Racing

2015 Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance Race Results

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In Japan, the Suzuka 8-Hour is a huge deal, but for the rest of the world, it ranks on par with the rest of the FIM Endurance World Championship.

That’s kind of a shame, really, as the Endurance World Championship is the only motorcycle championship where we still see different tire manufacturers competing against each other, the bikes are beautifully technical in their own special way, and in the case of Suzuka, there are often heavy-hitters at play.

This year was no different, with Yamaha fielding its “Yamaha Factory Racing Team” with two MotoGP stars, Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, along with factory test rider and MotoGP podium-finisher Katsuaki Nakasuga.

The dream team did not disappoint, lighting up qualifying, and riding to a semi-comfortable victory, despite a 30-second stop-and-go penalty for Espargaro’s pass under yellow flag conditions.

“As a team we started the race today with a set number of laps per rider and it was a lot of pressure for me to start the race but my first goal was that I had to finish this race,” said Katsuyuki Nakasuga. “I’ve had times when I ended the race prematurely. I want to thank all the staff, the team and all the fans for their support. I’m really glad that we have won after nineteen years.”

“I’m so happy. It was an unbelievable race,” added Pol Espargarò. “I have to say sorry to my teammates because I made a mistake during the race. We had a stop and go penalty and we lost more than one minute. My teammates were impressive, they were so fast. I gave 200% when I went out on the bike to recover this gap that we lost and we did.”

“It’s impressive what Yamaha as a factory team and a family did after so many years and I’m proud of Nakasuga-san that he rode out the first Suzuka8hours with us and also of Bradley, that we share a pit box in MotoGP,” continued Espargarò. “Normally we have many activities and we don’t get to speak often as friends. This weekend was so good for us. I’m happy because I found two great friends, and we got the 8 hours Suzuka race victory.”

“Since Tuesday night I went back to my hotel room and felt loaded up with pressure. We stood in front of all the Yamaha staff and mister Kimura and everyone who works inside the factory. We stood on the stage in Iwata and promised that we would come back and give our best and we promised them a first place and we definitely to potentially fail, but we had a great bike and teammates,” said Bradley Smith.

“We had only one small mistake during the race, which in the end was no problem at all. With the speed and the pace that my teammates were able to do, we were able to overcome it. It’s very special, the 60th anniversary for Yamaha, they are leading the MotoGP championship, but second to that was a focus to on the Suzuka8H and I’m glad that we were able to show the true potential of this bike and give them that victory after 19 years that they very well deserve,” Smith concluded.

With six safety car appearances, there was a lot of crashing in the 2015 Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race, but perhaps the most publicized was Casey Stoner’s off in the “Hairpin” corner of Turn 11. HRC confirmed that Stoner’s throttle was stuck at 26° open, which caused the crash and also caused Stoner to break his right shoulder and left leg. That crash dashed the hopes of MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO defending their victory from last year, and keeping Yamaha at bay.

For Kawasaki, the race was also a disappointment, as Team Kawasaki SRC crashed out of sixth place with Gregory Leblanc at the helm (and nearly at the end of his stint). This result will surely end their title hunt in the FIM Endurance World Championship.

For Suzuki, it was another podium for Team Kagayama, which has finished third at Suzuka the past three years in a row. Continuing with the team for 2015, Noriyuki Haga once proved that old dogs can still hunt. It’s great to see him still competing.

8 H DE SUZUKA 2015

8 H DE SUZUKA 2015

8 H DE SUZUKA 2015

8 H DE SUZUKA 2015

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Race Results for the 2015 Suzuka 8-Hour Suzuka, Japan:

