2019 Suzuka 8 Hour

Suzuka 8 Hour race report by Trevor Hedge

Images by David Reygondeau

One of the most eagerly anticipated Suzuka 8 Hour races in recent history got underway at 1230 (AEST) under hazy skies and on a hot and dry track. These conditions were in stark contrast to the torrential downpours that forced organisers to cancel the Top Ten final qualifying shootout on Saturday afternoon.

Yamaha Factory Racing Team started from pole in their quest for a fifth successive victory on the hallowed Suzuka ground, that is actually owned by Honda.

Japanese hot-shot Katsuyuki Nakasuga (2m05.922) was the quickest of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team trio, but team-mates Alex Lowes (2m06.629s) and Michael Van der Mark (2m07.306s), had also displayed good enough speed for the team to claim pole position, their combined time only 0.014s ahead of the second placed Kawasaki triumvirate.

The very much in-form trio of Kawasaki World Superbike riders had been led by Jonathan Rea, the fastest qualifier for the team on 2m06.495s, alongside Leon Haslam (2m06.706s), and Turk Toprak Razgatlioglu (2m06.698s).

Red Bull Honda had qualified third but Takumi Takahashi (2m06.200s) had actually been the second fastest qualifier overall behind Nakasuga. Takahashi’s team-mates Ryuichi Kiyonari (2m07.955s), and Stefan Bradl (2m07.106s), loaned their weight to the team effort that saw them qualify third.

MuSashi RT Harc-Pro had qualified fourth but were forced to start from pit-lane, after a 90-second penalty, due to a tyre rule infringement.

Yoshimura qualified fifth, led by Yukio Kagayama, then it was the Yamaha Austria Racing Team led by Broc Parkes and defending World Endurance Champions F.C.C. TSR Honda France led by Josh Hook.  The top nine qualifiers all on Bridgestone rubber.

They are away!

Taree youngster Josh Hook quickly worked his way through to the front of the pack as Sylvain Guintoli and Bradley Ray gave chase, while Leon Haslam made short work of Ray to move up to third place.

Katsuyuki Nakasuga, the fastest man here during practice and qualifying, then pushed Ray further back to fifth. Takumi Takahashi was in sixth place for Red Bull Honda in these early laps of the race ahead of Niccolo Canepa, Ryosuke Iwato and Yuki Takahashi.

Sylvain Guintoli swept through to the lead on lap three but Hooky came right back at the 37-year-old French MotoGP tester.

Yonny Hernandez then threw the Honda Endurance Racing Team Fireblade down the road but eventually managed to re-mount.

Ten minutes into the race it was Guintoli from Hook, but the Aussie youngster was starting to come under sustained attack from Nakasuga, Haslam and Takahashi, the latter of which had just put in a new fastest lap of the race.

Josh Waters had started the race for MotoMap Suzuki but 13-minutes into the race the Mildura based three-time Aussie Superbike Champion went down. He eventually made it back to the pits and continued the race.

Guintoli managed to pull away from Hook and 16-minutes into the race the Suzuki man had a two-second buffer. Hook was holding down second place but had a number of high-profile riders all over his tail.  Haslam briefly moved past Nakasuga to move up to third place, but the star Yamaha rider quickly reasserted his place in the pecking order. In reality though, nothing separated Hook from Haslam, Nakasuga and Takumi Takahashi as the race approached the 20-minute mark.

Niccolo Canepa had started the race for YART Yamaha and was running in sixth place ahead of Bradley Ray and Ryosuke Iwato. Yuki Takahashi had started the race for the KYB Moriwaki Honda he shares with Troy Herfoss and Tomoyoshi Koyama.

Safety Car!

Hook and his trio of fellow travellers then started closing on Guintoli only for the first safety car incident to unfold at the 26-minute mark. As per all World Endurance rounds there are actually two safety cars that join at different parts at the circuit, and importantly SRC Kawasaki France, the leaders in the World Endurance Championship, were behind the second of the safety cars, in 13th place.

