The Suzuka 8 Hours superbike endurance classic returns after a two-year hiatus with a selection of motorsport's highest-profile and successful racers going up against experienced EWC contenders and a bevy of domestic Japanese talent to win one of two-wheels' most coveted titles.
The ultimate 'grudge' match between the Japanese 'Big Four', it's the race Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki want to win... follow Crash.net's LIVE TEXT UPDATES for the full 8 hours for the latest.
Suzuka 8 Hours start time is 11.30 local - 03.30 UK time
The bikes are sufficiently warmed up so now it's time for the riders to reverse them back to the wall to then waddle off.
Incidentally, Takumi Takahashi - a two-time winner - has the honour of starting for pole sitters HRC Honda, with Leon Haslam getting KRT underway in second
If you're unfamiliar with endurance competition then you should know the start follows a traditional procedure of having the starting rider poised at one side of the track waiting for the green lights, before sprinting across to the bike positioned against the pit wall.
It's a bizarre - albeit entertaining - procedure... not least because they have to jump on the bike to complete a warm-up only to get off the bike, wander to the other side and get ready to run back
It's the motorcycle racing equivalent of British Bulldog (Google it if you don't get the reference...)
No new news just yet but the GINO REA is certainly in the thoughts of the Suzuka 8 Hours starters.
#ginoreapic.twitter.com/8NW5HW0L3i
— 星の玉子様 (@nyaochugu) August 7, 2022
Can we all just take a moment to consider just how impressive TETSUTA NAGASHIMA has been on the HRC Honda Fireblade this week? Are you taking that moment? Good...
Not only has he become the first rider on a Superbike to go under 2mins 05secs, Nagashima has done so several times now in what is both his debut at the Suzuka 8 Hours and competing aboard a Superbike.
If his name sounds familiar then you may know him from his time competing in Moto2. Debuting in 2013, a series of modest seasons followed before he was picked up by KTM for the 2020 season, which he marked by winning the opening round in Qatar... you know, that Moto2 race that took place just as COVID was spiralling out of control and meant it was another four months before Round 2.
Well, one more podium and eighth overall followed for the now 30-year old before he curtly announced he wouldn't race in 2021... but vowed to come back stronger
Roll forward another 18 months and Nagashima - who hasn't bided his time in JSB1000 or anything - is back and indeed stronger than ever, seeing off a six-time WorldSBK champion on a machine he barely knows and at a track he says he's never raced on.
If Johnny Rea is the interloping Godzilla at Suzuka, Honda might have just stumbled across its giant-killer
With T-Minus 1 hour to go until the riders get on their marks, get set and get ready to sprint across the track to their machines, here is a quick recap of all the shenanigans from practice and qualifying over the last couple of days:
Full QUALIFYING RESULTS and STARTING ORDER HERE
- Honda's factory Team HRC effort has swept the board when it mattered with its trio of Testuta Nagashima, Takumi Takahashi and Iker Lecuona
- Of the three, it has - perhaps surprisingly - been ex-Moto2 rider Tetsuta Nagashima leading its charge after becoming the first rider on a Superbike to break into the 2mins 04secs bracket at Suzuka... an achievement he has now managed on multiple occasions this weekend.
- Winners in 2019 - the last time the Suzuka 8 Hours was held - Kawasaki has once more wheeled out its all-conquering KRT WorldSBK team with Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam strengthened by the arrival of Alex Lowes, a three-time Suzuka 8 Hours winner himself with Yamaha. KRT starts second.
- With no Yamaha Factory Racing effort this year (more on that later), YART leads the Iwata marque's challenge this year. It starts third as the best placed EWC entry
- FCC TSR Honda is fourth but starts the race without Gino Rea after his FP2 accident
- Honda demonstrates a show of force at its home circuit in its first Suzuka 8 Hours with the new Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade. No less than 16 of the 45 entries are using Honda machinery and six of them - HRC, FCC TSR, SDG, Sakurai, Sofukai and Astemo - get underway inside the top ten.
- 2020 and 2021 EWC champs SERT Suzuki are having a 'mare of a week having lost two of its riders - Xavier Simeon (COVID) and Sylvain Guintoli (hand injury) - leaving it with just the flown-in Gregg Black and the guesting Kazuki Watanabe to front its charge.
- To make matters worse, with only two riders in its qualifying line-up, unfortunate timing with rain meant it was forced to combine one dry lap and one wet lap to get its average time. As a result, Suzuki starts 22nd
- And finally, BMW is bidding for an upset by becoming the first non-Japanese manufacturer to win the Suzuka 8 Hours. Not only that, this is an entirely European affair as a German team with French, Ukrainian and German riders, running on British (Dunlop) tyres
- We're personally looking for a shock victory for the curiously named and sponsored Advance MC & FOC Claymore Edge with Doghouse team or the delightfully titled Team de"LIGHT", which happens to be the only entry using Ducati machinery...
YART Yamaha - Suzuka 8 Hours
Pole-sitting HRC Honda quickest in warm-up
If it hadn't already done so, Team HRC Honda emphasised its hot favourite status ahead of today's race by topping the timesheets in morning warm-up, though this time it was Takumi Takahashi doing the honours rather than the brilliant Tetsuta Nagashima.
His time of 2m 07.957s headed off YART Yamaha in second and JSB1000 team SDG Honda in third. KRT and SERT Suzuki - who start down in 22nd and will have to rely on just two riders today - completed the warm-up top five.
Iker Lecuona, Takumi Takahashi, Tetsuta Nagashima - Team HRC Honda
Before we get underway in 90mins time, first we must touch on the condition of GINO REA following a horrifying accident during FP2 on Saturday.
Almost 24 hours after the incident occurred, not a lot of information has been made public beyond a brief statement from the EWC shortly after the incident. Here is a summary:
- Gino crashed the FCC TSR France Honda heavily at the Triangle Chicane (the final corner, a heavy-braking, low-speed chicane that comes after the high-speed 130R left-hander)
- He was knocked unconscious in the incident and remained unconscious when treated at the track before being airlifted to hospital
- Kyodo News Agency added 'no spectators or race staff' were hurt in the incident, which saw Rea's Honda destroyed when it hit the concrete wall just a few feet from the racing line
- FCC TSR Honda team-mates Josh Hook and Mike di Meglio will race on without Rea. They start fourth on the grid.
- Honda and EWC says it will communicate more information when it is available
We are sending all our strength and support to Gino Rea right now
— Crash MotoGP (@crash_motogp) August 6, 2022
Keep fighting pic.twitter.com/uYp0ttVgRc
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to Crash.net's LIVE text coverage of the 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours
We go lights out at 03.30 UK time so if you're reading this at just past 02.00, feel free to stick around, go grab a coffee or five, or get a little more sleep... just don't forget to set the alarm!
