AutoRace Ube Racing Team faded in the closing stages and crossed the line fifth, just less than two seconds shy of YART following a 10-sec stop and go penalty for incorrect pitstop procedure. Second place went instead to the Yamaha Factory Racing Team of Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Jack Miller and Andrea Locatelli, 1'34.280 back.

The other story of the day is for #37 of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. The M 1000 RR of Markus Reiterberger, Steven Odendaal and Michael van der Mark finished third, handing BMW the first podium for an European manufacturer in Suzuka 8 Hours history.

Yoshimura SERT Motul, penalised during the race for an incorrect refuelling procedure, eventually finished sixth, two laps down.

On the misfortune side, the F.C.C. TSR Honda France never recovered from a difficult opening half and ended up 26th overall, twelve laps adrift.

NCXX RACING edges a tight Superstock battle

In Superstock, the #52 NCXX RACING with RIDERS CLUB wins after a tight fight: the #25 Team Étoile BMW fell 14 seconds short, while the #77 Wójcik Racing Team Honda completed the class podium, just one one second off second place. The #38 Champion-Hert Powered by MRP BMW finished fourth, on the same lap.

A fine day too for Team SUZUKI CN CHALLENGE. The experimental GSX-R1000R, running sustainable fuel and recycled parts, came home seventh overall and won the Experimental class.

Takumi Takahashi (Honda HRC #30): “First of all, I’m very happy that our team won this race. As you know, (Katsuyuki) Nakasuga is retiring this year and I definitely did not want to lose to him here. It’s a pity that he’s going, but I’m glad I made it: winning this race was one of my goals for that reason. The conditions were complicated and I’d like to thank all my teammates. Somkiat did not race today, but he helped a lot, so it is a win of the three of us together. A great team effort. And Jonathan, a world champion, so much faster than me in the wet, an amazing performance. We really couldn’t have done it without each of us. I would also like to thank the team for the pit stops: the tyre changes, everything went so smoothly. Very happy to take my fifth consecutive win here at the 8 Hours.”

Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha Factory Racing Team #21): “The Suzuka 8 Hours looks like a crazy race. Last year it was really hot, this year completely under the rain, and eight hours in the rain gets quite complicated. Probably nice to watch from the sofa, but on the bike it was never easy to manage, every single lap. Overtaking slower riders, some oil on the track from a broken bike... it’s always complicated. In the dry it’s a bit more predictable, you can manage things better, but in the rain you never know. In the end I think we did an amazing job. Race Direction did a really good job too, honestly. I was quite surprised they decided to send out the safety car, especially at that late stage, but the rain was really heavy, especially in Spoon 1 and 2. I was already feeling bad there, the bike was spinning a lot, it was really dangerous. We saw bikes starting to crash again, so it was probably the right choice. We finished second again this year, but I think we deserved it because we worked well in these conditions too. Let’s keep pushing, I’m really happy to be here as a Yamaha rider. And big congratulations to the winners, because as always they did an amazing job.”

Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team #37): "Honestly, my last stint was a bit boring because we stayed a long time behind the safety car. Before that I did a double stint and I was enjoying it a lot. I was having fun with the bike; the track conditions weren’t changing much, and even when they did, we were really fast. It was nice to be quick and fight for the podium. At the end, Race Direction made the right call to bring out the safety car as it had already been quite tricky for a few laps. I was waiting for it, because there was just too much rain. It’s a shame, because it could have been a nice end to the race, but safety first. It’s just nice to finish on the podium with my team, with BMW. We’ve been working really hard all winter, and since the day we arrived here all three of us have been very fast. It’s a nice present for the whole team and for BMW to be on the podium at Suzuka."

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