Just as it seemed as though the safety car might have done Hook and F.C.C. TSR Honda a favour, Hook got mixed up in traffic at the re-start. He then did a brilliant job to quickly force his way back up to third place behind Nakasuga, while Guintoli again was off like a rocket. The Frenchman seemingly able to switch to full speed like a light switch, catching the others on the hop.

The re-start signalled disaster for the 333 VRD Igol Pierret Expériences squad when Xavier Simeon went down at Spoon Curve.

Leon Haslam pushed Hook back to fourth place as the race approached the 45-minute mark but it was again that same group of five riders running in relatively close formation at the front of the field. Guintoli from Haslam, Nakasuga, Hook and Takahashi.

Hooky was mixing it up well and racing with with some very well proven talent and was showing the way for Honda, as some of the other well supported Honda teams and riders tripped themselves up, the 26-year-old was looking fast and solid. The strength of his performance, in front of all Honda’s top management from across the corporate and racing spectrum, should raise his stakes somewhat in the Honda hierarchy of current racers.

Just over an hour into the race Nakasuga made his move past Guintoli. The leaders then started to encounter lots of lapped traffic, it was the Japanese hotshot that sliced and diced them like a Teppenyaki chef to stretch away from his pursuers. It also started to seem that a couple of that leading quintet had backed off a little, presumably for fuel preservation purposes, playing the long game…

Or was it the ones with the real speed up their sleeve had just pulled the pin to end their session in a fast fashion and hand over the best possible position to their next team-mate in-line….

First Pit Stop!

The first two of the leading five to pit were Josh Hook and Sylvain Guintoli. Taking the controls of the F.C.C. TSR Honda from Hook at the 67-minute mark was Mike Di Meglio, while Kazuki Watanabe clambered aboard the Yoshimura Suzuki. Interviewed after getting off the bike, Hook explained that he had some front end chattering issues late in his stint, and that he had to save a few front-end loses.

Race leader Katsuyuki Nakasuga came in on the next lap and handed over the Yamaha Factory Racing Team YZF-R1M to Alex Lowes.  Inheriting the race lead when Nakasuga pitted was Takumi Takahashi on the Red Bull Honda, ahead of Leon Haslam.

Haslam was the next of that early leading group to come in but amazingly the Red Bull Honda was able to stay out for yet another lap. Haslam handed over to Jonathan Rea while Takahashi eventually handed over to Stefan Bradl.

As they settled back into the swing of things after the pit stops, and the new order started to shake out, it was Stefan Bradl leading by two-seconds over Alex Lowes.

F.C.C. TSR Honda France’s Mike Di Meglio was five-seconds behind the race leader, but ahead of Jonathan Rea and Kazuki Watanabe.

Once Alex Lowes got up to speed though he quickly reeled in Stefan Bradl, and was right on the tail of the Red Bull Honda in no time, before then backing off his pace, seemingly content to follow and conserve both fuel and tyres, but knowing that he can turn the speed on at any given moment to sprint to the front.

Jonathan Rea then slotted the Kawasaki Racing Team past Di Meglio on the F.C.C. TSR Honda to move up to third place. The World Superbike Champion quickly pulled away from the 31-year-old Frenchman.

YART had fared well from the pit-stop with Niccolo Canepa handing over to Marvin Fritz and the team ranked a strong sixth as the race approached the 90-minute mark.

Bradl and Lowes hit a lot of lapped traffic around 15-minutes later, Lowes threaded the needle better and took the lead from Lowes.

At the 1hr50-min mark Team SRC Kawasaki, the World Endurance Championship leaders, made their second pit stop and David Checa took the controls with the team down in 19th place.

It was more than 20-minutes later when race leader Alex Lowes handed over the reins of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team YZF-R1M to his Pata Yamaha World Superbike team-mate Michael Van der Mark.

Freddy Foray took the controls of the F.C.C. TSR Honda from Mike Di Meglio with the team still ranked in fourth place.

