The Suzuka 8 Hours promises to be a suspenseful finale.
During the Suzuka 8 Hours, there will of course be the race for victory, for which Randy de Puniet mainly sees six contenders, but, undoubtedly a little behind, there will also be the race in the race for the attribution of the world Endurance title.
Suzuka 8 Hours contenders for victory:
– the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO Honda (Honda CBR 1000RR SP2 #634, Takumi Takahashi, Takaaki Nakagami, Jack Miller),
– the Yamaha Factory Racing Team (Yamaha YZF R1 #21, Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Alex Lowes, Michael van der Mark),
– the FCC TSR Honda (Honda CBR 1000RR SP2 #5, Dominique Aegerter, Randy de Puniet, Josh Hook),
– the Yoshimura Suzuki Motul Racing (Suzuki GSX-R 1000 2017 #12, Takuya Tsuda, Sylvain Guintoli, Josh Brookes),
– Kawasaki Team GREEN (Kawasaki ZX-10RR #11, Kazuma Watanabe, Leon Haslam, Azlan Shah bin Kamaruzaman),
– the Moriwaki Motul Racing (Honda CBR 1000RR SP2 #19, Yuki Takahashi, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Dan Linfoot))
Indeed, 8 Hours of Slovakia Ring have tightened the positions at the top of the FIM EWC World Championship 2016-2017. A single point now separates the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and Yamaha GMT94. THE YART Yamaha Official EWC Team can also still win the title.
A legendary event, the heat, the presence of factory machines on the track… Suzuka 8 Hours is always a highlight of the FIM EWC season. This year, we would have to add a suspense rarely achieved on the eve of a FIM EWC final. Last month, the Yamaha GMT94 established itself on the 1st edition of 8 Hours of Slovakia Ring but the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team made the experience speak and retains the lead in the 2016-2017 provisional ranking by finishing second in Slovakia. For the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, reigning World Champion, this first return to the podium since the disappearance of Anthony Delhalle was also imbued with a very particular emotion.
At the Suzuka 8 Hours where points are valued at 150%, the winner will receive 45 points, the second 36 points, the third 31,5 points… (see the Suzuka 8 Hours scale below).
The duel between the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Etienne Masson, Vincent Philippe et Sodo Hamhara) and the GMT94 Yamaha (David Checa, Mike di Meglio, Niccolo Canepa) will therefore be at the center of all attention at Suzuka, especially as the Japanese factory teams will join the fight for victory.
YART still in the race
This particular scale of points at the Suzuka 8 Hours also opens the hunt for the world title to YART Yamaha Official EWC Team, third in the provisional world ranking. In the event of a misstep by the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and the GMT94 Yamaha, a 4th place would be enough for the Austrian Yamaha team to pocket the world title. Yamaha #7 will be driven by Broc Parkes, Marvin Fritz et Kohta Nozane.
2016-2017 FIM EWC final round, the 40th anniversary of Suzuka 8 Hours will therefore be a major event not to be missed.
This final race will take place on Sunday July 30 from 4:30 a.m. French time.
Download the progress of the weekend!
How to watch the race live (timetables)
