41th Team Lineup

Rider	Takuya Tsuda / Sylvain Guintoli / Bradley Ray / Kazuki Watanabe

Fujio Yoshimura / President

It will be the 41st Suzuka 8 Hours for us!
This event has been the world championship series ever since 1980! Back in 1976 to 1978, Honda RCB was called “Unsinkable Fleet” at World Endurance Series in Europe. Well, the first Suzuka 8 hours in 1978 was going to be Honda’s “Homecoming Victory”, as any of the Japanese fans have never seen RCB in home country but it was not. Racing fans always remember Yoshimura beat factory teams and won the first Suzuka 8 hours! They always expect to see “Unthinkable Result” from the racing, especially, from Suzuka 8 Hours and they always give the best cheers to “underdog” teams. We do not know what sort of “drama” we may encounter during the coming 8 Hours as we have finished the race at the 7th place overall despite the 2nd lap accident in the last year. Nonetheless, Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL Racing was rewarded for “Anthony Delhalle EWC Spirit Trophy” by race organizer for our fighting spirit.
“Yoshimura’s Challenging Spirit” is the key word which we would like to share with our fans at the Suzuka Circuit!
See you all guys in Suzuka!

President of Yoshimura Japan Co., Ltd
Fujio Yoshimura

Team Manager: Yohei Kato

Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL racing is going to take part in the 41st FIM Suzuka 8hours Endurance World Championship. Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL Racing is calling four riders, Sylvain Guintoli & Takuya Tsuda, the Suzuki MotoGP test riders, Bradley Ray, one of the most distinctive riders in the British Superbike, and Kazuki Watanabe, new Yoshimura JSB1000 rider. Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL Racing will select three riders to make the strongest package for the final race. Suzuka 8 hours this year will be the one of the hardest races because in addition to Yamaha Factory team who is successively winning past three years, Honda has reorganized factory team and Kawasaki will take a part with the world champion rider. Yoshimura and Suzuki worked together more than ever to make the GSX-R1000R faster to challenge these rival teams. In 2017, our crash in the second lap made Yoshimura Suzuki supporters really disappointed. This year, I make a promise to all supports that Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL Racing will beat factory teams with great riders and powerful teamwork. Let’s enjoy two years’ worth of Suzuka 8 hours.
Thank you very much for your great support of Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL Racing.
I’ve Got The Power!

Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL Racing
Team manager Yohei Kato.

Takuya Tsuda

Name	Takuya Tsuda
Place of birth	Wakayama, Japan
Date of birth	27 April, 1985
Height	171cm
Weight	71kg

I am proud of racing Suzuka 8 hours in this summer from Yoshimura Suzuki MOTUL Racing Team. It is known as one of the most difficult races and rival teams are getting faster and faster every year. However, I am confident of our GSX-R1000R that is improved much and faster than the last year. I will concentrate on my all energy to make the race machine faster until the last minute for the victory of Suzuka 8 hours.