For the start of this year’s race, heavy rain really put a damper on the start and caused a delay. The Suzuka 8 Hours was more like the Suzuka 6 Hours, as only six hours and thirty-five minutes could be fit into the race’s time slot. Still, FIM Endurance World Championship fans were able to see lots of great racing action, which unfortunately saw F.C.C. TSR Honda out early while in the lead.
Kosuke Akiyoshi gave F.C.C. TSR Honda its early lead, and strong ride from teammate Jonathan Rea seemed to lock in their position. But on his next ride, Akiyoshi took a very big spill at the 130R corner. Was able to ride his Honda CBR1000RR back into the pits with a broken femur, Akiyoshi was the hero of the race for his team, but F.C.C. TSR would end up settling for 40th overall.
That crash left the door wide open for MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO team to cruise into the lead, which at the end of the race was sitting on the top step of the podium at Suzuka for the second year in a row. The Japanese team, which was comprised of Takumi Takahashi, Leon Haslam, and Michael van der Mark put in an impressive performance at the Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance race, though only had roughly a minute’s gap at the finish line to show for it.
The fastest lap of the race goes to MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO as well, as Michael van der Mark put down a 2’08.620 lap time.
The Yoshimura Suzuki Shell ADVANCE team of Takuya Tsuda, Randy de Puniet, and Josh Waters took second place, which was a very much welcomed result after the Yoshimura Suzuki Legends team didn’t get past Lap 6, where Nobu Aoki crashed and had to be taken to the hospital.
Because of Aoki’s crash, Kevin Schwantz didn’t get to turn a single lap in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour — a huge disappointment since the American GP legend found a spot on the podium at last year’s event.
Schwantz’s team from last year, Team Kagayama took third. Comprised of Noriyuki Haga, Dominique Aegerter, and Yukio Kagayama, it’s the second time in a row now that Team Kagayama has finished third at Suzuka.
In the FIM Endurance World Championship, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) was the top team to finish, posting an eighth place result. Comprised of Anthony Delhalle, Erwan Nigon and Damian Cudlin, SERT’s outing at Suzuka was a strong one, especially considering all the strong Japanese teams that enter the Suzuka 8-Hour.
Still, with the French team’s retirement at the Bol d’Or, SERT ‘s championship hopes appear to be zero, especially as the Yamaha Racing GMT94 and Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) finished ninth and tenth, respectively.
Continued below on Page 2 for full results table & summary video
FIM Endurance World Championship Series Round 2
“Coca-Cola Zero” Suzuka 8 hours World Endurance Championship Race
July 27, Suzuka Circuit (Mie pref)
| Pos | Team / Riders | Machine | Lap |
| 1 | MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO. Takahashi / Haslam / van der Mark |
Honda CBR1000RR | 172 |
| 2 | YOSHIMURA SUZUKI SHELL ADVANCE RT Tsuda / Waters / de Puniet |
Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 172 |
| 3 | Team KAGAYAMA & Verity Haga / Aegerter / Kagayama |
Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 171 |
| 4 | MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA with YSP Nakasuga / Parkes / Brookes |
Yamaha YZF-R1 | 171 |
| 5 | TOHO Racing with MORIWAKI Kunikawa / Yamaguchi / Kobayashi |
Honda CBR1000RR | 170 |
| 6 | Honda SUZUKA Racing Team Hiura / Morii / Yasuda |
Honda CBR1000RR | 170 |
see the rest of the results below the video.
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
For full galleries of photos from this race, please visit: Shogunmaster Photography – Suzuka 8 Hours 2014
