It's a first win for Honda at Suzuka 8 Hours in nearly a decade. HRC trio Takumi Takahashi, Tetsuta Nagashima and Iker Lecuona dominate to beat Kawasaki by a full lap! Full race report:
Takumi Takahashi, Tetsuta Nagashima and Iker Lecuona were virtually unchallenged for majority of the race aboard the #33 HRC Fireblade, with a combination of Honda’s pace advantage and a fortuitous safety car helping the trio finish a lap clear of Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Alex Lowes aboard the factory Kawasaki.
An early safety car for a collision between Honda satellite riders Kosuke Sakumoto and Naomichi Uramoto brought Takahashi's rivals back into play as he again dropped down to third, but it took a matter of a laps for the Japanese rider to repass Haslam and the Yoshimura Suzuki of Gregg Black and reinstate the status quo.
This went on to have a major impact on the final order as, when the safety car returned on track after the #51 I.W NAC Yamaha caught fire at second Degner, Lowes ended up picking the second of the two safety cars. During the fifth hour of the race, Nagashima was able to put a lap over the Kawasaki during his second stint aboard the works Honda, and from there on the HRC crew enjoyed an untroubled run en route to a remarkable victory on its home turf.
But a maiden podium for the Austrian team went begging when Fritz and the #74 Yamaha of Riku Sugawara crashed at the Esses on the start of the final hour, wrecking both their races and allowing Kawasaki to seal second position.
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