[HONDA] Satu HATI. Honda Team Asia, the Highest Ranked Honda Team, Finished 8th at the Suzuka 8 Hours

#22 Satu HATI. Honda Team Asia (Md Zaqhwan Zaidi / Dimas Ekky Pratama) was the highest ranked Honda team, finishing the 8th, at the 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship Series Round 3, The 39th “Coca-Cola Zero” Suzuka 8hours FIM Endurance World Championship (Suzuka 8 hours), held at the Suzuka circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan.

Saturday’s TOP10 Trial had determined the complete starting grid, with #5 F.C.C. TSR Honda (Patrick Jacobsen / Dominique Aegerter / Kazuma Watanabe) the highest qualifying Honda team, at the 4th place.

634 MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO. (Michael van der Mark / Nicky Hayden / Takumi Takahashi) started the 5th, and #104 TOHO Racing (Gino Rea / Tatsuya Yamaguchi / Ratthapong Wilairot) the 8th. Friday’s qualifying placed #22 Satu HATI. Honda Team Asia (Md Zaqhwan Zaidi / Dimas Ekky Pratama) the 11th on the grid, with Honda Suzuka Racing (Daijiro Hiura / Takashi Yasuda / Yudai Kamei) the 13th and #090 au&Teluru·KoharaRT (Damian Cudlin / Hikari Ohkubo / Kosuke Akiyoshi) the 16th.

68 racing machines lined the grid anticipating the start of the race. In its traditional Le Mans style, the race started at 11:30am under sunny conditions for the long 8 hours race.

The #5 F.C.C. TSR Honda’s 1st rider, Aegerter, made an impressive start to finish Lap 1 up in the 2nd, while Yamaguchi (TOHO Racing) took a good start and crossed the first line in the 6th and Takahashi (MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO.) the 9th. As Takahashi ups the pace to the early 2 min 9s and chases the lead group, Aegerter slips on the second chicane. Although he is quickly back in the race, the bike is damaged, and he pits for repairs.

#634 Takahashi (MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO.) continues to chase the leaders, and by Lap 10 he clocks the fastest lap at 2 min 08s 829. Using the back-markers to his advantage, Takahashi moves up to the 3rd on Lap 13.

Back in the pits, #5 F.C.C. TSR Honda frantically repairs the bike, and in 20 minutes comes back out on the track. Jacobsen rides the bike now, determined to make up for lost time.

At the 1 hour mark, teams pitted as planned for fuel and rider changes. #634 Takahashi gives the bike over to van der Mark on Lap 26. Pitting at the same time, #17 Team KAGAYAMA (Suzuki) running 2nd at the time has problems, relinquishing 2nd to van der Mark, to chase the race leader #21 Yamaha Factory Racing Team.

#104 TOHO Racing, in the 5th place, had switched riders to Rea, but he falls at the hairpin, requiring 10 minutes to fix the machine back in the pits. Willairot took over to return to the track.

2 hours after the race started, teams were back in the pits for the second time. van der Mark handed the #634 MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO. bike over to the former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden, who was out of the pits in the 2nd and chasing the #21 Yamaha ahead.

#22 Satu HATI. Honda Team Asia, now with Pratama riding, was up to the 6th place on Lap 60. Sebastian Gimbert took over for #111 HONDA ENDURANCE RACING, attempting to make the top 10.

On Lap 70, Gimbert succeeds to keep the 10th place, with #18 Mistresa with ATS (Takahiro Nakatsuhara / Ryuta Kobayashi / Taro Sekiguchi) close behind in the 11th. #96 TEAM FRONTER (Kazuki Tokudome / Tomoyoshi Koyama / Satoru Iwata) moves up to 13th.

As the race leader started Lap 75, #634 Hayden’s machine suddenly stopped at the second chicane. Hayden, and his bike, are transported back to the pits, where all the team’s efforts to fix the machine and get back into the race were to no avail, as they finally retired.

→ Read the full article.

Original Source [ Honda ] (* Japanese)