The Honda Endurance Racing team resumes its 2015 World Endurance Championship campaign this week for the 38th “Coca-Cola Zero” Suzuka 8 Hours, fresh from taking part in the 24 Hours of Catalunya, in Barcelona, where the squad finished second.
Honda’s endurance specialists Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sébastien Gimbert on-board the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP, will battle the heat and extreme conditions at the 5.821km Honda-owned Suzuka circuit, against 70 EWC teams – including their usual EWC rivals and a host of specialist Japanese outfits.
After a positive outing in Barcelona, ten days ago, Da Costa, Foray and Gimbert will be aiming for a podium finish, but the team’s main objective is to score as many important championship points as possible.
The Suzuka 8 Hours will start at 11:30 Japanese Standard Time (GMT+9) on Sunday 26 July. For all the latest news on the team in real time follow @HondaRacingCBR on Twitter.
Neil TuxworthWe are going to the Suzuka 8 Hours after a very successful event in Barcelona, the changes madeon the CBR since Le Mans were positive and our riders had 24-hours racing in hot conditions, whichwas a very good test before Suzuka. We are confident ahead of the race and we’ll aim to finish onthe podium and collect some important championship points at Honda’s home circuit.
Julien Da CostaLast year we were strong at Suzuka but unfortunately we had a small issue during the race. Thisyear, I think we will be able to finish in the top-five if everything goes to plan. We have good fuelconsumption, which is a good thing at Suzuka because it’s a very long circuit, so if we can get lesspit stops than the other teams, I think we’ll be able to save a lot of time. It’s a really exciting raceevery year and we are really looking forward to compete against MotoGP legend Casey Stoner, aswell as the rest of the other riders.
Freddy ForayI remember last year at Suzuka – it was tough with hot temperatures and humidity. For sure thisyear the confidence is good ahead of the race; we have to push 100% and hopefully score some all-important points. Racing with Casey Stoner is also great, if I could overtake him on the brakes justonce, it would definitely be something amazing!
Sébastien GimbertI feel quite confident ahead of Suzuka; last year we felt very comfortable on the Fireblade, wequalified for the Superpole and the first hours of the race went really well. It's always great to racethere and to compete against MotoGP and SBK riders, but we don’t have to forget that there will bemany Japanese endurance specialists as well who are really strong and spend their whole yeartraining for this race. It is always something special to race at Honda’s home with all the riders fromdifferent championships. For us the main target is still the championship, so the goal at Suzuka willbe to score as many points as possible against the other permanent teams.
Championship Standings
1 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 60 pts FRA SUZUKI Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 2 Team Bolliger Switzerland 42 pts NA KAWASAKI Team Bolliger Switzerland 3 SRC Kawasaki 41 pts FRA KAWASAKI SRC Kawasaki 4 GMT94 Yamaha 33 pts NA YAMAHA GMT94 Yamaha 5 BMW MOTORRAD France TEAM PENZ13 22 pts NA BMW BMW MOTORRAD France TEAM PENZ13 6 National Motos 22 pts NA HONDA National Motos 7 Team April Moto/Motors Events 11 pts NA SUZUKI Team April Moto/Motors Events 8 Maco Racing Team 9 pts NA YAMAHA Maco Racing Team 9 Monster Energy Yamaha-YART 9 pts FRA YAMAHA Monster Energy Yamaha-YART 10 Space Moto 37 3 pts NA SUZUKI Space Moto 37 11 Motobox Kremer Racing 1 pts NA SUZUKI Motobox Kremer Racing