Red Bull Honda came in a couple of laps later and Bradl did not hand over to Ryuichi Kiyonari, the third member of the team, and the slowest qualifier amongst the team, but instead Takumi Takahashi went out for his second stint.

Troy Herfoss took the controls of the KYB Moriwaki Honda with the team in ninth place while Broc Parkes was also now out for his first stint with the YART Yamaha in sixth place. Herfoss managed to improve the standing of the KYB Moriwaki squad up to eighth place during his session.

With the situation shaking out after that second round of pit stops, and almost 2.5-hours into the race, Red Bull Honda were looking very strong. Leon Haslam had momentarily got ahead of Takumi Takahashi but the Honda man then put in a new fastest lap of the race to propel the Fireblade back into the race lead.

Traffic was causing all sorts of delays for the hard chargers up front. Some passes were harder or softer, depending on the situation at hand, but it also meant that the race pace slowed and varied, with even some of the leading riders forced back into the 2m10s from time to time.

Three Hours Down

At the three-hour mark, Takumi Takahashi still headed the field on the Red Bull Honda. His buffer, with 37-per cent of the race now behind that Fireblade SP2, was more than eight-seconds ahead of the Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10RR beneath Leon Haslam.

Michael Van der Mark was holding down third place on the Yamaha Factory Racing Team YZF-R1M and was now right behind Haslam.

Freddy Foray had not managed to equal the impressive early pace of Hook and the F.C.C. TSR Honda was now over a minute behind the race leader, and starting to be stalked by Yukio Kagayama on the Yoshimura Suzuki.

Broc Parkes was sixth on the YART Yamaha before coming in just after the three-hour mark and handing over to Niccolo Canepa.

Ten-minutes later Haslam handed the Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10RR back over to Jonathan Rea.  Michael Van der Mark pitted the Yamaha Factory Racing Team YZF-R1M on the same lap and handed over to Katsuyuki Nakagsuga.

A lap later Josh Hook was back out on the F.C.C. TSR Honda and had his head down to try and keep Yoshimura Suzuki at bay.

Nigon throws the SRC Kawasaki down the road!

While Hook was in the pits, Erwan Nigon crashed the World Endurance Championship leading Team SRC Kawasaki ZX-10RR in a mistake that likely would have massive consequences for the outfit.

SRC Kawasaki’s demise put the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team of Gregg Black, Etienne Masson and Vincent Phillipe in the box seat for FIM World Endurance Championship honours.

SERT were running in ninth place, and if they were to remain in that position at the chequered flag the FIM WEC crown would be theirs. Should they falter, and F.C.C. TSR finish well, then Hook and his Honda team-mates would be crowned World Endurance Champions for the second year running….

To confuse things a little further though Nigon had eventually got the SRC Kawasaki up and running again and rejoined the race in 16th place. It won’t be over until it is over!

Bradl back on the leading Red Bull Honda

Just after the 3hr-20mins mark Stefan Bradl was back out on the leading Red Bull Honda. The German had a lot to live up to after what been an absolutely brilliant stint by Takumi Takahashi.

Jonathan Rea and Katsuyuki Nakasuga were on track together in a battle over second and third place. The pair dropping in 2m-07s laps and fighting each other tooth and nail like it was a sprint race, and doing it while negotiating plenty of lapped traffic. Their respective pit garages would be either biting their nails or not able to watch the monitors… The duo were six-seconds behind Bradl as he got back up to speed after just getting back on the bike, but were more than a full minute ahead of fourth placed Hook.

Rea and Nakasuga continued to lap quicker than Bradl, it was not long before they were all over the back of the Red Bull Honda.

Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki Racing Team into the lead

Jonathan Rea made short work of Stefan Bradl and also got the better of Naksuga. Both riders got ahead of Bradl but it was Rea that managed to make a break after some decisive moves through traffic, combined with a metronomic series of fast laps, that saw the Kawasaki start to pull away at the front of the field. It was a deeply impressive performance by Rea, pin-point accurate, fast, and smooth.

