SUZUKA: ENDURANCE, SPEED AND PRESTIGE !

The second race of the FIM EWC (Endurance motorcycle world championship) will take place on 26 July on the Suzuka circuit in Japan. The 8 Hours features top level riders, thereby gaining further prestige.

This will be the 38th edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours, the circuit also famed for hosting the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix and Formula One races. Besides the permanent squads competing in the FIM EWC, including the SERT – championship leader thanks to its win at the 24 Heures Moto in Le Mans in April – this year Suzuka boasts some of the best known names in the motorcycle speed championship. 

First and foremost, the phenomenon that is Casey Stoner, MotoGP world champion in 2007 and 2011 for Ducati and then Honda, who will be riding a Honda CBR 1000 RR as part of the Musashi RT Harc-Pro team, winners of the race for the past two years. The Australian is making a rousing comeback after retiring from MotoGP at the end of 2012. He will be shoring up Honda, the brand that has won the past five editions of the Suzuka 8 Hours. 

Meanwhile, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, French team Tech 3’s Yamaha MotoGP riders, were thrilled to discover the legendary Suzuka circuit recently in the course of private tests. They will be riding an official Yamaha based on the new YZF-R1, specially developed for the 8 Hours race. The Japanese factory will be attempting to achieve its first victory in 19 years, and the fifth in its history. In other words, we’ll be reliving what Japanese fans back in the 1980s used to call the “H-Y war”: the battle between Honda and Yamaha! 
  
Of course we’ll also be seeing the major endurance specialists on the track: teams like Monster Energy Yamaha YART, SRC Kawasaki, BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com and Yamaha GMT 94, the current world champion. Another familiar face from the Grand Prix will also be on the grid: Switzerland’s Dominique Aegerter, a Moto2 world championship rider, who will be competing at Suzuka on the Honda F.C.C. TSR, winner in 2011 and 2012. A former Moto2 world champion, Spaniard Toni Elias, is also set to compete in the saddle of the Toho Racing with Moriwaki Honda. 

Because of the “8-hour” format, which makes the race a series of sprints on the race track, and the number of ultra-fast Japanese riders who have a strong record on this circuit, the Suzuka 8 Hours always guarantees an absolutely first-class show as well as exceptional sporting performances. What’s more, riders unanimously assert that Suzuka is one of the most beautiful and toughest circuits in the world, renowned in particular for its track, with the course crossing over itself via a bridge! 
  
So, with its new promoter Eurosport Events, one of the most outstanding races of the FIM EWC is reviving its glory days and once again features Grand Prix riders following the exploits of Rossi, Kato, Barros, Haga, Edwards, Gardner, Doohan, Lawson, Rainey and Dominique Sarron, all of whom have won at least one edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours!