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2005 SUZUKA 8 HOURS

28th SUZUKA 8 HOURS - JULY 31 2005

World Endurance Motorcycle Championship:

RACE RESULT

• 1 Seven Stars Honda, Honda CBR1000RRW, Ukawa, Kiyonari, 204 laps
• 2 Seven Stars Honda, Honda CBR1000RRW, Vermeulen, Fujiwara, 201 laps
• 3 Auto Race Team HARC Pro, Honda CBR1000RR, Aoki, Yasuda, 200 laps
• 4 FCC TSR DyDo Honda, Honda CBR1000RR, Deguchi, Teshima, 199 laps
• 5 Masked Rider Honda, Honda CBR1000RR, Tokudome, Yamaguchi, 198 laps
• 6 Team Yoshiharu Yokkaichi, Honda CBR1000RR, Sugai, Brookes, 197 laps
• 7 Suzuki 0123 Castrol , FRA , Suzuki GSX-R1000, Philippe, Kagayama, 196 laps
• 8 Moto Map Wins, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Kawase, Tamitsuji, 195 laps
• 9 Yamaha Austria , AUT , Yamaha YZF-R1, Giabbani, Jerman, Saiger, 194 laps
• 10 Yoshimura Suzuki, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Kagayama, Watanabe, 193 laps

RACE REPORT

HONDA

• Ryuichi Kiyonari: 1st.: “I am really happy and I can't believe it. I expected a tough race so when Kagayama was pushing at the beginning, I was only thinking about my pace. Then I tried to concentrate on the race. When I handed the machine to Ukawa san for the last time, I told him about the remaining wet patches. I knew he could do it.”
• Tohru Ukawa: 1st.: “Fantastic, the best machine, the best partner and the best team made it possible. My lap times were not so fast during the first stint, then it started to rain during Ryuichi’s second run. But Ryuichi was stable and I wasn’t worried at all. Then Ito san’s team was catching up. After they had machine problems, we were on our own and we had to concentrate on our race. I didn’t push too much during the last run. Five wins is a great record, but I hope Ryuichi will break it one day.”
• Katsunori Suzuki: Team Manager. “I was worried when it started to rain and also when it started to dry out. We changed to wet tyres earlier than the other teams and that counted to our win. Yoshiteru Konishi, the reserve rider, advised us to do so. The total performance of our team resulted to the win.”
• Tsutomu Ishii : General Manager Honda Racing Corporation: “ Seven Star Honda 7 was racing consistently. The reasons for the win are that the start was good and also the decisions to change tyres were made at the right time. It was a perfect race.”
• Chris Vermeulen: 2nd.: “I truly understood that the Suzuka 8hr race is the most difficult race in the world. It was not so hot today so it was not so difficult physically, although the conditions were difficult. It was the first time for me using Michelin rain tyres and it was very good. I wanted to push harder but didn’t want to crash. Okada passed me and he was very fast and I was thinking of following him, which I didn’t. A few laps later, he crashed. I told Katsu “Good Luck” when he went out for the last run. He did a great job.”
• Katsuaki Fujiwara: 2nd.: “My back was hurting very badly during my two last stints. I had a pain-killing injection to endure it. I couldn’t even stand up properly on the podium after the race. Ukawa san left the waiting room before me saying “ Let’s do a one-two finish” and I promised to grab second place. The conditions changed so much today and it was a tough race. But Chris was riding consistently and I want to thank him for that. Next week, we have WSB and WSS in England and we want to win there.”
• Kazuhiko Yamano: team manager to Fujiwara and Vermeulen. “We did a perfect job today. I was the manager of winning team last year, but I am happier this year than last year, as we had to start from the beginning this year. It was our total performance, which resulted in the second place.”
• Tsutomu Ishii: General Manager “The race was not so easy for the #11 team (Fujiwara – Vermeulen). Still they did a good job. Everyone worked together for the common goal. The last thirty minutes was longer than eight hours for me.”

