We are fans of the Suzuka 8 Hours! This explains why we have always put this race forward, despite its staggered schedule for Europeans and despite the obscurantism which reigns both around its specificities and its preparations.
No matter: the aura of this event, which sees the factory teams of the four Japanese manufacturers compete, justified us spending hours on the phone with our correspondents on site as well as deciphering the sites and blogs Japanese teams, drivers and even fans.
This year, the race was expected to be more intense than ever, and it was, maintaining all its suspense for 7 hours 54 minutes and 16 seconds, that is to say until 6 minutes from the finish where the events that took place took place. we know: explosion of the engine of the SERT Suzuki at the end of the straight then fall of the leader Jonathan Rhea 2 laps later (7h58m27s) in a left turn previously cut by Étienne Masson on the handlebars of his motorcycle which was spraying his oil, and the race was stopped at 7h58m38s as a few drops of rain began to fall quite heavily in this part of the circuit .
A bit to everyone's surprise for those who know the endurance regulations (we will understand why later. See below), 10 minutes after the end of the race, the Yamaha was announced as the winner and its crew celebrated this victory on the podium, even if we can see that we are not really euphoric on Iwata's side, in particular with Eric de Seynes who keeps success modest or with Michael van der Mark who immediately recognizes “honestly, we don’t deserve this victory, we made a lot of mistakes, especially in the pits”...
A victory by default which nevertheless completes a series of 5 consecutive successes.
A few (long) moments later, following a complaint from the Kawasaki team, the FIM was forced to announce the victory of Jonathan Rhea et Leon Haslam with a new provisional classification, pending technical verification of the motorcycles.
Since then, on the various official sites (including the live timing no longer working, well before the last hour of the race), nothing!
Not an allusion, not an explanation! Just as previously, no mention had been made of the typhoon which led to the cancellation of the Top 10 Trial or of the penalty for Honda #634 (even though these two pieces of information had been known since the day before)! Brief…
From then on, as was to be expected, questions abound in the paddock…
Why wasn't the Safety Car released after the Suzuki's engine failed?
Why did this one return to the track after leaving it?
What was the part of oil or rain that caused Jonathan Rea to fall, given that he had already passed this place without falling in the previous lap? The question is asked by Bridgestone and the responsibility of the Race Direction or Jonathan Rea himself depends on the answer, normally with different consequences in the ranking…
Why announce the Yamaha winner if the regulations do not mention a time limit to reach the parc ferme?
Why wait until Monday to have a definitive ranking?
Why hide all this from the official reports and not give the slightest explanation?
Let's be clear, these few questions without an officially publicized answer give for the moment a rather negative image of this ordeal which should have been a celebration. It just goes to waste and leaves a bad taste in the mouth...
At a time when endurance is trying to revitalize its championship under the leadership of the FIM and Eurosport Events, this type of omission could perfectly harm a discipline which really does not deserve it, as the men who constitute it are heroes of modern times.
Let's turn the page and hope that many elements will be clarified for next season, in particular with regard to the Suzuka 8 Hours (Is it normal that the special regulations for testing are not available other than, perhaps, in Japanese? And again, we haven't found it).
Certainly the event is legendary, certainly it is sufficient in itself and the Japanese do not have much to do with the world endurance championship (it was necessary to position Suzuka as the final of the championship, and therefore their grant the 50% more points, so that they agree to be part of it), but from the moment this is the case, it seems essential that absolute clarity is required, especially since this This event has many specificities, like the next 8 Hours of Sepang which will serve as pre-qualification (as well as a possible mysterious race in Japan)...
Although informed during various briefings (drivers, teams) that a motorcycle had to reach the parc ferme within 5 minutes to be classified, this point had not yet been legally added to the current regulations.
The Kawasaki team played on this.
Very far from sport and not really beautiful. Let's hope at least that they will not have the nerve to immediately exploit this victory acquired on the green carpet after a nevertheless fantastic race from Jonathan Rea...
