8 Hours of Suzuka (1h): Rain at the start, BMW/Honda duel, safety car!

At 11.30 am local time, the 8 Hours of Suzuka, the third race weekend of the 2026 World Endurance Championship, got underway on a wet track. The Honda works team (Rea, Takahashi, Chantra) started from pole position, having lived up to their role as favourites in qualifying. Behind them were the works BMWs (Reiterberger, Odendaal, van der Mark) and the Marc VDS Yamaha R1 (De Puniet, Marino, Delbianco).

Gregg Black, riding the Suzuki for the SERT team, got off to the best start and entered Turn 1 ahead of the factory Honda. Naomichi Uramoto, riding the AutoRace-Ube BMW, was particularly aggressive and moved into the lead after a few corners. The Japanese rider, who had started the race from 9th on the grid, immediately pulled slightly clear.

The start went badly for the works BMW (Reiterberger, Odendaal, van der Mark), which had started the race from second on the grid. Michael van der Mark didn’t get off to a good start and was down in 10th place after the first lap. However, the Dutchman fought his way through the field lap by lap and, after four laps, was within striking distance of Jack Miller’s works Yamaha, which was running in fifth position.

Slippery conditions: rain, engine failures, oil and crashes

The oil flag was waved after just five laps. There was a crash involving the number 29 bike, the Doghouse & Tripoint Suzuki (Iwatani, Samura, Oosuka), and later the Marc-VDS Yamaha (De Puniet, Marino, Delbianco), which had started from third on the grid, also ended up in the gravel.

After 25 minutes, there was a change at the front: Takumi Takahashi on the factory Honda overtook Naomichi Uramoto. Behind them, the Astemo Pro Honda (Nozane, Hada, Arakawa) was in third place ahead of the F.C.C. TSR Honda (Techer, Perolari, McPhee). Michael van der Mark had already fought his way up to fifth place on the factory M1000RR.

Track conditions deteriorated following a number of engine failures and crashes caused by oil on the track. Takumi Takahashi, riding the leading works Honda with number 30, spun and no longer wished to lead the race. He voluntarily handed the lead over to Naomichi Uramoto. The safety car came onto the track.