2.5 hours to go and things tight at the top

Fortunes ebbed and flowed over the next stints but after more rider swaps, and with 2.5 hours to go, things were still remarkably tight at the top. Jonathan Rea was back in the saddle again after a stint from Haslam, while Stefan Bradl had just climbed back aboard the Red Bull Honda after another brilliant stint from Takumi Takahashi.

Michael Van der Mark was in the hot seat aboard the Yamaha Factory Racing Team YZF-R1M. As the new riders bedded back in to their bikes, tyres and got back up to speed, it was Jonathan Rea leading from Van der Mark by 1.5-seconds, with the Dutchman holding a similar gap over third placed Stefan Bradl.

Freddy Foray was still the highest ranked of the FIM World Endurance regulars with the F.C.C. TSR Honda in fourth place, a lap behind the race leaders, but with an 11-second buffer over the Yoshimura Suzuki of Yukio Kagayama.

Broc Parkes was on the YART Yamaha and a further 40-seconds behind but with 30-seconds over Javier Fores on the MuSashi RT Hard-Pro Honda. The #634 Honda had been made to start from pit-lane, 90-seconds after the rest of the field due to a tyre infringement earlier in the weekend, but had done a remarkable job to be holding down seventh place.

Six Hours Down!

Jonathan Rea was leading from Michael Van der Mark by three-seconds, with Stefan Bradl now a further six-seconds down in third place.

Freddy Foray was a lap down in fourth place but was still 13-seconds ahead of Yukio Kagayama on the Yoshimura Suzuki. Broc Parkes was still out on the YART Yamaha but further behind in sixth place.

Now time for the sixth pit stop

With just under two hours remaining, some of the leading teams started to pit for their sixth stop. The first of the leaders to pit was Jonathan Rea on the Kawasaki, the Northern Irishman again handing the controls of the ZX-10RR to Leon Haslam.

The third member of the Kawasaki Racing Team, Toprak Razgatlioglu, preferred a much different set-up and seating position to his team-mates. Rather than compromise the settings of the machines, the team chose to concentrate on the more similar requirements of Rea and Haslam, thus Razgatlioglu was left to watch on as his Kawasaki team-mates did a sterling job on the ZX-10RR.

The next of the leaders in to the pits was the Yamaha Factory Racing Team YZF-R1M with Michael Van Der Mark handing over to Katsuyuki Nakasuga.  There was a problem with the fuel cap on the Yamaha that caused a small delay for them during the pit stop.

F.C.C. TSR Honda were in shortly after with Josh Hook back in the saddle for his final stint on the Fireblade.

Stefan Bradl was the last of the top ten to pit, staying out for a lot more laps than most of his competitors.

Ninety minutes to go!

Stefan Bradl came in to hand the race leading Fireblade to Takumi Takahashi with 90-minutes remaining in the race. Was there any remote chance that they could stretch a 90-minute final stint out of that Red Bull Honda….? Or would they need a splash and dash…?

With the whole field now having made their sixth pit-stop, the race order shook itself out again and when all competitors were back up to race speed, Leon Haslam had a significant 11-second lead over Takahashi, while Katsuyuki Nakasuga was a further nine-seconds behind in third place.

Nakasuga was dipping into the 2m07s, when traffic allowed, and looked determined to use his stint to claw back as much ground as possible on the Red Bull Honda and KRT ZX-10RR in front of him.

Josh Hook was in fourth place, a lap down on the leaders, but with a 16-second buffer over Yoshimura Suzuki’s Sylvain Guintoli.

Takahashi gradually reeled in Leon Haslam. The Kawasaki man was carrying a wrist injury, that was forcing him to ride with a slightly less natural style, which was then bringing on some niggling shoulder discomfort. Without it would he have the speed to match the charging Takahashi? Probably not, but his shoulder pain certainly wouldn’t be helping. It took Takahashi almost half an hour to pull back that 11-seconds, but now Red Bull Honda were back in front with just over sixty minutes to go.

One hour to run!

