The 47th running of the famed Coca-Cola Endurance World Championship round at Suzuka in Japan Sunday, July 5 had the making of a classic event, with a strong field and solid competition between brands at the front of the grid.
But tricky intermediate conditions ruined qualifying, and Sunday’s race provided more of the same – although after some concerns the organizers were able to stage their popular and unique Leman’s style run to the bikes start.
In an event interrupted by multiple Safety car periods, the race finished with the traditional fire works and crowd interaction, and the right team won: Honda earned their fifth straight success, all with Bridgestone rubber, at their home track with the CBR1000RR-R, referred to as the Fireblade in some countries.
Local hero Takumi Takahashi, age 37, did much of the heavy lifting, the squad covering 188 laps, most in first place. Leading almost from the start, HRC resisted considerable pressure before handing of the new recruit (and retired from World Superbike) Johnathan Rea, 39. Current Honda World Superbike racer Somkiat Chantra, making his debut in the event at age 28, completed the running order for the favoured trio, and all held off a strong challenge from BMW (yet to win at Suzuka) and Yamaha.
“It was incredible,” explained Rea post race. “In these conditions, you can’t make one mistake. The team did a great job, my teammates were so good, so consistent. And I did my job. It was a huge team effort, so thank you very much.” The victory was Rea’s third in the 8 Hr.
After a day of mostly drizzle with high humidity, things got tricky late when rain arrived in earnest, and the Safety Car was call out with half an hour to go. The race finished under full course caution behind the flashing lights of the Acura NSX, another disappointment for the strong crowd.
Yamaha Factory Racing (Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Andrea Locaatelli and hard charging MotoGP ace Jack Miller) were twenty seconds back for second overall, as the works BMW Motorrad team completed the Podium. World Endurance stalwarts YART Yamaha earned fourth, with AutoUbe’s BMW next (fifth place and challenging the top Honda at times) and then the factory SERT Suzuki effort in sixth.
Local Japanese squads rounded out the top ten, with Suzuki CN Challenge next, followed by SDG-HARC PRO, Astemo Honda and Team ATJ in tenth. There were three Hondas in the top ten, as expected on home ground, but only the dominant victors had the pace to hold off their competition.
Reigning Bridgestone CSBK Champion Ben Young had a strong second outing at the 8 Hours after riding a BMW at Suzuka two year ago. Shaking off a big crash in the morning warm-up when he aquaplaned off the track and eventually hit an unprotected guardrail, Young took the third shift and moved his squad into the top twenty on a slippery track.
At the finish, Young’s Suzuka Honda mount was 23rd overall and 18th in the FIM Endurance World Championship Superbike category – a result that pleased the squad, applause in the garage when Young completed his shifts in the 50-entry strong field.
Young was competing for a local team with a strong history, made up with a crew who work for Honda. Originally scheduled to ride the prestigious first slot of the race, the weather saw the team shuffle Genki Nakajima and Maiku Watanuki ahead on the line-up, that strategy working.
Young did a shift and a half at the end of the race, meaning he was on the bike for the big conclusion, fire works and all. That allowed Young to stop for fresh rain tires when the conditions most demanded the grooved rubber. After the race, Young was shivering from the wet conditions, riding in the heavy spray of the other machines behind the Safety Car.
“I was sore, but felling okay until the Safety Car,” explained Young. “Then the pain from my hip and back and shoulder started to come back, I didn’t know if the Safety Car was for an incident, or something serious.
“The shoulder would have been much more of an issue if the race had been dry. I don’t think there is anything major wrong with my shoulder, therapy between sessions helped, and I wasn’t that bothered.”
“It was too dry for my set up and the start of my first stint, then it got better, but then I think I overheated the tires. We made the right decision to put new tires on a the end; it was good to double stint, and the stop gave me a bit of a mental break.
“The track was very consistent, easy to pass, some debris from crashes, but it was bike parts, not gravel!
“For sure, it’s a privilege to just be here, be part of the team and this historic race,” continued Young, who is turning into a Suzuka specialist – even though the 5.82 kilometer long, 21 turn, hilly layout is the only place Young has ever crashed a Honda Superbike!
Young returns to his regular duties for the Van Dolder’s Home Team Honda Canada effort at Grand Bend Motorplex next weekend, where he will look for his sixth and seventh wins of the year and an extension of his GP Bikes Pro Superbike Feature class points lead.
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