Pos. Team Riders Bike Diff.
1 YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM K.NAKASUGA / P.ESPARGARO / B.SMITH Yamaha 240 Laps
2 F.C.C. TSR J.HOOK / K.SMITH / D.AEGERTER Honda 1’17.411
3 Team KAGAYAMA Y.KAGAYAMA / N.HAGA / R.KIYONARI Suzuki 1 Lap
4 SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM V.PHILIPPE / A.DELHALLE / E.MASSON Suzuki 2 Laps
5 YOSHIMURA SUZUKI Shell ADVANCE T.TSUDA / J.WATERS / A.LOWES Suzuki 3 Laps
6 GMT94 YAMAHA D.CHECA / K.FORAY / M.GINES Yamaha 3 Laps
7 ENDURANCE RACING J.DA COSTA / S.GIMBERT / F.FORAY Honda 3 Laps
8 Suzuka Racing Team D.HIURA / Y.KAMEI / T.YASUDA Honda 4 Laps
9 Team GREEN A.YANAGAWA / H.YUDHISTIRA / K.WATANABE Kawasaki 5 Laps
10 MotoMap SUPPLY Y.KONNO / N.AOKI / H.OGATA Suzuki 5 Laps
11 EVA RT TEST TYPE-01 TRICK STAR O.DEGUCHI / H.IZUTSU / E.NIGON Kawasaki 5 Laps
12 TEAM BOLLIGER SWITZERLAND R.STAMM / D.SUTTER / N.SALCHAUD Kawasaki 5 Laps
13 au&Teluru?Kohara RT K.WATANABE / T.NAGASHIMA / K.AKIYOSHI Honda 6 Laps
14 TOHO Racing with MORIWAKI T.YAMAGUCHI / T.ELIAS / R.WILAIROT Honda 6 Laps
15 CONFIA Flex Motorrad39 S.TAKEISHI / T.ONISHI / D.SAKAI BMW 7 Laps
16 TEAM APRIL MOTO MOTORS EVENTS G.FASTRE / G.BLACK / Y.MIYAJIMA Suzuki 8 Laps
17 Team Tras 135HP Y.KODAMA / P.VALLCANERAS / K.TERAMOTO BMW 8 Laps
18 Satu HATI. Team Asia A.KAMARUZAMAN / D.PRATAMA / R.WILAIROT Honda 9 Laps
19 Hamayuukai Hamamatsu M.KUBOYAMA / T.NAKATSUHARA / S.NOYORI Honda 9 Laps
20 TEAM R2CL G.GIABBANI / J.STORRAR / V.LEONOV Suzuki 9 Laps
21 team R1 & YAMALUBE M.TOKINAGA / N.FUJIWARA / J.De VRIES Yamaha 10 Laps
22 AKENO SPEED?YAMAHA M.INAGAKI / T.OKUNO / A.TANAKA Yamaha 11 Laps
23 Kumamoto Racing M.YOSHIDA / K.KOJIMA / K.TOKUDOME Honda 11 Laps
24 MOTOBUM w/ Ishigaki IsIand Tuna Y.NAKAMURA / S.NAKAYAMA / H.YOSHIHIRO Honda 11 Laps
25 RS-ITOH & ASIA M.OKAMURA / T.ISHIZUKA Kawasaki 12 Laps
26 YamashinaKawasaki&BusinessRalliart T.MIZUSAWA / S.YAMAZAKI / M.MATSUMOTO Kawasaki 12 Laps
27 MOTOBOX KREMER RACING M.SCHERRER / T.PAAVILAINEN / O.SKACH Suzuki 13 Laps
28 Blue Helmets MSC Kumamoto K.MORI / T.OHTSUKA Honda 13 Laps
29 YMGN with MCRacing H.TAKADA / R.KATAHIRA / M.NEKVASIL BMW 14 Laps
30 VITAL SPIRIT SHARK ENERGY T.SATO / M.OTA BMW 14 Laps
31 TEAM HOOTERS KTM T.OKUDA / H.TOYODA / T.DAIRAKU KTM 15 Laps
32 TransMapRacing M.OHISHI / D.KISAMORI / S.KYUHAN Suzuki 15 Laps
33 PLUS ONE MCRT & TOM FLYBOARD H.IMAZU / K.TAJIMA / M.KODERA Kawasaki 16 Laps
34 TOPS LIFE & Garage KENZ T.NAMEKATA / K.KUMEDA / K.IMAMURA Suzuki 16 Laps
35 Team Technical College M.FURUSAWA / I.SHIMIZU / >K.KITAGUCHI Honda 17 Laps
36 TEAM FRONTIER M.SINJO / B.Perez SANCHEZ / T.KISHIDA Honda 17 Laps
37 TEAM SUGAI RACING JAPAN Y.SUGAI / T.KAMATANI Ducati 18 Laps
38 HOKKAIDO SABEDER M.TAKADA / K.WATANABE / E.TOGASHI Honda 18 Laps
39 IWATA RACING FAMILY K.NISHIMURA / M.SAWAMURA / S.MANABE Yamaha 20 Laps
40 TEAM JP DFR KOREA T.NAKAZAWA / K.Joon TAE / L.Hoo KYOUNG Yamaha 20 Laps
41 TEAM MASSA-R M.MOGI / T.OKADA / N.SHIMAKAWA Yamaha 23 Laps
42 FLEMBBO LEADER TEAM J.PROSENIK / L.DERINE / E.BELLUCCI Kawasaki 23 Laps
43 3601MotorSports+SAMURAI S.YASUTOMI / N.MURATA / A. BMW 27 Laps
44 -MOTOKIDS ICU NERUGAL KAWAUSO F.SAKAKIBARA / Y.HIGUCHI / K.YOSHIDA Yamaha 28 Laps
45 Club Bali Racing & Team Hook84 Y.NAKAJIMA / J.MORIMOTO / A.TAI Kawasaki 33 Laps
46 RSG Racing & School Family S.NISHIYAMA / K.TOHNO / H.MINAKI Honda 38 Laps
47 NANOTOP H.M.F. S.SUMA / A.IGARASHI / P.CZAJ Suzuki 40 Laps
48 DREAM RT SAKURAI T.HERFOSS / J.M. OHALLORAN / N.URAMOTO Honda 47 Laps
49 All JAPAN DREAM CENTRAL BL RT S.SUZUKI / T.NAKAGAKI / T.SEKIGUCHI Honda 47 Laps
50 TEAMJP&TAKE-UP CANADA T.TAMURA / Y.KIMURA Suzuki 49 Laps
51 Y’s distraction Racing H.KUNIKAWA / T.KOYAMA / T.YOSHIMICHI Honda 51 Laps

Source: Suzuka, Yamaha Racing, HRC, Suzuki Racing, & Kawasaki Racing

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