Seven Stars Honda 07 wins Suzuka 8 Hours

• Honda Takes First Six Places. The Suzuka 8 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has been won by the No.7 Seven Stars Honda of Kiyonari and Ukawa, with the No.11 Seven Stars Honda of Vermeulen and Fujiwara in second place and the HARC Pro Honda of Aoki and Yasuda third. Although the No.7 bike was one of the first to pit for fuel, it had already built up a ten second lead at the end of the first hour. While the No.778 FCC TSR Honda, the Yoshimura Suzuki, the Masked Rider Honda, the Moriwaki Honda and the YSP Yamaha fought for position the No.7 Honda was able to increase its lead over the course of the second hour. When a thunderstorm brought heavy rain at the start of the third hour, the two Seven Stars Hondas made the most of their Michelin rain tyres to move clear of the rest of the field.
• Suzuki 0123 Castrol had been up to third place before Kitagawa crashed, dropping the world championship leaders back down the standings. Yamaha Phase One also crashed and were forced to make their way back though the busy field, while their championship rivals Yamaha Austria were able to stay out of trouble and move into the top ten.
• The Seven Stars Hondas continued to circulate relentlessly as their rivals either fell behind or
  crashed in an effort to maintain the pace once the track dried. Suzuki Castrol eventually closed to seventh place, Yamaha Austria finished ninth, Yamaha Phase One (Nowland, Cudlin, Young) 18th, Shell Endurance Academy (Rohtlaan, Hogan, Wylie) 28th, Suzuki No Limits & RT Motor Team (Ruozi, Giachino, Codeluppi) 41st and Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team (Aliverti, Veghini, de Nardi) 43rd. The two permanent Kawasaki teams, Bolliger and Diablo, both crashed out of the race.
• Quotes:
  Vincent Philippe, Suzuki 0123 Castrol, 7th place: “Comme si, comme ca. This race was good for our championship, for sure. It was a difficult, difficult race; two small crashes lost us ten minutes in the pit, so this was not so good.”
• Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria, 9th place: “The race was pretty hard with the weather, but the first session was okay. After Igor went out the rain came and we ended up in tenth place; we were happy with that so we’re pleased to finish in ninth. At the start of the week we didn’t expect to do so well, and it’s good for our championship. The future is good.”
• Russell Benney, Yamaha Phase One Endurance, 18th place: “I’ve come away from races many times with absolutely nothing before now, so I’m very pleased with our result today. We’ve got points on the board again, so we’re off to Oschersleben to use that as a spring board for the rest of the championship.”
• Calvin Hogan, Shell Endurance Academy, 28th place: “The race has been good. We qualified low down but we always knew we’d make places up. We had a problem in the first stint with gear level travel but we sorted it out fairly quickly. My second stint was in the rain which made it very difficult but it came to our advantage in the end because both of our main rivals – Bolliger and Diablo – had crashes, so for the championship it’s worked out really well. Very happy with the result.”
• Federico Aliverti, Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team, 43rd place: “For us this was a very hard race, very difficult.”

QUALIFYING

• 1 Shinichi Itoh, Honda CBR1000RR 2m 8.072
• 2 Tohru Ukawa, Honda CBR1000RRW 2m 8.565
• 3 Kazuki Tokudome, Honda CBR1000RR 2m 8.628
• 4 Yoshimura Suzuki , JPN , Suzuki GSX-R1000 , Y.Kagayama , 2:08.657
• 5 YSP & Presto Yamaha , JPN , Yamaha YZF-R1 , S.Nakatomi , 2:09.033
• 6 FCC TSR DyDo Honda , JPN , Honda CBR1000RR , O.Deguchi , 2:09.336
• 7 Suzuki 0123 Castrol , FRA , Suzuki GSX-R1000 , K.Kitagawa , 2:09.616
• 8 Seven Stars Honda , JPN , Honda CBR1000RRW , K.Fujiwara , 2:09.744
• 9 Weider Honda ATS , JPN , Honda CBR1000RR , S.Moriwaki , 2:10.068
• 10 Moriwaki Motul Tiger , JPN , Honda CBR1000RR , L.Camier, 2:10.139

