Kawasaki claims Suzuka 8 Hours victory after review
The #10 Kawasaki of Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Toprak Razgatlioglu have been reinstated as Suzuka 8 Hour winners after Rea’s late crash
The #10 Kawasaki of Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Toprak Razgatlioglu have been reinstated in the 2019 Suzuka 8 Hour results and declared winners after the dramatic late crash by Rea while leading which triggered a red flag finish.
Initially, the #21 Yamaha Factory Racing Team had provisionally taken a surprise victory after Rea crashed out while leading inside the final minute of the race, tipping off on oil dropped by the #2 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team which had suffered a terminal engine issue moments earlier.
Rea had been set to charge to victory after surviving late scares from a crashing backmarker and rain which hit the track in the final 30 minutes but his off triggered a red flag stoppage and a count back to the last completed lap. A protest was immediately submitted by Rea’s team which was upheld on review to reinstate the team back into the final classification – meaning the team claims victory by 18.720 seconds.
The result sees Yamaha miss out on a fifth consecutive win at the iconic endurance race, while the #33 Red Bull Honda trio of Takumi Takahashi, Ryuichi Kiyonari and Stefan Bradl are pushed back to third place.
