The third round of the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) took place in Suzuka, Japan. The Suzuka 8 Hours race is a legend in the championship, with plenty of competitive Japanese teams joining the grid.

After qualifying in 8th place in the Superstock class, the team bounced back with excellent race pace in difficult conditions that constantly shifted between heavy rain and a drying track. They climbed as high as second before capturing a solid fourth-place finish. Missing out on the podium was disappointing, but the team achieved their ultimate goal of scoring valuable points at a track they had never visited before.

The team now holds a 19-point lead heading into the final round, the Bol d’Or at Le Castellet. As a 24-hour race, plenty of points are still up for grabs.

Overall standings after round 3:
Superstock class

1. Champion HERT Powered by MRP 84 pts
2. Wójcik Racing Team 65 pts
3. Dafy-Kaedear-RAC41 64 pts
4. Team Étoile 62 pts
5. Revo-M2 59 pts

Next stop:

the Bol d’Or! The finale at Le Castellet runs from September 17–20, and it’s going to be a demanding full 24-hour battle to the finish line.

Rider and team manager reactions:

Erico Casa (Champion HERT powered by MRP – team manager):

The team learned a lot in Suzuka. Even if qualifying goes poorly, it is still possible to fight for the race win; until the checkered flag drops, anything can happen. We had a goal coming here – to score championship points – and mission accomplished, but we had the race pace to contend for a strong podium finish, so it leaves a bitter taste.

I want to thank the team for their exceptional work this week; despite three crashes, they remained positive and motivated, delivering outstanding quality. The riders too, racing in such tricky conditions without making a single mistake on a circuit they didn’t know is incredible.

See you at the Bol d’Or, where we’ll give it our all to win the championship.

 

Bálint Kovács (Champion HERT powered by MRP – rider):

I think we got more than we would’ve wanted before we started but at the end we feel a bit disappointed because we could’ve achieved more. We came here to score the points we missed in Spa and we just did that. 1 hour to go we were P2 but things didn’t go in our favor.

The most important is that we go to the season final with a great advantage, we do our best to win this championship!

 

Loris Cresson (Champion HERT powered by MRP – rider):

Finishing fourth when we were so close to the podium is tough to take in right now, but our race pace was very strong. It was great to prove we can be competitive in Suzuka, even if it’s a bit frustrating to have missed the podium by such a small margin. Qualifying was a struggle, likely due to some issues after two heavy crashes for Jan and me. We need to process everything and focus on the positives now. We can’t wait for the Bol d’Or, and some testing beforehand, to become even stronger.

We now hold a 19-point lead. Every time we get on the bike, we give our absolute maximum, achieve something great, and leave even hungrier for results. I can’t wait for the season finale. Huge thanks to the whole crew, BMW, and the team; we destroyed two bikes, and they rebuilt them as fast as possible. That was no easy task because we didn’t have a lot of parts because of the long travel to Japan.

Thanks to everyone, to Champion Lubricants, to HERT, and to all the people around us making this possible. We can’t wait to give back to them with a win and the world title!

 

Jan Bühn (Champion HERT powered by MRP – rider):

Coming so close to a podium at the 8 Hours of Suzuka and just missing out is tough to take. The disappointment is still huge right now. We had really strong pace in the tough conditions and fought our way up to P2. Unfortunately, 2–3 unlucky moments in the final hour dropped us back to P4.

Still, it was an incredible experience to be part of Suzuka for the first time, and we were able to extend our championship lead.

Gallery

Check out all the photos from 2026 Suzuka 8h on our gallery page.