Suzuka 8 Hours – Special Stage

No.778 FCC TSR Honda Take Pole Position

• The No.778 FCC TSR Honda will start on pole position for tomorrow’s Suzuka 8 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship. The top twenty grid positions are decided by a high-pressure two-part super pole style Special Stage session which sees two riders from each team attempt a single ultra-fast lap time. All of the ‘slower’ riders from each team go first, in the “Attack” stage. The quicker riders from each team then have chance to improve on their team mate’s performance in the “Jump Up” stage. The teams’ fastest times from either Attack or Jump Up stage are then used to set the grid positions.
• No.7 Seven Stars Honda’s Toru Ukawa set the fastest time in the Attack phase with a time of 2:08.565. The No.778 FCC TSR Honda of Tsujimura was second and the No.12 Yoshimura Suzuki of Watanabe third.
• Suzuki Castrol’s Vincent Phillipe crashed halfway round his lap, to collective groans from the spectators packing the grandstands and pit lane. He had just set the fastest first sector split time of the day and seemed to be on the way to beating his personal best. His crash put extra pressure on Keiichi Kitagawa to do well in the “Jump Up” stage, but Special Stage old hand Kitagawa was able to pull the team back up to fifth place with a time of 2:09.616.
• Yamaha YSP Presto and FCC TSR Honda No.5 then both improved their first stage times, knocking Suzuki 123 Castrol back to an eventual seventh on the grid. Kiyonari was unable to beat his Honda team mate Ukawa’s time on the Jump Up stage, but Shinichi Itoh managed to shave half a second off Ukawa’s time in the second to last run of the day to take pole position for FCC TSR Honda with a time of 2:08.071.

FRI QUALIFYING

• 1. Tatsuya Yamaguchi and Kazuki Tokudome, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:8.245
• 2. Takeshi Tsujimura and Shinichi Ito, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:8.82
• 3. Atushi Watanabe and Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 2:9.178
• 4. Ryuichi Kyonari and Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 2:9.352
• 5. Osamu Deguchi and Yusuke Teshima, Honda, 2:9.547
• 6. Shinichi Nakatomi/Wataru Yoshikawa, Yamaha, 2:9.597
• 7. Toshiyuki Hamaguchi and Shogo Moriwaki, Honda, 2:10.097
• 8. Keiichi Kitagawa, Vincent Philippe, and Matthieu Lagrive, Suzuki, 2:10.191
• 9. Naoki Matsudo and Leon Camier, Honda
• 10. Haruchika Aoki and Takeshi Yasuda, Honda
• 13. Katsuaki Fujiwara and Chris Vermeulen, Honda

Masked Rider Honda’s Tokudome Fastest

• Suzuki Castrol Through to Super Pole Special Stage
  Eighty teams have spent today fighting for seventy Suzuka 8 Hours grid positions, with the leading bikes also chasing a top-twenty position and entry into tomorrow’s Super Pole special stage. Kazuki Tokudome on the No.4 Masked Rider Honda CBR1000RR put in the fastest time of the day with a lap of 2:08.245 to take provisional pole. Shinichi Ito was second quickest on the No.778 FCC TSR CBR1000RR with a best time of 2:08.820. These two Group A riders were the only ones to dip into the 2:08 bracket.
• The quickest team in group B was third fastest overall, No.12 Yoshimura Suzuki’s Yukio
  Kagayama recording a time of 2:09.178. Fourth place overall went to the No.7 HRC
  Honda of Kiyonari and Ukawa (2:09.352), fifth overall to the No.55 FCC TSR Honda
  (2:09.547), sixth to the No.21 YSP Presto Yamaha (2:09.597) and seventh to the 044
  Weider Honda(2:10.097). Suzuki Castrol were eighth overall with a time of 2:10.191 put in
  by Keichi Kitagawa, with team mate Vincent Philippe just a couple of tenths behind on
  2:10.370.
• With ten qualifying sessions (three riders, two groups, two sessions per rider…) spread
  over nearly ten hours (qualifying started at 9:15am and finished at 18:45pm) the track and
  weather conditions have varied significantly over the course of the day. The top twenty
  starting grid positions will be decided by a double jeopardy two stage Super Pole contest
  tomorrow afternoon.
• For the rest of the permanent World Endurance Championship teams qualifying has been
  about finding a set-up which will work on the incredibly technical track, and – for those
  here for the first time - simply learning the circuit.

