Britain’s Jonathan Rea has warmed up for his home round of the World Superbike Championship at Silverstone by claiming victory alongside Kosuke Akiyoshi and Takayuki Okada in the 2012 Suzuki 8 Hours endurance event.

Rea has become the first British rider ever to win the big race.

Making up one-third of the FCC TSR Honda team, Rea and his team-mates stayed out of trouble to win by a clear four lap advantage over Honda counterparts Toho Racing, which included Moto2 race winner Yuki Takhashi.

Despite being hampered by a fuel problem early on, Rea was delighted to add the prestigious title to his growing repertoire having finished third on his event debut in 2010.

“I’m so happy to get a win in such a huge race as the Suzuka 8-hours,” he said. “I really appreciate the efforts of Kosuke Akiyoshi, Tady Okada, Honda and all the F.C.C. TSR team staff. Kosuke was riding very, very fast, and Tady gave me a lot of really useful advice. I want to thank them both so much.”

With the local Bridgestone-shod teams always expected to shine on home soil, the Yamaha GMT 94 team of Kenny Foray and David Checa – brother of reigning WSBK champion Carlos – flew the flag for the regular Michelin-shod FIM Endurance World Championship teams in third.

However, there was disappointment for British Superbike Championship leader Tommy Hill, who was expected to challenge for victory alongside Noriyuki Haga and Katsuyuki Nakasuga when the latter qualified the Monster Energy Yamaha YART team on pole position.

However, Nakasuga all-but-ended their hopes with a crash in the opening stages and though Hill was able to get back out on track after lengthy repairs, a technical issue just a few laps into his stint proved terminal.

Elsewhere, the Honda TT Legends, made up of Cameron Donald, Jon McGuinness and Jason O’Halloran, finished 10th overall, but third of the travelling EWC teams. In all, Hondas made up six of the top 10 positions in what is the 20th anniversary year for the Fireblade.

NOTE:

It is interesting to remark here on the Kiwi link to the Suzuka Eight-Hours race.

Masterton’s Aaron Slight won the Suzuka 8-Hours race in three successive years, from 1993 to 1995.

He won the Suzuka 8-Hours race in 1993 with American Scott Russell as team-mate, in 1994 with Doug Polen and in 1995 with Tadayuki Okada.

Results 2012 Suzuka Eight-Hour:

Suzuka 8 Hour Results 2012:

1. F.C.C TSR Honda (J. Rea, K.Akiyoshi, T. Okada)

2. TOHO Racing with Moriwaki (T. Yamaguchi, Y. Takahashi, Y. Teshima)

3. Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube (D. Checa, K. Foray)

4. Moto Map Supply (Y. Konno, T. Tsuda, A. Tamitsuji)

5. Honda Suzuka Racing Team (K. Tokudome, T. Yasuda, K. Kitaguchi)

6. Honda DREAM RT SAKURAI Honda (J. Stauffer, W. Maxwell)

7. Teluru & EMOBILE Kohara RT (T. Tsujimura, H. Noda, K. Watanabe)

8. Team Mottorad 39 (K. Teramoto, D. Sakai, K. Yagi)

9. BMW Motorrad France 99 (S. Gimbert, D. Cudlin, E. Nigon)

10. Honda TT Legends (C. Donald, J. McGuinness, J. O’Halloran)

World Endurance Championship Points:

1. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, 60

2. Honda TT Legends, 55

3. Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube, 49

4. BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent, 47

5. Team SRC Kawasaki, 40

6. Bolliger Team Switzerland, 39

7. Yamalube Folch Endurance, 37

8. FCC TSR Honda, 35

9. Toho Racing with Moriwaki, 29

10. Monster Energy Yamaha YART, 28