Ex-MotoGP rider Lecuona helps Honda to Suzuka 8 Hours win

Lecuona made his MotoGP debut in 2020 with Tech3 KTM as a last-minute replacement for factory team-bound Brad Binder, who was drafted in to take the place o fJohann Zarco.

But the young Spaniard was ousted from his KTM ride for 2022, taking up refuge with the factory Honda squad in World Superbike.

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Takumi Takahashi, Tetsuta Nagashima and Lecuona were virtually unchallenged for majority of the race aboard the #33 HRC Fireblade, with a combination of Honda’s pace advantage and a fortuitous safety car helping the trio finish a lap clear of Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Alex Lowes aboard the factory Kawasaki.

It marked the fourth-career win for Takahashi following his previous three successes with Honda in 2010, 2013 and 2014, and the first for his rookie team-mates Nagashima and Lecuona, who both showed rapid pace throughout the race.

For Honda it marked the end of a dry spell at Suzuka 8 Hours dating back to 2014, when Takahashi, Haslam and Michael van der Mark clinched the top spot for the HARC-Pro squad.

At the start of the race, pole-sitter Takahashi slipped behind both Haslam (now at Kawasaki) and a fast-charging FCC TSR Honda of Josh Hook, but had little trouble re-passing them as the inherent pace advantage of the CBR1000RR-R became quickly evident.

An early safety car for a collision between Honda satellite riders Kosuke Sakumoto and Naomichi Uramoto brought Takahashi’s rivals back into play as he again dropped down to third, but it took a matter of a laps for the Japanese rider to repass Haslam and the Yoshimura Suzuki of Gregg Black and reinstate the status quo.

From there on Haslam went on to build an eight-second advantage over the chasing pack, with Nagashima further stretching the gap to 22 seconds during his first stint.

Honda’s bid for a first victory in Suzuka in nearly a decade was further strengthened when Lecuona took over the bike in the third hour, just when Kawasaki handed the riding duties to Lowes after previous stints from Haslam and Rea.

Belying his lack of experience at the Japanese track and in endurance racing, Lecuona was rapid out of the gates and set a series of quick laps, while Lowes struggled for pace aboard the factory Kawasaki and dropped 30s down the leader.

This went on to have a major impact on the final order as, when the safety car returned on track after the #51 I.W NAC Yamaha caught fire at second Degner, Lowes ended up picking the second of the…