FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier is on his way to this weekend’s 35th-Anniversary Suzuka 8-Hour race in Japan to join the Yoshimura Suzuki team in its bid for glory.

Camier will join team-mates Josh Waters and Nobuatsu Aoki to race the Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R1000 in a massive entry of 66 teams. The trio will line up ready to battle it out for the top-step of the podium at round three of the FIM World Endurance Championship around the spectacular figure-of-eight-style 5,851m circuit in Japan. The Suzuka 8-hour has become the country’s most prestigious motorcycle event to win, and this year’s race will mark the 35th Anniversary of the 8-Hour event, as well as celebrating the 50th year of the Suzuka circuit, which was constructed in 1962.

The Japanese Yoshimura Suzuki Team will be on its factory GSX-R1000; a machine currently campaigning and being developed in this year’s Superbike World Championship by Camier and team-mate John Hopkins in the FIXI Crescent Suzuki squad.

Yoshimura Suzuki is the only team to have competed in every single Suzuka 8-Hour race and, following successful performances and new data acquisition at the recent Suzuka 8-Hour Test a fortnight ago, it hopes to lift its sixth victory under the guidance of Team Manager Yohei Kato; the grandson of the legendary Pops Yoshimura and nephew of Fujio Yoshimura. Free Practice for the Suzuka 8-Hour starts on Thursday with the main Suzuka 8-Hour race at 11.30am local time (03.30BST) on Sunday 29th July.

Leon Camier:

“I am really looking forward to the Suzuka 8-hour race – it’s one of the biggest races of the year and it’s one that is so big and important in Japan. I have raced it before, but it’s hard to explain what the atmosphere is like unless you see it for yourself. The tests went pretty well recently, though the Yoshimura Suzuki felt quite a bit different to the bike I race in World Superbikes. The biggest difference is the tyres and it took a little while to understand the ones I will use in the 8-hour and how they behave. The Suzuka 8-hour bike is tuned for Endurance and because I have to share the bike with other riders, it means that we all have to compromise on the set-up. My team mates have different riding styles to me, so it’s a case of trying to find the best set-up for all us. We started doing this in the test and we’ll continue the work on it during the first practices, but I think we’ll be OK for the race.

“Yoshimura has a great history in this race and hopefully I can help them write a new chapter. It is often hot and humid at the Suzuka 8-hour, but I feel fit and ready for it and would like to get on the podium and say thank you to Yoshimura for asking me and also FIXI Crescent Suzuki for giving me this chance.”

Yohei Kato – Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager:

“This year it is the 50th anniversary for Suzuka circuit and the 35th Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance race. We are proud that the Yoshimura Suzuki Team has never missed a race and it is essential that our name is part of the event; and at the same time, it is our most important race.

“As it is very well known, the Suzuka 8-Hour race is an endurance event, but with a very high-speed lap time – just like a sprint race – so we hope our engine development through WSBK and our long-time experiences of the Suzuka 8-Hour will be an advantage.

“The race is going to be very competitive, however, with very strong rivals from Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and BMW, and we are aiming for the best possible result along with World Champions SERT, which uses the same-specification engine as the Yoshimura team.”

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