Cycle News Staff | August 9, 2022
Honda blitzed the field to record their first Suzuka 8 Hours victory in eight years.
The factory Honda team of Tetsuta Nagashima, Takumi Takahashi and Iker Lecuona dominated the 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours, coming home a lap ahead of the Kawasaki Racing Team outfit of Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Alex Lowes, and the Yoshimura Suzuki SERT team of Gregg Black and Kazuki Watanabe.
The HRC team led the field away, but a safety car was deployed after just one lap when Kosuke Sakumoto, on the number 17 Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing CBR1000RR-R, took out Naomichi Uramoto on the SDG Honda Racing machine heading into turn 13.
With the safety car back in, it was an early tussle for the lead with Black, Takahashi and Haslam all dicing after the restart, before the HRC team in front started to stretch out a lead.
With the early battles over, strategic considerations soon came into question, with the Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) the first to pit on lap 26.
The F.C.C Honda France entry was next, Josh Hook swapping for Mike Di Meglio, then the SERT, Black changing with Watanabe, and finally on lap 28 the number-33 HRC machine came in with Takahashi swapping to Nagashima. Kawasaki briefly held the lead with Rea before it then pitted a lap later.
A second safety car came out at the two-hour mark after another crash, but it was unchanged at the front. Rea would then crash while navigating traffic coming into the chicane. The Brit was soon back up, and the team’s nearest rival, YART, soon was in for their next rider change, so positions were swapped as the number-37 BMW, lying second at this stage with rider Illia Mykhalchyk retiring with overheating problems.
There was late drama in the final hour, as YART with Marvin Fritz crashed out after tangling with the Akeno Speed Yamaha Superstock entry. Fritz managed to get the bike back to the pits but the podium chance was gone with Honda sweeping to its first race win in eight years from Kawasaki in second and Suzuki third.
Fourth went to the S-Pulse Dream Suzuki team from the TOHO Honda outfit. CN
| Pos. |
Rider |
Team |
Constructor |
Time/Gap |
| 1 |
Team HRC |
Team HRC |
Honda |
02:09.1 |
| 2 |
Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H |
Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H |
Kawasaki |
+1 lap |
| 3 |
Yoshimura SERT Motul |
Yoshimura SERT Motul |
Suzuki |
+2 laps |
| 4 |
S-PULSE DREAM RACING |
S-Pulse Dream Racing |
Suzuki |
+4 laps |
| 5 |
TOHO Racing |
TOHO Racing |
Honda |
+4 laps |
| 6 |
Honda Dream RT SAKURAI Honda |
Honda Dream RT SAKURAI Honda |
Honda |
+4 laps |
| 7 |
YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC |
YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC |
Yamaha |
+5 laps |
| 8 |
Team ATJ with JAPAN POST |
Team ATJ with JAPAN POST |
Honda |
+6 laps |
| 9 |
Team Kodama |
Team Kodama |
Yamaha |
+6 laps |
| 10 |
F.C.C. TSR Honda France |
F.C.C. TSR Honda France |
Honda |
+6 laps |
