The Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) team won this Sunday the 8 Hours of Suzuka (Japan), the third round of the Motorcycle Endurance World Championship, clearly dominating with this stellar trio consisting of the Japanese Tetsuta Nagashima and Takumi Takahashi and the Valencian. Iker Lecuona who made his debut in this competition. They completed 214 laps in eight hours, leading the Kawasakis of British trio Leon Haslam, Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea, who dropped within a lap. Yoshimura SERT Motul Suzuki, with just two riders – Frenchman Gregg Black and Japanese Kazuki Watanabe after losing Sylvain Guintoli to injury in an earlier test – finished third, two laps down.
The defending title team increased its advantage in the general classification, thanks to the 10th place, with six laps down penalized by a mechanical problem, of FCC TSR Honda France who ran only with the Australian Josh Hook and the Frenchman Mike Di Meglio while his third driver, Gino Rea, is still fighting for his life in a nearby hospital after his very serious accident on Saturday in the third free practice at Suzuka. His health condition is alarming.
The BMW Motorrad World Endurance team, which won last June at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), was forced to retire shortly before the halfway mark.
The safety car had to intervene on several occasions, first on the first lap after an impressive run on the track and then after an incident involving YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC, on the eve of the final hour. The N.7 bike, which was in the top four for most of the race, had to spend a lot of time in the pits and gave up its hopes of finishing on the podium, finishing in 7th position with 5 laps to go.
The race also marked the farewell of Japanese rider Nobuatsu Aoki, 50, after more than three decades on the track, including almost two in motorcycling, from 1990 to 2008.
The fourth and final round of the world endurance championship, the Bol d’Or, in its centenary year, will take place from September 15 to 18 at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet (France).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