Qualifying Quotes:

• Chris Vermeulen, Seven Stars Honda 11: “There were a lot of backmarkers and I couldn’t get a clear lap. Japanese riders are very fast here, but if I can get a set of good tyres tomorrow I think I can get to the 2:09s during the Special stage.”
• Vincent Philippe, Suzuki Castrol: “I think today it has been okay. Kitagawa did a good time in first qualifying, and today is cool for me because yesterday I crashed twice. I’ve changed tyres, and in the first session I just rode for the race; I’m now confident because we can do consistent good lap times. The important thing is to be in Super Pole, so it’s ok, no problem!”
• Gwen Giabbani Yamaha Austria: “We are looking for some solutions, because we are still pretty far away on the lap times. At this moment I would say that we still have a lot of work to do. We had problems with the handling but now it’s okay and the grip is not a big problem… Everything looks to be okay, but on the track the lap times are not there. This morning we tried something completely crazy and it worked; this is Suzuka.”
• Warwick Nowland, Yamaha Phase One Endurance: “It was good, but it’s just so hard here because I want to make the front all the time – in the first three at least – and we just don’t have a chance. We’re not going to get into Super Pole because there are so many fast bikes, so that’s horribly disappointing, but I think four hours into the race we’ll be a bit happier. We’re going forward all the time, and finding good tyres, so that’s good.“
• James Hutchins, Kawasaki Diablo 666: “Qualifying has been tough. I’m a bit shellshocked to realise quite how much machinery we’re up against. We haven’t really got the tyres here that we wanted to use, and it’s like fighting a never ending battle. We just want something nice to happen. I feel good about what we’ve done but there are still a few hurdles we’ve got to get over.“

Suzuka 8 Hours – 31st July 2005

• Championship Introduction
  The World Endurance Championship is a unique and gruelling test of motorcycle and
  rider power and endurance - a worldwide phenomenon that's a massive hit with race fans,
  riders and teams alike.
• The Championship is one of only three world road racing championships officially
  sanctioned by the FIM. World Endurance races are known for their spectacular starts,
  which see the riders sprint across the track to their waiting motorcycles. Race weekends
  are hugely popular festivals with music and all kinds of entertainment for spectators. Last
  year saw production based motorcycles from twelve manufacturers ridden by competitors
  from twenty different nations competing for overall honour.
  This year’s championship is currently led by Suzuki Castrol, winners of the Assen 50 and
  Albacete 8 Horas races. Kawasaki Bolliger Team are in second place, Yamaha Austria
  third, Kawasaki Diablo fourth and Yamaha Phase One Endurance fifth. All of these teams
  will be at Suzuka, along with seventh placed Yamaha Shell Endurance Academy, eighth
  placed Suzuki No Limits & RT Racing Team and the Aprilia Motociclismo Test team.

Suzuka Race Weekend

• Free practice for the Suzuka 8 Hours race begins on Thursday, and there are two timed
  qualifying sessions for each rider on Friday. Saturday is reserved for the SuperPole style
  “Attack” and “Jump Up” special stage qualifying for the fastest 20 teams to decide
  their grid positions; this is a real spectacle which takes most of the afternoon and is avidly
  watched by the spectators who fill the grandstands.
• The 8 Hours race starts at 11:30am local time on Sunday morning, and finishes just after
  nightfall at 7:30pm. Support activities include a four hour endurance race for SuperSport class bikes, several pit walks every day, a variety of start-line attractions and the Eve of Suzuka Festival on Saturday night.

Quotes

• Samuela De Nardi – Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team: “The Suzuka 8 Hours is a mythical race, and to be able to take part at 21 years old is a great honour. I feel a lot of responsibility, but it will be a great adventure to tell my grandchildren. The thing that scares me the most is the Japanese riders; they only race at Suzuka, know every centimetre of the track and live just for this race. For now we can only practice Suzuka with videogames, but hopefully we'll learn the track and make a good impression."
• Warwick Nowland – Yamaha Phase One Endurance: “Suzuka is without doubt, a very
  strange and difficult race. The humidity is tough, the temperature is high and the local riders are under pressure from the factories and/or themselves. For me, Suzuka is a survival race. We simply don’t have the outright speed to try and beat local and factory supported teams. Add in the amount of testing Honda and Suzuki have done and it puts us on the back foot to start. That’s a bit frustrating because I’ve never gone racing with the hope that other riders or their teams will falter. So the aim is to perfect everything we have. The guy’s are more than aware of this and are ready to show that three World Championships are not just luck.
• Keiichi Kitagawa – Suzuki Castrol: “We must do something special for the Suzuka 8 Hour
  race, because the level of competition there is very high. We hope to get a special engine
  from the Suzuki factory.”

