Blow by blow recap from the 2024 Suzuka 8 Hours

2024 Suzuka 8 Hours

BMW’s Markus Reiterberger took the lead when the 45th edition of the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race got underway on a hot and humid day in Japan.  YART’s Niccolo Canepa moved through to the lead late on the opening lap. Takumi Takahashi on the HRC entry was third at this early juncture ahead of Yuki Kunii (SDG Harc-Pro Honda), Cocoro Atsumi (Yoshimura SERT Suzuki) and Josh Hook on the F.C.C. TSR Honda.  Ryo Mizuno had a poor start on the Kagayama Ducati but was closing in on Hook by the end of lap two.

Takumi Takahashi pushed the HRC Fireblade ahead of Markus Reiterberger (BMW) on lap three. Yuki Kunii then pushed the BMW man further back to fourth.  Ryo Mizuno then moved up to fifth on the Ducati after getting the better of Cocoro Atsumi (Yoshimura SERT Suzuki) and Josh Hook (F.C.C. TSR Honda).  Honda Asia Dream Racing’s Nakarin Atiratphuvapat then pushed Hook further back to eighth.

Ryo Mizuno then took both the HRC Fireblade and the YART YZF-R1M to put Ducati into the lead. Not for long though as Canepa then stood the Ducati man up at Degner One, that pushed Mizuno wide and upset his rhythm which allowed Takahashi on the HRC Fireblade to then push the Ducati back to third.  The Ducati man retaliated though at ‘130R’ and went back through to the lead on the following lap.

15-minutes into the race nothing separated Canepa, Mizuno, Takahashi and Kunii up front. The first problem for any of the high profile entries then occured, with the Honda Asia Dream Racing Fireblade heading into the pits with some sort of technical issue.

Niccolo Canepa was determined not to let the Ducati get away and again took the lead on lap eight. Five-minutes later Takumi Takahashi took both Canepa and Mizuno to put the HRC machine up front. Kunii was still right with that triumvirate.

Just before the half-hour mark much discussion was going on amongst YART technicians and management in the pit-box.  Canepa had started to lose some of his performance, allowing Mizuno and Takahashi to start pulling away from him. ‘TQ 0’ was held out on the pit-board for Canepa by the YART staff, what that represented I have no idea, and it didn’t seem to make any difference to Canepa’s approach out on track.

Gino Rea then went over the bars on the Wojcik Racing Honda which brought out some yellow flags. It looked as though the safety car would come out according to the timing screens, and perhaps that confusion what was allowed Mizuno to slip past Takahashi and through to the race lead. The Teramoto entry then went down at ‘Degner One’.

Takahashi went back through to the race leader just past the half-hour mark and immediately started to stretch away from Mizuno on the Ducati. By the 40-minute mark Takahashi had built up a lead of five-seconds over Mizuno. At the 45-minute mark Kunii got the better of Canepa to put the HARC-Pro Honda up to third place.  At this juncture Yoshimura SERT were fifth, BMW sixth, TJ Honda seventh, Suzuki CN Challenge eighth.

Josh Hook entered the pit-lane at the 50-minute mark and was shaking his head as he handed over to Mike Di Meglio. The Australian indicating perhaps that grip levels were very low out on track.

Two-minutes later Canepa handed over the reins of the YART bike to Marvin Fritz.

A further two-minutes later, at the 25-lap mark Ryo Mizuno handed the Kagayama Ducati over to Hafizh Syahrin.  The Malaysian rider then struggled to get the V4 R to fire back up, turning it over repeatedly before it finally fired up and he rejoined the race.

The leading HRC entry came in just after the 58-minute mark, Takahashi handing the Fireblade over to Johann Zarco for the second stint in what looked like a lightning quick start and exit for the Frenchman, rejoining the circuit in second place, 20-seconds behind Atsumi on the Yoshimura SERT Suzuki who was still yet to stop.

Yoshimura Suzuki finally pitted a minute into the second hour. A smooth looking stop as Dan Linfoot took the controls of the GSX-R1000R from Atsumi and rejoined the race in fifth place after the stop.

With all the pit stops out of the way it was HRC leading YART by just under 18-seconds.  HARC-Pro Honda in third place a further four-seconds back, but with ten-seconds over Kagayama Ducati. Yoshimura SERT were in fifth a further nine-seconds behind and only a couple of bike lengths ahead of BMW.

F.C.C. TSR Honda were in seventh place, almost a full-minute behind race leaders HRC at the end of the first stint, and continued to lose ground and a few more positions over the course of the second stint. They were again one of the first high profile teams to pit when it came time for the second stop. Mike Di Meglio came in from 11th place to hand over the Fireblade to Alan Techer who rejoined the race in 14th position.

YART came in at the one-hour-49-minute mark with Karel Hanika then starting his stint.

Ducati Team Kagayama were next in with Syahrin handing the V4 R back to Ryo Mizuno.

Johann Zarco came in on lap 53 with Teppei Nagoe then jumping on for his first stint on the Factory Fireblade.

The Kawasaki WeBike TrickStar entry had a small crash just before the two-hour mark but were back up and running quickly enough.

