Honda Wins 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours
T
he factory Honda team of
Tetsuta Nagashima, Takumi
Takahashi and Iker Lecuona domi-
nated the 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours,
coming home a lap ahead of the
Kawasaki Racing Team outfit of
Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and
Alex Lowes, and the Yoshimura
Suzuki SERT team of Gregg Black
and Kazuki Watanabe.
The HRC team led the field
away, but a safety car was de-
ployed after just one lap when
Kosuke Sakumoto, on the num-
ber 17 Astemo Honda Dream SI
Racing CBR1000RR-R, took out
Naomichi Uramoto on the SDG
Honda Racing machine heading
into turn 13.
With the safety car back in,
it was an early tussle for the
lead with Black, Takahashi and
Haslam all dicing after the restart,
before the HRC team in front
started to stretch out a lead.
With the early battles over,
strategic considerations soon
came into question, with the
Yamaha Austria Racing Team
(YART) the first to pit on lap 26.
The F.C.C Honda France entry
was next, Josh Hook swap-
ping for Mike Di Meglio, then
the SERT, Black changing with
Watanabe, and finally on lap 28
the number-33 HRC machine
came in with Takahashi swapping
to Nagashima. Kawasaki briefly
held the lead with Rea before it
then pitted a lap later.
A second safety car came out
at the two-hour mark after another
crash, but it was unchanged at
the front. Rea would then crash
while navigating traffic coming into
the chicane. The Brit was soon
back up, and the team's nearest
rival, YART, soon was in for their
next rider change, so positions
were swapped as the number-37
BMW, lying second at this stage
with rider Illia Mykhalchyk retiring
with overheating problems.
There was late drama in the
final hour, as YART with Marvin
Fritz crashed out after tangling
with the Akeno Speed Yamaha
Superstock entry. Fritz managed
to get the bike back to the pits but
the podium chance was gone with
Honda sweeping to its first race
win in eight years from Kawasaki
(in second) and Suzuki (third).
Fourth went to the S-Pulse
Dream Suzuki team from the
TOHO Honda outfit.
CN
IN
THE
WIND
P62
Honda blitzed the field
to record their first
Suzuka 8 Hours victory
in eight years.
