Suzuka ends with appeal
Dramatic finale sees Kawasaki eventually declared Suzuka 8-Hour winners
Confusion reigns as race ends in controversy
For seven hours, 58 minutes and 37 seconds the racing world was captivated by the drama that unfolded at the Suzuka 8-Hour as the Kawasaki team of Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Toprak Razgatlioglu fought for the win with Yamaha’s Alex Lowes, Michael van der Mark and Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
It was everything that world class racing should be: strategic, technical and, most importantly, flat-out for every corner. That was until the defining moment of the race just minutes from the finish. With spots of rain falling in the final 30 minutes, it was nearing the climax but race leader Jonathan Rea was still having to push. With Alex Lowes chasing him down, Rea responded and it looked that Kawasaki was all but guaranteed their first success since 1993. But after a massive engine failure from the SERT machine in the closing minutes, there was oil and fluid dumped all over the race
track. Riders had to take avoiding action and only one rider crashed – Rea. Almost immediately the race was red flagged and the Kawasaki team went from imminent elation to utter despair with their team out of the race and Yamaha declared the winners.
Race Direction initially said that Kawasaki were disqualified for a failure to return to parc fermé within five minutes of the red flag. In MotoGP and WSB the five minute rule is a relatively new addition, but it hasn’t transitioned to Endurance racing yet meaning Kawasaki had grounds to appeal. Eventually, after almost three hours of back and forth protests and appeals from Yamaha and Kawasaki, Race Direction reversed the result and Kawasaki were credited with the win. Immediately after his crash Rea had been inconsolable. Initially the Kawasaki squad had refused requests to speak with their lead rider but at the same time the team were hatching their plan to appeal. “I’d already said goodbye to all the guys and had lots of tears,” Rea later admitted. “It’s hard to work for eight hours and then to crash right at the end…
“I’d already gone back to the hotel with Leon and we were sitting in the bar having a drink. I got a call from one of my mechanics saying that we’d won and had to get back to the circuit. I had a glass of gin in front of me so I downed that and ran back!” Confirmed as winners but not having been part of the podium celebration the three Kawasaki riders were rushed into the post race press conference which had been delayed for nearly three hours. Rea, Haslam and Razgatlioglu arrived to huge applause wearing their race winner T-shirts. The win also saw Kawasaki end Yamaha’s recent stranglehold on the race that had begun in 2015.