Part of the answers to the previous questions are fortunately provided by Eric de Seynes:
Eric de Seynes : « The 8 hours of Suzuka were strong, intense, hard and testing until the end, ending with subtleties in the regulations.”
“The atmosphere was, like every year, incredible with an audience that remains exceptional. Our Factory, official and private teams produced great performances to finally finish 2nd (Factory, Lowes/Nakasuga/Van der Mark), 6th (YART, Canepa/Fritz/Parkes) and 2nd superstock (NCXX Racing with Stéphan Hill). Congratulations to the 12 crews who finished this memorable edition, in particular the European teams who made the trip: Maco, Motobox and VRD Igol Pierret Viltais.”
“The race was incredibly competitive... At the end of the 6th hour, 9 seconds separated the first 3 and in the end, after 8 hours, it was a gap of 18 seconds which separated the Kawasaki 10 from the Yamaha 21.”
“For our riders, the race was a constant pursuit after a Honda which consumed a little less and systematically regained the lead for a few laps, after each refueling of the 10 and 21. And after a Kawasaki which we held on the track but which took us back 3 to 4 seconds at the aid stations. At the finish, the 10 was declared the winner with 18 seconds ahead of the Yamaha 21, while we lost 25 seconds to them in the pits.”
“Nakasuga had an exemplary performance throughout the race, Michael was terribly courageous because he suffered from his wrist, recently operated on, especially at the end of each stint because the riding position on the bike was set for Nakasuga and Lowes , close to 1m70 while he exceeds them by almost a head. Finally Alex was impeccable. No fouls, a permanent attack and a warrior’s temperament.”
“Before his last stint, we exchange. What strategy? Taking back 26s from the leading bike seems unplayable. I tell him “keep pushing, we are in endurance and everything can come down to a mistake. It's been 7 hours that all the drivers have been pushing relentlessly, everyone is worn out and we have to keep up the pressure. Try to drive 0,5s faster than them and make them doubt, don’t play it safe.” He will drive hard, benefit from light rain on part of the circuit to regain more than 3 seconds per lap on the Honda and take second place with 25 minutes to go, then the end of the race arrives. He has already gained 8s on the leading bike. He is still pushing and Rea makes a mistake 3 minutes from the end of the race, falling apparently due to the change in grip rather than the Suzuki's oil or water! Besides, he is the only one to fall. He falls, and the motorcycle does not start again. Instead of a pace car, the race direction brings out the red flag.”
“In WSBK as in MotoGP, all motorcycles have 5 minutes to return to the parc ferme and validate the classification of the lap preceding the red flag (which was also indicated in the riders' briefing documents).”
“We are in the parc ferme, waiting with our riders, it is 19:35 p.m., it has been 7 minutes since the red flag was shown and the Kawasaki does not fit. The race management announces the 21 winner of the race. It's hard to believe it, but it's beautiful, it's hard, it's endurance. Sharing with the drivers, photos, mechanics in tears, shared feeling of joy and disbelief.. podium, photos, joy. We wait for the pilots to return to take our family photo, and there we witness the start of the palaver.”
Kawasaki has lodged a complaint, we are examining the texts and, legally, the endurance regulations have not yet aligned with WSBK and MotoGP. The checkered flag was not presented with the red flag and that changes everything. The pace car is not released and that changes everything. This changes a victory into a second place. It makes the end of this day terribly strange, we try to support each other, to share.”
“The race was incredibly intense, beautiful and worthy of the legend of the Suzuka 8h.”
“We are competitors, not lamenters. We congratulate the winner on his race and we will go for victory again here in 2019. We are this year's Manufacturers' World Champion and we are delighted with it.
Finally, we are looking forward to meeting all our competitors for the next endurance world championship, starting with the next gold medal and the new 8h of Sepang! They can count on us to achieve victory, and the public can also count on our total commitment.”
“Long live motorcycling, long live endurance, long live sport!” ".
Ladies & gentlemen, the 2019 #Suzuka8H winners! pic.twitter.com/256S19eLZS
— FIM EWC (@FIM_EWC) July 28, 2019
