8 Hours of Suzuka: Honda and BMW make history!

Honda HRC went into the final hour of the Suzuka 8 Hours with a lead of just under 20 seconds. The race remained completely open right up to the seven-hour mark. Jonathan Rea completed his final stint and handed the number 30 Fireblade over to Takumi Takahashi one last time. For the Yamaha works team, Andrea Locatelli took the wheel of the number 21 R1 for the final push.

The expected rain shower swept across the Suzuka Circuit, leaving the track completely wet once again. Hopes of finishing on slicks had been dashed for good. With around 45 minutes remaining, Honda HRC’s lead had melted away to just 14 seconds. Behind them, the BMW works team was on course for a podium finish after Michael van der Mark had pulled away from the BMW of the AutoRace Ube Racing Team.

Shortly afterwards, AutoRace Ube’s dream of a Suzuka podium was finally dashed. A ten-second penalty following a mistake during the pit stop set the team back decisively. In purely riding terms, the team of Naomichi Uramoto and Sylvain Guintoli was among the strongest in the field for long stretches of the race. However, compared to the perfectly coordinated pit crews of Honda HRC, YART, SERT and the BMW works team, AutoRace Ube lost too much time during driver changes – a disadvantage that ultimately proved decisive in the battle for the top three.

Heavy rain in the final hour

Conditions deteriorated significantly once again in the closing stages. Just as dusk fell, heavier rain set in, leaving the Suzuka Circuit completely flooded once more. The Marc VDS Racing Team was hit particularly hard. Florian Marino crashed for the second time that day, severely damaging the number 99 Yamaha R1.

In view of the increasing risk of aquaplaning, race control intervened 34 minutes before the end of the eight hours and sent the safety car onto the track. At that point, there was even talk that the endurance classic might be completed entirely behind the safety car.

Safety car thwarts final push

The safety car hit the Yamaha works team particularly hard. Andrea Locatelli was unable to line up behind the same safety car as race leader Takumi Takahashi, causing the gap to the leading Honda to widen abruptly. Instead of continuing to put pressure on Honda HRC, Yamaha suddenly had to defend second place.

Michael van der Mark, in the third-placed BMW, had lined up behind the same safety car as Locatelli and was therefore within striking distance for a possible restart. Within a matter of minutes, the battle for victory threatened to turn into a fight for second place for the Yamaha works team.

However, the hoped-for showdown in the closing minutes never materialised. The safety car remained on the track until the end of the eight-hour race, allowing Honda HRC to secure an unchallenged victory. For Takumi Takahashi, this was already his eighth triumph at the Suzuka 8 Hours, with which the Japanese rider further extended his record. Jonathan Rea made a decisive contribution to the works team’s success with several strong stints. Somkiat Chantra, who had stepped in at short notice to replace the injured Johann Zarco, did not feature in the race, however.

Second place was secured by the Yamaha works team. Jack Miller and Andrea Locatelli put in a particularly impressive performance, especially under the difficult conditions on the wet track. Katsuyuki Nakasuga, however, was unable to quite keep up with his team-mates’ pace during his final appearance at Suzuka and lost valuable time. The fact that Yamaha still managed to finish in second place was also down to the long safety car period. This allowed the factory team to avoid an extra pit stop. Under normal racing conditions, the R1 would likely have had to make one more stop than Honda HRC and the BMW factory team due to its higher fuel consumption.

BMW keeps its World Championship hopes alive with a podium finish

BMW made history at Suzuka: for the first time, a European manufacturer managed to finish on the podium at the endurance classic. With regard to the battle for the World Championship title, third place was crucial, as it allowed the number 37 car to make up some ground on the defending champions, YART.

Fourth place gave YART a 19-point lead heading into the Endurance World Championship season finale in September. AutoRace Ube finished the race in fifth place ahead of SERT. Suzuki CN Challenge (Tsuda, Mizuno, Masson) won the Experimental category. SDG HARC-Pro Honda (Kunii, Nagoe, Abe), Honda Asia-Dream (Atiratphuvapat, Pawi, Putra) and ATJ Honda (Iwata, Suzuki, Kunimine) rounded off the top 10.

NCXX Racing Honda (Nagashima, Kamei, Date) took victory in the Stock class ahead of Team Etoile (Okubo, Ito, Toba).

The Bol d’Or, the final race of the 2026 EWC season, will take place on 19 September.

The final results of the 2026 8 Hours of Spa:

To follow shortly.