Beyond Rea, Honda will also field British Superbike racers Leon Haslam and Cal Crutchlow, the former riding the Sakurai machine and the latter with Moriwaki.
Both riders will be making their debuts in the race, but while Haslam was entered into the 300km race last month, a crash at the start for his team-mate meant he didn't get to perform. He is hoping for better luck this time.
“This is my first Suzuka 8 Hours and I'm really looking forward to the race. I'm racing the Sakurai Honda, a HRC CBR1000RR but I've have only tested the bike for a day and a half but my team mate, Chojun Kameya has had a couple of extra days testing the bike. We were teamed together for the Suzuka 300km race last month but he got caught up in the big crash soon after the start so I didn't get in a lap of the race.
“But the set up was good and we didn't have to compromise too much on the settings. We needed a little more speed at the 300 km race but it will be better for the 8 hours. We will be running the same Dunlop tyres as the top teams so we will be setting faster lap times than last month.”
