Preview: 2017 Suzuka 8-Hour
Eleven Aussies will don their leathers in the annual classic, attempting to join the likes of Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Kevin Magee and Daryl Beattie on the winners' listJapan's iconic Suzuka 8 Hour world endurance race will be held for the 40th time this weekend, with a cluster of Aussie stars vying for victory.
Jack Miller (Musashi RT HARC-PRO Honda), Broc Parkes (YART Yamaha), Josh Brookes (Yoshimura Suzuki) and Josh Hook (FCC TSR Honda) represent the best chance of snapping Australia's 25-year winless drought in the 8 Hour, with Daryl Beattie and Wayne Gardner the last to claim the honours way back in 1992.
MotoGP campaigner Miller is making his first appearance in the prestigious event, which is a massive test of physical and mental mettle where heat and humidity are all-encompassing from start to finish. To add to the intrigue, the last hour of the race is held in the dark, as the field of vision narrows and the scenery changes.
Miller will ride alongside Takumi Takahashi and Moto2 rider Takaaki Nakagami as Honda's factory team looks to snap Yamaha's two-race winning streak in the event. Musashi RT HARC-PRO is a three-time 8 Hour winner. Casey Stoner rode with the team in 2015, but spectacularly crashed out when the throttle on the CBR1000RR stuck open.
Defending champion Yamaha Factory Racing Team returns with two of its riders from 2016 – Katsuyuki Nakasuga and WorldSBK pilot Alex Lowes – while Michael van der Mark will take the place of Pol Espargaro.
Hook has been drafted into the FCC TSR team as a late replacement for the indisposed Stefan Bradl, and he will ride alongside Dominique Aegerter and Randy de Puniet.
Brookes' teammates will be Sylvain Guintoli and Takuya Tsuda, and Parkes will ride alongside Marvin Fritz and Kohta Nozane.
Other leading outfits include Kawasaki Team Green (Kazuma Watanabe, Leon Haslam and Azlan Shah Bin Kamaruzaman), and Moriwaki Motul Racing (Yuki Takahashi, Ryuichi Kiyonari and Dan Linfoot) on the CBR1000RR SP2. Kiyonari is a four-time Suzuka 8-Hour winner.
Meanwhile, Team Green was second in 2016, ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki.
The other Aussies competing in the Suzuka 8 Hour are:
- Alex Cudlin for S-Pulse Dream Racing (Suzuki);
- Josh Waters for Moto Map Supply (Suzuki);
- Damien Cudlin for Team SUP Dream Honda;
- Anthony West for Akeno Speed Yamaha;
- Mark Aitchison for Team JP RS-Itoh (Kawasaki); and
- Jamie Stauffer and Jason O'Halloran for Dream RT Sakurai Honda.
The top 10 teams in qualifying will then move on to the Top 10 Trial on Saturday, where two riders from each team will run a single qualifying lap to decide the final grid. The race will start at 11:30am on Sunday Suzuka time (12:30pm AEST).
There will be live coverage on Eurosport.
In addition to Gardner (1985-1986, 1991-1992) and Beattie (1992), other Australians to have won the 8 Hour are Mick Cole (1979), Tony Hatton (1979), Kevin Magee (1987-1988) and Mick Doohan (1991).
Other heavyweights of the road racing scene to have greeted the chequered flag include Valentino Rossi, Colin Edwards, Carlos Checa, Jonathan Rea, Carlos Checa, Eddie Lawson, Alex Barros, Aaron Slight, Wayne Rainey and Graeme Crosby.
Honda has dominated the Suzuka 8 Hour since its inception, and has 27 victories, way ahead of Yamaha (six), Suzuki (five) and Kawasaki (one).
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