Once past Leon Haslam, Takumi Takahashi quickly started pulling away from the Kawasaki mounted Briton. Katsuyuki Nakasuga was also closing in on Haslam, the gap was down to seven-seconds before Haslam then pulled into the pits for a tyre change, a full tank of fuel and a new rider in the shape of reining World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea.

During his earlier session the Northern Irishman had exhibited stunning speed, superior to that of Haslam, and it was now going to be interesting if Rea could start reeling Takahashi back in.

Just as that battle was shaping up though the Red Bull Honda headed into the pits with just over 45-minutes remaining. Takahashi got a new set of tyres and a tank of fuel but remained on the motorcycle.

Nakasuga had entered the pits at the same time and handed over to Alex Lowes. Now with Rea on the Kawasaki, Takahashi on the Honda and Lowes on the Yamaha, we had three of the fastest qualifying riders all on track, and all with a sniff of victory.

Jonathan Rea was straight down to business and clocking in 2m06s laps as he chased Takahashi, the gap with 43-minutes remaining was three-seconds.  Lowes was a further 20-seconds back on the Factory Yamaha. All it would take though was a bad run of traffic, or a safety car, and it would be back to nothing between them…

The #10 Kawasaki piloted by Jonathan Rea took the lead with 36-minutes remaining just as Takahashi got well and truly baulked and held up by a lapped rider. It cost the Red Bull Honda man a couple of seconds and allowed Rea to immediately sprint away from the Fireblade.

In an instant it was nearly all over for Rea as a back-marker came down after clipping what looked like an errant muffler on the circuit, his sliding bike missed taking Rea out by inches. That would have been a very cruel blow but with 30-minutes remaining it served as a stark reminder that very little separates triumph from tragedy, and that anything could happen before this race was over.

Just as wrote that line, the rain flag came out as minor patches of precipitation started to be detected around the circuit. This being Japan, that could quickly turn into a torrential downpour, or could even rain at one part of the circuit, and be dry at another part of the track…

Defending World Endurance Champions F.C.C. TSR Honda were still ranked fourth overall, with 24-seconds over Yoshimura Suzuki. Their poor start to the season though meant that disasters would have to befall Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, or Team SRC Kawasaki France would need to make another major mistake for the F.C.C. TSR Honda squad to lift the title again.

20 minutes to go!  KRT have it in the bag….

Jonathan Rea had been an absolute dynamo and the seemingly tired Takahashi did not look to have enough fight left in him.  The Yamaha of Nakasuga steadily reeled the Red Bull Honda in and pushed Takahashi back to third place. Meanwhile Jonathan Rea now had a 20-second lead over his pursuers and looked a shoe-in to take Kawasaki’s second ever Suzuka 8 Hour win.

Once Nakasuga was past a tiring Takahashi he pulled away from his countryman with ease.

With ten minutes remaining Rea led by 21-seconds, and Yamaha Factory Racing had more than 20-seconds over Red Bull Honda.

F.C.C. TSR Honda were still fourth and the leading team amongst the FIM Endurance World Championship regulars.  The rain was holding off, but darkness had fell.

As they negotiated the now dark circuit the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team GSX-R1000R started billowing smoke, a lot of smoke. Just as SERT looked as though they would claim the World Endurance Championship, their chances had gone up in smoke.

Etienne Masson remained circulating on the track way too long before eventually pulling off onto the grass. Disaster at the final juncture, and despite an early crash in the race Team SRC Kawasaki France were now looking certain to claim the World Endurance crown and F.C.C. TSR Honda would be promoted to second.

Jonathan Rea goes down!

With 90-seconds left in the race Jonathan Rea went down, presumably on the oil spilled from the SERT bike. The red flag then came out, which meant the results would go back a lap, but can you win the Suzuka 8 Hour if you finish it on the ground…?

Would Yamaha take an unlikely victory at the final hurdle?

There was confusion in all the team garages with Kawasaki Racing Team unsure if they had won. Jonathan Rea looked as though he believed he was the winner, but most of his team did not look quite so sure. Likewise, a lot of the personnel in the Yamaha Factory Racing Team had confused looks on their faces…

Yamaha announced as the winners!

