Suzuka 8 Hours: Superpole canceled, Honda HRC on top but it will be a lottery—here’s why

It would have been fantastic to witness the Top 10 Trial, the old-school Superpole format with the all-or-nothing lap. But the organizers decided to cancel the session, setting the starting grid for the Suzuka 8 Hours based on qualifying times.

So Honda HRC will start from pole in the Le Mans-style start, with the bikes lined up against the pit wall and the riders ready to sprint from the opposite side of the track. Lights out at 11:30 local time, which is 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 5 for us.

The Top 10 Trial was canceled due to uneven track conditions caused by the rain that affected the eve’s activities. Bad weather will be one of the key factors of the 47th edition of the world’s most prestigious Endurance race. The 8 Hours hasn’t been run in the wet since 1997, but this time the 50 crews on the grid will have one more (formidable) opponent to deal with.

Honda, even without the injured Johann Zarco, secured pole thanks to the outright best lap by Jonathan Rea, “blended” with that of Takumi Takahashi, the event’s record holder with seven wins at the finish. The CBR-RR isn’t just a missile over a single lap, but also on race pace, thanks to lower fuel consumption compared to Yamaha, which in this era is (at least in the dry...) the only serious rival. In last year’s edition Honda checkmated the field by extending each stint by 2–3 laps compared to Yamaha, ending up making only seven pit stops versus eight for the factory Yamaha, which—like this time—also in 2025 is banking on Andrea Locatelli and Jack Miller.

Alessandro Delbianco was the big surprise of qualifying along with the impressive Yamaha squad fielded by Marc VDS/KM99. The reigning Italian Superbike champion set a top time, just a whisker behind Jonathan Rea and Michael van der Mark, who put wings on the BMW M1000RR. Delbianco, well supported by Florian Marino, could become a threat in the race too, given his marked wet-weather prowess. But mistakes must be avoided in an 8-hour race during which two- or three-rider teams cover a distance equal to Milan–Catania, on one of the fastest and trickiest tracks in the world.

No European brand has yet breached the realm of the four Japanese sisters, with Honda victorious on no fewer than 32 occasions. BMW has the technical potential to pull it off, as well as Michael van der Mark who, although now out of the World Superbike Championship, remains a formidable force at Suzuka. The Dutchman has in fact triumphed four times at the 8 Hours, twice with Honda and twice with Yamaha.

The race will be shown live in full on Eurosport 2, now available as a paid option on the DAZN, TIMVISION, and PRIME packages. Commentary will be provided by our Alessio Piana, with technical analysis by Jacopo Zizza.

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