The Yoshimura SERT Motul GSX-R1000R was again one of the last of the motorcycles to stop. Cocoro Atsumi taking over from Dan Linfoot.

With the pit-lane shuffle over and riders settling in after the third pit stop the race order was HRC leading YART by 25-seconds. SDG Harc-Pro was in third place a further 28-seconds behind YART, but with seven-seconds over Kagayama Ducati.  Unlike most of the other leading contenders, that had both eyes on the Suzuka 8 Hour glory as their sole objective, YART had one eye on their FIM Endurance World Championship lead.

While Josh Waters was yet to turn a wheel on the Kagayama Ducati, countrymen Anthony West and Max Stauffer were both on track.  West was running in seventh place on the AutoRace Ube Suzuki while Stauffer was holding down fifteenth place on the Team Kodama Yamaha with just under six hours still to run.

Waters did get a run on the bike during the next stint. The three-time Aussie Superbike Champ took over from Mizuno at two-hours-51-minutes with the team running in fourth place.

Yoshimura Suzuki pitted at three-hours-five-minutes, Dan Linfoot taking over the controls again from Atsumi.

Josh Hook was having his second stint on the F.C.C. TSR Honda in ninth place when he went down at the three-hour-20-minute mark. Buried in the gravel at ‘Degner 2’ it took the Australian plenty of time to try and get out of the deep gravel before getting back up to speed with a very secondhand looking Fireblade. The team busily prepped new bodywork and spares pending his arrival in the pits. Hook stayed out for another few laps before the team went to work on the bike ahead of Mike Di Meglio rejoining the race. The stop was actually fairly quick and the team seemed to decide against doing any repairs. When he got off the bike Hook said they were struggling with some electronic settings, and the bike would not rev past 12,500 rpm in any gear. He also mentioned that engine braking was very inconsistent, which led to him losing the front.

YART made their fourth stop at three-hours 41-minutes while running in second place, Marvin Fritz jumping on to replace Karel Hanika.

Sylvain Guintoli replaced Markus Reiterberger on the BMW at three-hours-43-minutes with the team running in fifth place.

Johann Zarco replaced Takahashi on the leading HRC entry at three-hours-57-minutes. They rejoined the race still in the lead.

At the halfway mark HRC led YART by one-minute-21-seconds.  YART had 30-seconds over SERT, who in turn had a similar buffer over Kagayama Ducati. SDG Harc-Pro were fifth, BMW sixth, AutoRace Ube seventh and Honda Dream were in eighth, that quartet all more than a lap down on the leaders. F.C.C. TSR Honda France were two laps down in 14th place.  Team Kodama were three-laps down in 16th place.

Ryo Mizuno got back on the Kagayama Ducati at the four-hour-17-minute mark, the team’s fifth pit stop.

YART made their fifth stop at four-hours-37-minutes with Karel Hanika taking over from Marvin Fritz.

Kagayama Ducati made their fifth stop at four-hours-45-minutes with Ryo Mizuno taking the V4 R from Hafizh Syahrin.

Max Stauffer was back out on the Team Kodama Yamaha for his second stint at this juncture with the team running in 14th place.  Anthony West was running in seventh place on the AutoRace Ube Suzuki.

Teppei Nagoe replaced Johann Zarco on the leading HRC bike at four-hours-56-minutes.

At the five-hour mark HRC led YART by 41-seconds, with both teams having completed their fifth stops. SERT were yet to make their fifth stop and were running in third place ahead of Kagayama Ducati, who had made their fifth stop.

SERT made their fifth stop at five-hours-three-minutes after a trouble free first stint from Moto2 rider Albert Arenas. The Spaniard handing the GSX-R1000R back over to Cocoro Atsumi.

Troubles befell F.C.C. TSR Honda at the five-hour-12-minute mark with Alan Techer coming into the pit-lane and straight into the pit-box. They earlier had a stop-go penalty for working on the bike during a fuel stop but now the fairings were coming off the machine and technicians went to work. One of the more obvious problems, a broken exhaust. Josh Hook exited pit-lane on the repaired bike at five-hours-23-minutes. They had lost ten places while in the pits, slippping to 25th place.

At five-hours-35-minutes YART made their sixth stop with Karel Hanika handing over the YZF-R1M to Niccolo Canepa. The team were still running in second spot after Canepa rejoined the circuit, one-lap down on HRC, who were yet to make their sixth stop. HRC came in for that sixth stop 18-minutes later, Takahashi taking over from Nagoe.

Josh Waters took the controls of the Kagayama Ducati at the sixth stop with the team running in fourth place.

The efficiency of the SERT GSX-R1000R was on display with their sixth stop not happening until six-hours and six-minutes into the race. Just over 30-minutes later than YART, and 13 minutes longer than HRC. Dan Linfoot back at the controls of the Suzuki for what would likely be the penultimate stint of the race. SERT had slipped to fourth place behind the Kagayama Ducati after that sixth stop. BMW were now up to fifth. The stewards though then handed down a stop-go penalty to the SERT entry for not securing the fuel safety seal, a penalty that would likely cost them their chance at a podium, rubbing the advantage of their fuel efficiency.