There were some delays to the podium presentations as some consternation still reined up and down pit-lane. Yamaha though did not wait too long before they brought a pre-arranged wreath celebrating their fifth victory in succession.

All the commentary, both circuit and television, believed that Yamaha had won the 2019 Suzuka 8 Hour.

But, a lengthy time later….

KRT announced the winners!

After a confused, and somewhat farcical delay to the results, in this 42nd edition of the Suzuka 8 Hour, Kawasaki were once again announced as victorious as Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam piloted the KRT ZX-10RR to victory. The third member of the team, Toprak Razgatlioglu, did not ride at the event but was still part of the winning team. Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam were back at the hotel and after ordering dinner they received a phone call telling them that they had been named as the race winners…

Both Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam already had previous Suzuka 8 Hour victories under their belt, but both men scored their previous wins with Honda, and 2019 marks their first Suzuka victory on a Kawasaki.

This Suzuka 8 Hour win is also the first for Kawasaki since their previously one and only victory 26-years earlier, when Aaron Slight and Scott Russell piloted a ZX-7RR to victory in 1993.

Jonathan Rea

“I cannot believe what is happening really. From being dejected and feeling that everything was out of our hands, I had already gone back to the hotel, said goodbye to all the guys, with lots of tears. I was in the restaurant already, ordering dinner, when my mechanic Uri called me and said, ‘Hey, are you sitting down?’ I thought he was going to ask me to go to another restaurant – but he then told me we had won the 8 Hours. I think common sense prevailed in that one. I have no words because I am really emotional and happy. The strategy was to work on fuel consumption and race consistency and make no mistakes. I feel we executed that quite well although I got quite tired and cramped at the end. But we prepared the best way possible with the limited time we had. I am so proud to be part of the project and what an effort from KRT, KHI, KMJ who prepared for this race in two tests. During the race it is like hell, the hardest race you can ever imagine, but getting a result like this almost makes me want to come back for more. The emotional roller coaster is unreal.”

Leon Haslam

“From everyone being in tears to getting the news sitting in a restaurant that we actually did win it, I have no words to describe how I feel. The Suzuka 8 Hours is always one of the hardest races of the year. The effort we put in to win, from us, the team and Kawasaki means it has been a big roller coaster of emotion. When the oil went down and the situation happened at the end; words cannot describe the lows we had. But when the good news came through, the highs were just as high. In the second half of each stint I really struggled physically but the bike was working well. I am so happy and I want to thank Kawasaki for this opportunity; also the whole team, Toprak and Johnny, and we pushed as hard as we could. It is a shame that we did not get to stand on the top of the podium but the result is in and we have won the Suzuka 8 Hours.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu

“Today I am very tired after watching the race for eight hours! But I am very happy for Johnny and Leon because that was an incredible job today. We are all happy and thank you to everyone. For me this was my first time here – and our team won.”

Guim Roda, KRT Team manager

“This race has been outstanding and I think for the public, the fans and everyone it has been the most incredible Suzuka 8 Hours. Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki – the riders and the factories – have been amazing everybody and they all saw a great race. The best point is that we finally got the victory after Johnny made an incredible last riding stint. The strategy we planned was very good so at the end we got the victory.”

Suzuka 8 Hour Video Highlights

Yamaha second

After some of the riders being interviewed as the winners, and Yamaha team management celebrating what they thought had been victory, the trio of Michael Van der Mark, Alex Lowes and Katsuyuki Nakasuga ended up being named as second place finishers.

Katsuyuki Nakasuga

“I was so happy to be able to ride with these guys again at Suzuka, and I think we had a really enjoyable and fulfilling race week overall. We all gave a 100% effort, and we were able to work together really well in sharing the R1 for our stints. The entire team and staff, not just us riders, showed how strong we are in the race today.”

