Brookes scores Yoshi 8 Hour gig
Yoshimura Suzuki has announced its three-rider line-up for the 36th Coca-Cola Zero Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance Championship second round in Japan next month.
Suzuki Factory MotoGP test rider Nobuatsu Aoki will ride the Japanese company’s GSX-R1000 alongside Takuya Tsuda and British Superbike Championship contender Josh Brookes in Japan’s biggest and most-prestigious motorcycle event that takes place from July 25-28th.
Yoshimura, the only team to have competed in every race since its inception in 1978, is aiming for its fifth victory after narrowly missing-out in 2011 and being forced to retire from last year’s race.
Said Team Manager Yohei Kato, Grandson of Yoshimura founder Pops Yoshimura: “We decided to return to the All Japan Championship this year with the main aim of winning the Suzuka 8 Hour World Endurance Race. Our experiences in current race events and tuning know-how, which we have learnt through our WSBK engine development, is a major weapon for us this year.
“Our riders Takuya Tsuda, Nobuatsu Aoki and Josh Brookes are all skilled riders with lots of experience and we are sure they will all put in great performances at the race. We’d like to thank everyone for their support and we will do our best to get our fifth victory at the Suzuka 8 Hours this year. We have built our best machine ever and we are aiming for victory.”
Aoki, who has just completed two tests for the Suzuki MotoGP Test Team at Catalunya and Motorland Aragon in Spain, said: This is my 10th-Anniversary Suzuka 8-Hour race. I tested the new-specification 2013 GSX-R1000 race bike at Suzuka earlier this month and it performs very well. There is good power delivery and it has good chassis balance. I’m really looking forward to joining Takuya and Josh and we know we have the right bike and team to win the race!”
Australian Brookes, who currently holds second place in the highly-competitive British Superbike Championship, and who also became the fastest-ever Newcomer in his debut ride at the Isle of Man TT this month, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have been asked to join the Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team at this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour. I have had an ambition to win at Suzuka since watching GPs as a kid, when all the Grand Prix greats like Doohan, Rainey and Schwantz stopped mid-season to take part in the event.”
Tsuda, the Superbike-class Rookie in the team, said: “It is my first year racing in the Superbike series and I have had the opportunities to experience many new things from racing and testing with the Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team. I have a better understanding of the Yoshimura GSX-R1000 now and I am making a lot of progress on the bike. It is a big step in my racing career and I am so motivated to race as a rider at the Suzuka 8-Hour.
“Both my team-mates are very experienced and the Yoshimura team has built the best race machine for us and I will do my best to get the victory at Suzuka.”