Trouble also for F.C.C. TSR hit at this juncture with another crash seeing Mike di Meglio return to the pits and head straight into the box for repairs.

With one hour to run Johann Zarco was on the HRC bike and leading the race with a full-lap advantage over Marvin Fritz on the YART machine. Hafizh Syahrin was now on the Kagayama Ducati in third place ahead of Dan Linfoot on the SERT GSX-R1000R. Yuki Kunii was a further lap down on the SDG Harc-Pro Honda in fifth palce ahead of Sylvain Guintoli who was another lap down on the BMW.

Yoshimura Suzuki entered the pits with Linfoot handing over to Atsumi who with 55-minutes remaining in the race. All going well, Atsumi would be able to run all the way to the chequered flag without the need for a splash and dash to get him over the line. Atsumi and Linfoot each doing four stints and Arenas the one.

Kagayama Ducati’s Hafizh Syahrin made the team’s eighth stop with 36-minutes left in the race for a quick fuel-stop and it was Syahrin that was sent back out for the run to the flag.  When he rejoined the action Atsumi was right up his tail-pipe on the SERT GSX-R1000R to set up an exciting battle for that final step on the rostrum. That pair swapped positions numerous times over the following couple of laps.

YART were next in with Fritz handing over the Hanika for the final stint.

With 31-minutes remaining HRC were yet to make their eighth stop and Johann Zarco was still circulating a lap ahead of Hanika on the YART YZF-R1M.

HRC finally came in for that final stop with 20-minutes left in the race, Takumi Takahashi taking over from Zarco for the final run home. Moments later officials declared that their pit stop was ‘under investigation’, with the ‘Team Manager immediately summoned to Race Direction’. At this juncture there was 15-minutes remaining and HRC led YART only by a slender 50-seconds. Talk about adding a bit of late controversy to proceedings… With four-minutes remaining the penalty was finally announced, a 40-seconds time penalty to be applied after the finish of the race… The difference between HRC and YART, 50.584-seconds…  Hanika on the YART bike had clear air while Takahashi on the Fireblade was amid a throng of traffic… The gap with a lap to go 49-seconds… Would Takahashi back off too far, while unaware of the penalty…?

Takahashi and HRC do it! Zarco wins on Suzuka debut and Teppei Nagoe fufilled his role perfectly.

YART secure second place and extend their FIM EWC points lead.  The gap at the flag after HRC’s 40-second penalty a slender 7.860-seconds…

That second place helped YART to extend their championship leader over SERT to six-points with only one round remaining, the Bol d’Or (Circuit Paul Ricard, France), on the weekend of 12-15 September.

Yoshimura SERT secured third place to deny Kagayama Ducati a podium finish. Both a lap down on the race winners.  The fastest lap of the race was recorded by Hafizh Syahrin on the V4 R, a 2m07.282 on the fourth lap of the race. 

Markus Reiterberger took the flag for BMW in fifth place ahead of Kazuki Ito on the Honda Dream Sakurai entry. Both teams two laps behind the winners.

Anthony West was in the seat for the final stint on the AutoRace Ube Suzuki and was running in seventh place before having a tip-off with 22-minutes left in the contest. The damage was enough for Westy to need to return to the pits for some repairs to get him to the chequered flag. What had looked like a pretty safe top ten finish had now become a battle to finish 20th…

Max Stauffer did the final stint for Team Kodama and took the chequered flag in 12th position. A fantastic experience for the 20-year-old that will stand him in great stead for the future.

F.C.C. TSR Honda was credited with a 34th place finish, 22-laps down on the leaders.

With that victory, his sixth, Takumi Takahashi becomes the most succesful rider ever at the Suzuka 8 Hours.

2024 marked the first serious attempt by Ducati to win the iconic event for more than quarter of a century. The best previous finish for the Italian manufacturer at the event came in 2011 when Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Hiromichi Kunikawa and Ken Eguchi finished tenth on a TOHO Racing 1098 R. Fourth place quite an improvement and a sign of things to come. 

The race had been held in hot, humid and dry conditions, buy only minutes after it concluded a thunderstorm washed over the circuit.

2024 Suzuka 8 Hours Results

1. Team HRC with Japan Post 220 laps
2. YART Yamaha +7.860s
3. Yoshimura SERT Motul Suzuki +1 lap
4. Kagayama Ducati +1 lap
5. BMW Motorrad World Endurance +2 laps
6. Honda Dream RT Sakurai +2 laps
7. TOHO Honda +2 laps
8. Suzuki CN Challenge +4 laps
9. SDG Harc-Pro Honda +4 laps
10. KM 99 Yamaha +5 laps
11. Astemo Honda Dream +5 laps
12. Team Kodama Yamaha +5 laps
13. Taro Plusone SDG BMW +6 laps
14. Team ATJ Honda +7 laps
15. Tati Team Beringer Honda +7 laps
16. KRP Kawasaki +7 laps
17. Tone RT BMW +8 laps
18. Team Etoile BMW +9 laps
19. Taira Promote Yamaha +9 laps
20. AutoRace Ube Suzuki +9 laps