Honda shows the CBR1000RRW for the Suzuka 8 Hours

It seems that this year’s Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race will be really interesting, and not only we can expect defending champions Yamaha Factory to try and get a fourth consecutive win, but we can also expect to see a competitive race with the big Japanese factories showing what their racing departments can do.

A few weeks ago we told you what Kawasaki was up to for the Suzuka 8 Hours, showing the 3-man line-up that will make the Team Green fight for the win. In the FIM Endurance Championship paddock there’s also talks that Suzuki will be giving extra support to their team.

And now it’s time for Team HRC Honda to show their bike: the CBR1000RRW!

Honda is making an official comeback to this race this year, and hopes to put an end to Yamaha Factory dominance in the last three years. The CBR1000RRW isn’t a dramatic change over the bike Honda uses in the World Superbike series, but it definitely has some important changes.

The bodywork has been tweaked a bit, especially where the fairings cover the main frame, with the CBR1000RRW having an extra piece of fairing painted in silver. Inside, the brains that manage all the electronic of the bike aren’t supplied by Cosworth like in the official WSBK machine, but instead Team HRC Honda trusts in the experience that Magneti Marelli has in this department, so the ECU’s are now sourced in Italy.

Mechanically the bike also gets new parts. For obvious reasons an endurance machine needs specific elements like the quick-change wheel system or functional headlights. The brakes have Nissin signature, and suspension is manufactured by Öhlins, while the tires come from Bridgestone.

Team HRC Honda weapon will have its track debut this coming weekend in the first round of the All Japan Superbike Championship in Motegi.

The rider chosen by Honda is Takumi Takahashi, the 2017 JSB 1000 champion, who will try to defend successfully his title in JSB 1000, but will also ride the CBR1000RRW at the Suzuka 8 Hours.

Takahashi himself is no stranger at winning in Suzuka: he is a three-time winner of the Suzuka 8 Hours with the Musashi RT Harc-Pro Honda team, and together with Leon Haslam and Michael van der Mark, he was the last to have taken a Honda to the win at the Suzuka 8 Hours, back in 2014.

In this year’s event though, Takumi Takahashi will have two different teammates.

Team HRC Honda hasn’t confirmed who are the other two riders, but rumors point out that Honda has asked MotoGP riders Franco Morbidelli (2017 Moto2 World Champion) and Thomas Luthi (2017 Moto2 runner-up) to join Takahashi and make what would be a strong team.

Some other rumors talk about Honda asking Marc Marquez to join the effort of Team HRC Honda, but it’s highly unlikely that the MotoGP champion and title contender enters this endurance race.

Also important to know is that at the helm of the team will be Japanese former rider Tohru Ukawa. Not only Ukawa was a MotoGP racer, but he’s also the record holder for the most wins at the Suzuka 8 Hours. He has won Suzuka no fewer than five times, riding a Honda each time: in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2005.

This is what Tohru Ukawa had to say about Honda’s effort for the Suzuka 8 Hours: “We’re aiming for the win, obviously, but the key thing is to recreate an official HRC team to give young Honda riders a renewed dream, fresh ambition and a new future”.