The Suzuka 8 Hours are one of the most important moments of the year for Japanese manufacturers, and that is why they put all their effort into action season after season. It is not MotoGP, it is not Superbike, but it is “his race”, and winning can compensate for part of the rest of the results in other categories.
This year, furthermore, Honda did not have it easy due to the last minute withdrawal of Johann Zarco. The Frenchman, who was going to be the head of the team again, is still recovering from his injuries from the Catalonia GP and was not participating. A setback, since Johann had been part of the team the last two years, achieving two victories.
Due to this, the team was made up of Jonathan Rea, Takumi Takahashi and Somkiat Chantra, who entered precisely as the third driver, and who did not get to race because the usual thing in the 8 Hours is that they only race in pairs. But returning to the action on the track, this weekend they were not accompanied by good weather but by persistent rain that conditioned the activity on the track even more.
This year’s Suzuka 8 Hours have been quite a challenge
In fact, throughout the 2026 Suzuka 8 Hours there was a high number of crashes and incidents that did not prevent the Honda team from dominating the event throughout the entire time. That does not mean that they had it easy, far from it, because in such complicated situations they had the added pressure of having the Yamaha number 21 of Miller and Locatelli, and the BMW 76 of Odendaal and Reiterberger, pushing.
As if this were not enough, the YART of Hanika and Fritz and the AutoRace Ube Racing Team of Uramoto and Guintoli were not losing a lap either, all of them being candidates for victory and the podium in case something unforeseen had arisen. In a way it arrived, although without altering what was happening on the track.
And when there was half an hour left for the checkered flag to fall and it was already getting dark, the track conditions forced a Safety Car to be put out after which the race ended. In this way, Honda achieved its fifth consecutive victory, and Takahashi the eighth of his racing career, a record.
Second position went to the #21 Yamaha of Miller and Locatelli, with the podium completed by the #76 BMW of Odendaal and Reiterberger. On this occasion Suzuki, which is usually one of the brands that fights for the podium with Honda and Yamaha, could not go beyond sixth position in the SERT with Black and Linfoot. Meanwhile, the experimental number 0 finished in a creditable seventh position, just two laps behind the winners.
