8 Hours of Suzuka (3 hours): Honda ahead of Yamaha – Rea and Locatelli shine in the rain!

Following a chaotic start to the race, things remained turbulent during the second hour of the Suzuka 8 Hours. Although the first safety car period ended after around 1 hour and 10 minutes, the persistent rain had made conditions even more challenging in the meantime.

At the front, the BMW from the AutoRace Ube Racing team initially led ahead of the works Honda. Behind them, the works BMW driven by Michael van der Mark had worked its way up to third place. The Dutchman fought his way impressively through the field after a poor start. As the safety car phase came to an end, AutoRace Ube carried out its first scheduled driver change: Sylvain Guintoli took over the BMW from Naomichi Uramoto.

HRC in the lead: Jonathan Rea flawless and fast

Honda HRC, by contrast, stayed out on the track for considerably longer and thus took the lead. Jonathan Rea climbed aboard the number 30 Fireblade and took the lead. However, once the first pit stops were complete, the BMW works team emerged as the big winners: Markus Reiterberger, who took over for the second stint, had already moved the M1000RR up to second place.

Shortly afterwards, a crash involving the number 3 bike from Team Sanmei (Sekiguchi, Nakamura, Tanaka) triggered the next safety car period. At the same time, track conditions continued to deteriorate due to the rain. Race control therefore sent its inspection vehicle onto the track to assess the situation.

And so the second hour of the race also ended behind the safety car. Jonathan Rea led the field ahead of Markus Reiterberger and Andrea Locatelli on the factory Yamaha. It was not until 2 hours and 15 minutes had elapsed that the safety car was withdrawn and the race was given the green light.

Andrea Locatelli moved Yamaha up to second place

Locatelli, on bike number 21, set about the task very aggressively and immediately overtook Reiterberger’s BMW. Conditions were very poor, with spray making visibility difficult. In addition, there was a great deal of water on the track in places.

Superbike record world champion Rea consistently set strong lap times at the front and had built up a lead of a good ten seconds within just a few laps. Locatelli was in second place, ahead of Reiterberger in third.

After 2 hours and 40 minutes, a thrilling three-way battle for third place developed. Sylvain Guintoli was among the fastest riders in the field and initially overtook the AutoRace Ube Racing Team’s BMWs to pass Karel Hanika’s YART Yamaha. Shortly afterwards, the Frenchman also overtook his former BMW works team-mate Markus Reiterberger, moving up to third place. Reiterberger then had to let Hanika pass him again and dropped back to fifth place.

Shortly afterwards, Karel Hanika pulled into the YART pits for the scheduled driver change and handed the Yamaha over to Leandro Mercado. The AutoRace Ube Racing Team also made its pit stop: Sylvain Guintoli handed the BMW over to local hero Naomichi Uramoto. This confirmed that the Japanese team was contesting the race with just two riders following Hannes Soomer’s injury. Christophe Ponsson, who had been signed at short notice, remained in the pits during this driver change as well.

The number 21 factory Yamaha also came in for a change: Andrea Locatelli handed over to Katsuyuki Nakasuga. Only the leading factory Honda and the factory BMW continued their stints. There was a gap of more than 46 seconds between Rea and Reiterberger when Rea steered the number 30 bike into the HRC pit.

Honda and BMW with longer stints than the Yamaha teams

Rea had completed a flawless and strong stint. Unsurprisingly, it was Takumi Takahashi rather than Somkiat Chantra who took over. Honda opted for the experience of the seven-time Suzuka winner, rather than putting Chantra on the leading Fireblade in the difficult conditions.

BMW also pitted. Steven Odendaal took over the works M1000RR and slotted into fifth position. This restored the order: HRC ahead of Yamaha, AutoRace Ube, YART and BMW.