Cycle News Staff | August 8, 2023
Team HRC proved unbeatable during the third round of the 2023 FIM Endurance World Championship, the 44th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race on Sunday, August 6.
The classic Le Mans start gets the 44th Suzuka 8 Hours underway.
Team HRC’s second straight 8 Hours victory with riders Takumi Takahashi and Tetsuta Nagashima and Xavi Vierge, saw them defeat TOHO Racing Honda* (Ikuhiro Enokido, Ryuichi Kiyonari and Takuma Kunimine) and SDG Honda Racing (Teppei Nagoe, Haruki Noguchi and Naomichi Uramoto), with F.C.C. TSR Honda France (Josh Hook Alan Techer, Mike Di Meglio) making it a 1-2-3-4 for Honda on home soil.
*TOHO Racing’s no. 104 motorcycle was disqualified from the results of the 44th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race. Scroll to end of page to see more.
For Spanish World Superbike rider Vierge, however, the focus is firmly on his debut EWC win alongside Japanese riders Takumi Takahashi and Tetsuta Nagashima, who recovered from a foot injury to take part, having not raced since April.
“For me it’s amazing because it’s the first time I made this amazing race and to get this win just feels incredible,” said Vierge. “I need to say thank you so much to my team and also to my team-mates, they did an amazing job. I learn a lot from them during all of the week and finally we are able to have a good pace. It has not been easy because in my second stint I had the safety car and I was one of the last in my group [when the race restarted] and it was so difficult to overtake without making mistakes. And the last two hours for them were really difficult with the rain. But they just made the correct decisions in every moment. It was a perfect strategy, it’s such a pleasure and I’m so happy.”
Karel Hanika is shattered after pushing his Yamalube YART Yamaha R1 halfway around the track in sweltering conditions to get it back to the pits. Hanika’s heroics earned him the Anthony Delhalle EWC Spirit Trophy.
Behind Team HRC, Yoshimura SERT Motul looked set to improve on its 2022 placing of third by claiming the runner-up spot, only for Gregg Black to crash nearing the seven-hour mark. Having led early on, Black’s Suzuki-powered team responded to late-race rain by switching the UK-born French rider onto wet weather tires.
Returning to the track for what would have been a double stint in the hot and humid conditions, Black slid off at the ‘S’ Curves and the team lost eight minutes in the pits while repairs were made. Sylvain Guintoli completed the race for the team in P12.
Yoshimura SERT Motul’s misfortunate let in TOHO Racing* for second onboard its Honda after it had clocked the third-fastest time in Saturday afternoon’s Top 10 Trial.
AutoRace Ube Racing Team relied on two riders—Britain’s Dan Linfoot and Japan’s Takuya Tsuda—following an injury to Hafizh Syahrin in pre-race testing to finish fifth behind F.C.C. TSR Honda France, which dropped out of contention with a sensor issue that contributed to a fall for Mike Di Meglio in the opening hour.
The BMW Motorrrad World Endurance Team scored some decent EWC points in seventh, one place behind Honda Dream RT Sakurai Honda. Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Showa finished eighth followed by S-Pulse Dream Racing-ITEC and Astemo Honda Racing Dream SI Racing, which completed the provisional top 10.
F.C.C. TSR Honda (1) retook the EWC points lead with fourth place at Suzuka.
Team Kawasaki Webike Trickstar finished 13th after it was delayed by two unscheduled pitstops. Honda Viltais Racing came home 14th as Motobox Kremer Racing equaled its previous best finish of 25th. KM99 was delayed by more than 20 minutes, however, when its Yamaha ran out of fuel.
F.C.C. TSR Honda France now leads the series by 14 points over YART, which finished 23rd following electrical gremlins on the Yamaha YZF-R1. The FIM Endurance World Championship now heads to the Circuit Paul Ricard finale from September 14-17.CN
Update August 8, 2023, following FIM EWC Suzuka 8 Hours, from FIM EWC:
During the Post-Race Technical Inspection on 7 August following the 44th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race on 6 August, motorcycle no.104 (TOHO Racing), which finished in second position, was subjected to a fuel tank capacity control by the FIM Technical Directors.
The control recorded a fuel tank overcapacity in contravention of article 2.6.6.10 of the 2023 FIM Endurance World Championship Regulations.
As is required, a secondary fuel tank capacity control was conducted by another FIM Technical Director with a fuel tank overcapacity also recorded.
The FIM EWC Stewards Panel convened to consider the evidence provided by the FIM Technical Director and declared motorcycle no.104 did not conform to the 2023 FIM Endurance World Championship Regulations and disqualified motorcycle no.104 from the results of the 44th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race.
TOHO Racing appealed the decision of the FIM EWC Stewards Panel, but this was subsequently rejected by the FIM EWC Appeal Stewards Panel.
As such, the decision to disqualify motorcycle no.104 has been upheld and the positions of all other finishers will be reclassified, while points will be reallocated to the eligible finishers.
The Final Ranking of the 44th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race and the provisional FIM Endurance World Championship points standings are available HERE.
