In one of the most-thrilling finishes ever at the Suzuka race circuit in Japan, Team Yoshimura Suzuki Racing lost out on victory by a whisker to rivals FCC TSR Honda in today's third round of the World Endurance Championship.

Just 38.7 seconds separated the two teams after eight hours and 217 laps of racing. And in an amazing triple-twist to add to the excitement for the 55,500 spectators, third-placed Musashi Honda finished on the same lap and less than 60 seconds behind the Japanese Suzuki GSX-R1000 mounted team of Yukio Kagayama, Josh Waters and Nobuatsu Aoki.

Reigning World Champions, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) finished in ninth position after starting 15th. Team riders Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Daisaku Sakai - all a last-minute entry in the race - earned eight points from the race, lost the series lead, but is only six points behind new series leaders BMW Motorrad France 99, who finished the race in fourth position, five laps down on the Yoshimura squad.

The 34th "Coca-Cola Zero" Suzuka 8 hours Endurance Road Race saw Yoshimura Suzuki Racing's Kagayama get a great start from pole position and he took the lead on the first corner from SERT's Daisaku Sakai - who started from 15th on the grid.

An hour in, Kagayama was replaced by Australian Josh Waters, who moved into second place chasing Makoto Tamada (Honda). SERT rider Philippe was ninth at that stage. After three hours, Kagayama came back again and took the lead for Yoshimura Suzuki - and over the following laps, the lead changed several times as each team pitted; Nobuatsu Aoki holding second place for the Yoshimura Suzuki team before Kagayama took over again for the final stint.

Suzuka 8 Hour Results:

1 FCC TSR Honda (Honda) 217 laps,
2 Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team (Suzuki GSX-R1000) - 38.765 seconds, 3 Musashi RT Harc-Pro (Honda) - 1'31.162,
4 BMW Motorrad France 99 (BMW) 212 laps,
5 Eva RT Test Type-01 Trickstar FRTR (Kawasaki) 211,
6 Crown Keibhosyou Racing (Honda) 210,
7 Yamaha Racing France GM94 iPhone (Yamaha) 210,
8 Teluru-HoneyBee Racing (Honda) 210,
9 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 208,
10 Toho Racing Hiroshima Desmo (Ducati) 206.