Race Curiousities

• The Suzuka entry list is packed with eighty teams, comprising bikes from six classes.
  Entries in the Superbike, SuperProduction and SuperStock classes will compete for
  championship points, while those in the Japanese Superbike, Formula Xtreme Division 1
  and Formula Xtreme Division 2 will be going all out for Suzuka glory and also adding
  some fascinating technical diversity. The Suzuka specials include a Ducati Monster, a
  BMW R1100S, a hand-built Kawasaki Z1 based special and a unique cruiser engined
  special from Japanese tuning shop Over.
  Aprilia’s Samuela De Nardi will be only the eighth woman rider to compete at Suzuka, and
  the first European woman to take part in over twenty years. The eight permanent teams
  travelling to Japan this year is also a record, and reflects the importance of this race to the
  World Endurance Championship; points scored at Suzuka have been crucial to the
  championship result for the last five years.

Last Years Race

• The 2004 Suzuka 8 Hours race was won by the No.7 Seven Stars Honda of Ukawa and
  Izutsu. The No.11 Seven Stars Honda led from the start, before being passed by the No.7
  Honda, with the No.8 Suzuki and No. 778 FCC TSR close behind. The No.7 Honda then
  held the lead until the end of the race, a truly impressive feat.
  Two of the favourite teams went out in the opening hours of the race; the No.11 Seven
  Stars Honda was crashed by Kamada after only seventeen minutes, and the No.778 FCC
  TSR Honda was forced to retire after less than two hours on track.
  Permanent championship team Yamaha GMT94 steadily worked their way through the
  field to eighth place, making them the first Yamaha across the line. Yamaha Austria
  finished in thirteenth place overall. Yamaha Phase One Endurance finished in a solid
  seventeenth place and Suzuki Castrol - who had looked set for a good result, running in
  seventh place in the early stages - managed to work their way back to 35th place after a
  crash.

The Road to Suzuka (JULY 7, 2005)

• Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Aprilia Teams Head for Japan.
• Aprilia’s De Nardi First Women Competitor at Suzuka 8H
• The Suzuka 8 Hour round of the FIM World Endurance Championship takes place at the end of this month, and for the permanent world championship teams making the long trip out to Japan preparations are already well under way. Eight teams will be travelling out from Europe to join the 72 Japanese entries in what is widely regarded as the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world.
• Suzuki Castrol’s Vincent Phillipe and Keiichi Kitagawa have already taken part in last month’s Suzuka 300km warm-up race. This is the 20th anniversary year for the GSX-R model range and the Suzuki factory is putting all its resources behind securing a Suzuka 8
  Hour victory and the World Endurance Championship title in 2005. Yamaha Phase One have recruited Suzuka veteran Paul Young to ride alongside Warwick Nowland and Damien Cudlin, while Yamaha Austria will take their regular team of Igor Jerman, Gwen Giabbani and Horst Saiger to Japan. Both teams have taken part in additional testing sessions ahead of the eight hour race. The full Yamaha Shell Endurance Academy line up of Marko Rohtlaan, Ben Wylie and Calvin Hogan are also entered this year, after Rohtlaan’s success in 2004.
• Five permanent teams will be making their first trip to Japan this year. The Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team riders will be Federico Alverti, Daniele Veghini and Samuela de Nardi, the first European women to compete at Suzuka. Kawasaki Bolliger Team are
  currently holding second place in the championship standings, and will run David Morillon, Roman Stamm and Fred Moreira. Their sister team Kawasaki Diablo’s James Hutchins and Steve Mizera will be joined by BSB rider Gary Mason, and Suzuki No Limits & RT have entered Roberto Ruozi, Andrea Giachino and Moreno Codeluppi. Factory supported entries from all of the major Japanese manufacturers and tuning companies will be the main challenge to the European competitors, but weird and wonderful wildcard entries are always a feature of Suzuka. Twin cylinder bikes from Ducati, BMW and Over will line up alongside the factory HRC Hondas, Yoshimura Suzukis and endurance specialist permanent teams, in front of the biggest World Endurance Championship crowd of the year.

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