Alex Lowes

“I love the Suzuka 8 Hours and to get the opportunity to ride with Michael rather than against him is nice, as he’s a tough opponent to beat normally. I always enjoy riding with Nakasuga-san too, as we are friends as well as teammates. So this is always a special race for me and today we all did our best. We pushed right up until the end, we never gave up chasing and it was a lot of fun. Thanks to my teammates, and to everyone in the team, for all the hard work they put in to chasing success here in Suzuka.”

Michael van der Mark

“It’s a bit of a strange end to what was an incredible race today. I think all three of us did the best we could today. We had quite similar pace but, of course, there are also areas in which we can look to improve, which is what we’ll do before returning next year when, hopefully, we can fight for the win once again.”

Wataru Yoshikawa – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“Our rivals came back with stronger potential this year, so I knew it was going to be a tough fight from the beginning, and today it really was. With our machine, the riders helped us out so much in getting it set up just right for the race, so I want to be in a position to return the favour to them next year. I’m so thankful to the fans and to our sponsors for lending us their cheers and support for this year’s Suzuka 8 Hours.”

Red Bull Honda third

A spent Takumi Takahashi climbed the podium for Red Bull Honda alongside Stefan Bradl. The pair shared all riding duties after the third rider in the team, Ryuichi Kiyonari, failed to show competitive pace during practice and qualifying.

F.C.C. TSR Honda were a brilliant fourth but it was not enough for them to successfully defend their World Endurance crown. Josh Hook was the standout performer once again for the squad.

Yoshimura Suzuki placed fifth and MuSashi RT Harc-Pro Honda took sixth ahead of YART.

Troy Herfoss scored a top ten finish with KYB Moriwaki Honda placing ninth, just behind S-Pulse Dream Suzuki.

Aaron Morris finished 21st with R2CL Suzuki while Josh Waters finished 26th with MotoMap Suzuki.

Josh Waters

“Obviously I am very disappointed. I had a crash from the start, but the team did an amazing job all weekend and it showed in qualifying and how fast we were able to go on a stock bike. Our pace throughout the race was the fastest of all the stock bikes. Big thanks to Nobu, to everyone in the team, they have done a fantastic job. So next year, we will win. Third year lucky!”

SRC Kawasaki France World Endurance Champions

SRC Kawasaki France had done enough to lift the World Endurance Championship crown, winning the title over defending champions F.C.C. TSR Honda. Yamaha took the constructors title in the FIM World Endurance Championship.

Jeremy Guarnoni

“It is unbelievable to win the championship and for me it has been the first time that I have done the full season – and we won it. We deserve it because after the Bol d’Or it was a really difficult moment for the team and me – for my head. Of course we are a bit lucky at the end but we deserve it because we made the job in Le Mans and I have two unbelievable team-mates. The team itself and the bike were – all season – really good. This weekend was a bit more difficult but Suzuka is always a strange race. We are really happy.”

Erwan Nigon

“What a race and what a championship also. We had all weather conditions, 24-hour races are hard and early in the 2018/2019 season we had a victory at Le Mans which is always a good sign for the rest of the championship. We pushed a lot all through this year and in the end we won the championship. First time for me and I want to say thanks to the team because they worked a lot all winter to adjust the bike to make good race settings. Many thanks to my partners, my family and my incredible team-mates. We are friends also so it is a really good feeling to win it with them.”

David Checa

“I do not know what to say. In my first year with Kawasaki and Gilles’s team I am world champion again. It is like a dream. When you change a team it is not easy, when you change a brand it is not easy, but my team and my team-mates did a really good job. The atmosphere in the team is incredible. We are friends and for me this is the main point. When we talk and share everything for sure you push more. I believed that we could win the championship all year. The Bol d’Or was frustrating because we had a problem two hours from the end but we continued to believe. When you dream, and believe, the dream can come true – and we are world champions. Now I want to win the next Bol d’Or for Kawasaki, my team-mates and my team. We are world champions today but we have to think of the future and that future now is the Bol D’Or.”

2019 Suzuka 8 Hour Results

FIM World Endurance Championship Standings