After 198 laps and over 1,000kms of racing, the Honda TT Legends today completed the Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance World Championship race in 22nd place.

The race began at 11.30am local time in 36°C heat, with Suzuka novice Michael Rutter taking part in the running start from 29th on the grid. He brought the bike back safely having battled to 16th place, passing the baton to team-mate and fellow Suzuka newcomer Simon Andrews.

Around halfway through his stint, Andrews made an unscheduled pit stop with clutch issues. The ever-efficient Honda TT Legends crew performed a clutch change within 14 minutes, returning the CBR1000RR Fireblade to the race with John McGuinness on board.

For the next five hours, the team fought its way back up the timesheet with consistent laps from all three riders. Despite a rear puncture just before the halfway stage, the team lay in 25th place by the end of the penultimate stint. With just half an hour to go, it began to rain and McGuinness was forced to pit and switch to wets. He rejoined and completed the race safely, crossing the line in 22nd place.

Despite the efforts of the riders and crew throughout what was a difficult and eventful race for all teams, the Honda TT Legends leave the iconic Japanese circuit without scoring championship points. The next outing for the team will be the Oschersleben 8 Hour in August.


Neil Tuxworth

We’re all disappointed as a team to be honest. This is not the result we wanted to come away with from Suzuka. We had a few issues throughout the race that held us back and to leave without points is frustrating. We’ll go back and analyse what went wrong so we can head to Oschersleben with the clear aim of improving our performance.

John McGuinness

I’m really disappointed for everybody because so much time, so much effort, so much hard work goes into these races. We had a good fuel strategy and we were looking good for seven stops but we had a few issues – the clutch and the flat tyre – that meant we gave minutes away that it was impossible to get back. We went from 50-odd to 22nd so we clawed our way back but I feel like we deserve more as a team. The clutches on these Hondas are bullet-proof so I don’t know what happened. On the plus side, this is my third Suzuka 8 Hour but it’s the first time I’ve done the final stint and that was pretty special. The atmosphere here really is fantastic and the Japanese fans are great.

Michael Rutter

I’ve wanted to do the Suzuka 8 Hour for so long that I can’t believe I’ve done it really. It’s a real shame we had the issues but we pulled back to a half decent result having lost about eight laps after the clutch problem. I’m glad I’ve done it, it’s a real achievement so thanks to the team for making that happen.

Simon Andrews

We had a few issues but the team overcame them well. That’s endurance racing. You need to be able to finish and we did finish, we just had a few mishaps along the way. To come from 53rd to the 22nd is pretty good. It was hard work in the heat in the daytime, particularly the second stint, but the final one in the evening was a lot easier. I’m pretty happy, its been a great trip and a great experience. I love riding this track and it’s a tick off my bucket list.

Championship standings

1 SRC Kawasaki 40 pts KAWASAKI
2 Monster Energy Yamaha-YART 33 pts YAMAHA
3 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 28 pts SUZUKI
4 Yamaha France GMT94 Michelin Yamalube 24 pts YAMAHA
5 Team R2CL 21 pts SUZUKI
6 National Motos 19 pts HONDA
7 Maco Racing Team 17 pts YAMAHA
8 RAC 41 Yam Avenue Ipone 15 pts YAMAHA
9 Bolliger Team Switzerland 8 13 pts KAWASAKI
10 FMA Assurances 11 pts HONDA
11 Team Space Moto 37 10 pts SUZUKI
12 SPE Samurai 9 pts SUZUKI
13 Team Dunlop Motors Events 8 pts SUZUKI
14 Flembbo Dijimant Serbia 7 pts KAWASAKI

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