Ryuichi Kiyonari
MuSashi RT Harc-Pro Honda took first-place in the Suzuka 8 Hours race with Keihin Kohara Racing in second and TSR Honda in third, making it a Honda podium sweep.
Taking top honors in the 33rd edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours race was the MuSashi RT Harc-Pro Honda team, giving Honda its 22nd win in the prestigious event. The Keihin Kohara Racing Team along with F.C.C. TSR Honda rounded out the top-three finishers to give Honda a historic sweep of the podium. The MuSashi team took the victory with 215 laps completed in a time of 8:01'13.428. It was Ryuichi Kiyonari’s third win of the Suzuka 8 Hours, having taken past wins in 2005 and 2008.

“I am so happy that I was able to accomplish a third winning of the Suzuka 8 Hours,” said Kiyonari. “Today’s win was a memorable moment that I will never forget. Takumi [Takahashi] fought so hard that I’m glad I was able to pair up with him for this race. The team staff and Takumi were a big support in this victory. Thank you to the fans for cheering us. If I have the chance to participate in this race again, I will look forward to it.”

The MuSashi team spent the first few hours of the contest battling for the lead with the Yoshimura Suzuki team, and by the halfway point Kiyonari and teammate Takumi Takahashi were able to outpace the Suzuki members through the Spoon Curve. Afterward the MuSashi team dominated the remaining half of the race, with Yoshimura Suzuki eventually coming in sixth-place after crashing.

Ryuichi Kiyonari
The MuSashi team were involved in a battle for the first few hours with Yoshimura Suzuki, but they out-paced them halfway into the event.

Taking a close second-place was Shinichi Ito and Makoto Tamada of Keihin Kohara Racing aboard their CBR1000RR. The duo ran inside the top-three for the entire duration of the event and came across the finish line just over 43 seconds behind the MuSashi team.

“Considering the pace in yesterday’s result of Superpole and today’s steaming hot climate, I assumed it would be a tough race,” said Ito. “However, Makoto and the team backed me up so well that we were able to get second-place. Maybe we could have got into first-place, but anyway we did our best. I must thank our fans. It was a very meaningful race for me.”

Ito’s teammate, Tamada, shared a much different outlook on his race, saying: “I am not satisfied with our result and also with my riding. I was hoping to support Ito-san, yet I ended up relying on him. I feel sorry for him and the team. I was not able to perform fully, so if I have another chance, I want the opportunity for revenge in the next Suzuka 8 Hours!”

One of the favorites heading into the race was pole winning team TSR Honda. After setting a blazing-fast pace in
Jonathan Rea
Despite being the favorites, TSR Honda was crippled by Jonathan Rea's crash and two starting penalties.
Friday’s qualifying, the team took third after suffering two stop-and-go penalties at the beginning of the race. The team encountered further misfortune when Jonathan Rea crashed, forcing them back in 42nd-place. Despite this, the team ran at an impressive pace for the rest of the contest to finish third and take the fastest lap in the process.

“Today was a tough day," said Rea. "We had some unexpected troubles and mistakes, so to be honest I am not so happy. Yet working well together with Akiyoshi and repeatedly telling myself ‘never give up, keep going’, we were able to get into third-place. If I have a chance, I want to participate in the Suzuka 8 Hours again!”

The next World Endurance event on the 2010 schedule will take place in Bol D’or, France on September 11th.

2010 FIM World Endurance Racing Suzuka Hours Results:
1. MuSashi RT Harc-Pro (R. Kiyonari, T. Nakagami, T. Takahashi)
2. Keihin Kohara Racing Team (S. Ito, M. Tamada)
3. F.C.C. TSR Honda (K. Akiyoshi, J. Rea, Y. Takahashi)
4. Plot Faro Panthera (O. Deguchi, T. Yasuda, Y. Kodama)
5. Team Plus One (S. Iwata, Y. Teshima)
6. Yoshimura Suzuki with ENEOS (D. Sakai, N. Aoki, Y. Kagayama)
7. Teluru HoneyBeeRacing (H. Noda, T. Sekiguchi)
8. BEET Racing (H. Takahashi, Y. Hatano, O. Nishijima)
9. Team Bolliger Switzerland (H. Saiger, P. Muff, R. Stamm)
10. Honda Escargot/PGR/Sayama/H-TEC(E) (M. Kuboyama, T. Nakatsuhara)
11. Honda Suzuka Racing Team (T. Nakamura, M. Akiya)
12. Motobum and Ishigaki Island Uminchu (T. Takahashi, T. Oki, I. Shimizu)
13. RS-ITOH & Asia (I. Higashimura, T. Iwasaki, A. Ioda)
14. Team Frontier Clever-Wolf Racing (K. Teramoto, T. Nakai, T. Fukami)
15. Evangelion RT Test Type-01 Trick Star (S. Takeishi, T. Serizawa, Y. Konno)
16. Yamaha Austria Racing Team (I. Jerman, S. Martin, G. Giabbani)
17. Team NAP'S (M. Sato, A. Igarashi, T. Shimizu)
18. Tras & G-Tribe 8810R (T. Toda, H. Takada, E. Saito)
19. Confia H.M.F Like a Wind (Y. Takamiya, Y. Takahashi, S. Suma)
20. Honda QCT Q-Youkai Meiwa Racing (M. Ando, S. Noyori, T. Soh)