Endurance World Championship: Honda HRC’s Takumi Takahashi and Johann Zarco delivered a heroic performance to win the 46th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race, taking victory in Japan’s round of the FIM Endurance World Championship as a duo rather than a three-rider team.
In extreme heat and punishing humidity, the Honda HRC pair were forced to complete more individual riding stints than their rivals but managed the increased physical and mental demands to perfection to score Honda’s fourth consecutive Suzuka victory and its 31st in total. It was also a record-extending seventh win for Japanese star Takahashi and a second in a row for French MotoGP racer Zarco following his debut EWC triumph last season.
Yamaha Racing Team marked its return to the Suzuka 8 Hours for the first time since 2019 by finishing second, 34.243s behind Honda HRC, with Andrea Locatelli, Jack Miller and Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
Suzuki-powered Yoshimura SERT Motul completed the podium for the second year running after Dan Linfoot hit back from a fall to demote SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda rider Yuki Kunii in the closing stages following an intense battle that raged for much of the race. Kunii had led for the opening 40 minutes after audaciously sweeping ahead of pole-sitter Takahashi through Nippo Corner having drawn alongside exiting the “S” Curve on lap one.
By finishing fifth, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team heads to next month’s Bol d’Or season finale one point behind Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team in the race to win the FIM Endurance World Championship for Teams after the Austrian squad suffered a rare retirement.
Team Étoile claimed its maiden victory in the Dunlop-equipped Superstock category to move level on points with National Motos Honda FMA.
Following the race, Gregg Black dedicated Yoshimura SERT Motul’s third place to Luca Guintoli, the son of his former team-mate and former EWC champion Sylvain, who passed away during the week.
Speaking afterwards, Zarco said: “It’s always a good race when you can control a gap. But doing it with two [riders] is really difficult, plus it’s too hot, you sweat a lot and the recovery time is too short. It’s tough sometimes when you go back on the bike but in the end the pace was quite good. We got two safety car [periods] and that always change a bit the game but we could keep an advantage. Thanks to Takumi because he’s always doing the job every stint and that’s so impressive.
“I try to do the same and I hope next year we’ll be three because we’ll be better. It’s a race I enjoy and having one of the best bikes is a pleasure to ride. It’s a nice week to do, you need to control your energy but it’s my special holiday to come in Suzuka.”
Zarco reckoned the superior fuel consumption of his Honda CBR100 RR-R-SP played a key role in Honda HRC’s success. He said: “Honda did a good bike. I think our biggest advantage was this fuel consumption and making only seven stops made the biggest difference for the win today.”
BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team was in third place after two and a half hours of running when its hopes of a first Suzuka podium for a European manufacturer were dashed in hugely frustrating fashion. World Superbike racer Michael van der Mark was onboard the number 37 machine when he headed to the pits after a footrest worked loose. However, just as he was turning into the pitlane, it got lodged within his BMW’s back wheel, leading to the Dutchman suffering heavy fall and his team spending more than four minutes making repairs.
Falls for Jason O’Halloran and Marvin Fritz dropped Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team out of contention after it had run as high as fourth. A reported electronic fault hampered its recovery before a further fall for Karel Hanika, caused by an engine issue, ended YART’s unbroken run of podiums that stretched back to the 2024 season opener.
Having impressed by going third fastest in the Top 10 Trial on Saturday, AutoRace Ube Racing Team took sixth following a slow pitstop earlier in the race. TeamATJ with docomo Business finished seventh with Kawasaki Webike Trickstar eighth to continue its points-scoring run.
ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 improved upon its 10th place scored in 2024 by finishing a fine ninth, one place ahead of Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo. ERC Endurance took a strong 11th, while Motobox Kremer Racing crossed the line in 23rd.
The race was a little more than one hour old when 8 Hours of Spa Motos winner F.C.C. TSR Honda France retired with engine failure shortly after Taiga Hada had taken over from Alan Techer. Tati Team AVA6 Racing was also unable to go the distance due to an engine issue.
Home Superstock joy for Team Étoile
BMW-powered Team Étoile converted the Superstock pole into its first win in the Dunlop-supplied FIM Endurance World Cup courtesy of Japanese trio Motoharu Ito, Hikari Okubo and Kazuki Watanabe.
TONE Team 4413 EVA 02 BMW, which headed Team Étoile home in 2024, finished second after Leandro Marcado and veteran Tomoya Hoshino rode as a pair. Kevin Calia, Flavio Ferroni and Simone Saltarelli rode Revo-M2’s Aprilia to third place on their Suzuka debut.
Team Étoile will now start the Bol d’Or equal on points with National Motos Honda FMA, which retired when Johan Nigon crashed heavily.
Wójcik Racing Team finished an impressive fourth with Kaedear-Dafy-RAC 41-Honda two places behind having led at one stage. Honda No Limits also enjoyed a stint in front but ran out of fuel, leading to Gabriele Gianni heroically pushing the team’s stricken machine for approximately three kilometre back to the pits. Visit FIMEWC.com over the coming weeks for more Superstock news.
The 2025 FIM Endurance World Championship title chase concludes at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France from 18-21 September with the 88th running of the legendary Bol d’Or 24-hour race.
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