Ducati Kagayama withdraws from the Suzuka 8 Hours: priority is the All Japan Superbike title

Ducati has won everything there is to win in circuit motorcycle racing, yet in the company’s centenary year one entry remains and will remain unblemished: the Suzuka 8 Hours. A victory—or even just a podium—was narrowly missed in the 2024 edition, the first year of the project with Team Kagayama. In terms of outright speed, the Panigale V4 R has proven to be a bike that could perform well even in Endurance, but the chosen path is a different one: Yukio Kagayama’s squad will not line up at the start of the “race of races” this year.

The same Japanese outfit, recognized this year under the SDG-Ducati Team Kagayama banner, has officially confirmed news that had leaked in recent weeks, further evidenced by their initial renunciation of the right to participate granted based on results from previous editions. The official reason is the Team Kagayama’s decision to go “all-in” on the All Japan Superbike where, in the third year of the project, Ryo Mizuno, with the “old” Panigale V4 R Factory, won the first three races of the season held between Motegi and SUGO.

In 2024, with Paolo Ciabatti present on site, Ducati and Team Kagayama came close to a historic pole position and a podium, which slipped away only in the final hour of the race, with Ryo Mizuno, Hafizh Syahrin, and Josh Waters finishing in fourth place. Last year, after a brutal crash during testing at SUGO, a not fully fit, half-strength Mizuno only managed to make an impact at the very end of the season; at the 8 Hours, the V4 R was also entrusted to Leon Haslam and Marcel Schrotter, the latter involved in contact with a backmarker during the race.

Team Kagayama is currently racing with the “old” Panigale V4 R which, due to its single-sided swingarm, presented critical issues during hectic pit stops, to the point that wheel nuts to speed up these operations were commissioned by Yukio Kagayama’s team from a Super Formula outfit (Dandelion). For 2027, the hope is to have the new V4 R (with a double-sided swingarm), the undisputed dominator of the Superbike World Championship, to be able to aim for the top also at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Moreover, in 2026 it will take place on the same weekend as Ducati’s WDW in Misano Adriatico...