Honda To Field Nicky Hayden And PJ Jacobsen For Suzuka 8 Hours

Honda announced details of its teams to compete in 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship Series Round 3, The 39th “Coca-Cola Zero” Suzuka 8hours FIM Endurance World Championship (Suzuka 8 hours), to be held at the Suzuka circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan, on Sunday, July 31.

F.C.C. TSR Honda, runners-up in last year’s Suzuka 8 hours, will aim to win, with Kazuma Watanabe, who finished 3rd in Round 1 of 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship – the Le Mans 24 Hours race, Dominique Aegerter, current Moto2 rider appearing in Suzuka for his 3rd consecutive year, and Patrick Jacobsen, currently competing in the Supersport World Championship.

MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO will be aiming to claim victory with its 2013-2014 winning team riders – Japanese rider Takumi Takahashi, currently competing in the JSB1000 class in the All-Japan Road Race Championship Series, and Michael van Der Mark, current World Superbike Championship Series rider. Moreover, former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden, who returns to the Suzuka 8 hours for the first time in 13 years will join.

Satu HATI. Honda Team Asia will also be competing for its fifth consecutive year, with highly-talented Asian riders.
Seven Honda associate teams will also participate in the race. “Honda Kumamoto Racing” from the earthquake-affected Kumamoto Factory will join “Honda Ryokuyoukai Kumamoto Racing with Kumamon” and “Honda Blue Helmet MSC Kumamoto” to compete at Suzuka, driven by the strong will for Kumamoto to recover from the natural disaster.

“First of all, I appreciate Honda, the team, and the many sponsors including Teluru for supporting F.C.C. TSR Honda. This year I have been able to ride in endurance races, at Le Mans (France) in April, and the 12 Hours of Portimao (Portugal) in June, and I can feel the experiences other than sprint races give us a big advantage. I rode in France and in Portugal this year in preparation to win this year’s Suzuka, so I hope to show the results of our hard work, and that we can live up to everyone’s expectations.

We only have one goal – to win. We have done everything possible to prepare, and have spared no effort, so we’ll be using the remaining time wisely to be set to race at Suzuka.”