8 hours of Suzuka: Yamaha wins again, an accelerator problem causes Stoner's fall

8 hours of Suzuka 2015 – Yamaha won the 8 Suzuka 2015 Hours, with the crew made up of Pol Espargarò, Bradley Smith and Katsuyuki Nakasuga. A historic success that brings the house of the Tre Diapason back to the top of the most prestigious race in the world endurance championship 19 years after the last success. The three riders brought the new YZF-R1 to the finish line and into first position. In 1996 they won Noryuki Haga and Colin Edwards.

"I'm very happy. It was an incredible race. I have to say that I feel sorry for my teammates because I made a mistake during the race. We had a stop and go and lost more than a minute. My teammates were impressive. I gave 200% when I went out to close this gap and we succeeded – said Pol Espargarò – It was impressive to race in the Suzuka 8 hours together with Bradley (Smith, his teammate in the Yamaha Tech 3 MotoGP Team) and with Nakasuga -San. Normally we have a lot of activities and don't get to talk as friends often. This weekend however I found two great friends and we also won the Suzuka 8 Hours.”

The race was characterized by the terrible accident that caused Casey Stoner to fracture his left tibia and right shoulder. His bike (while he was leading the race) had an accelerator problem, confirmed by Honda itself. Telemetry detected the throttle open at 26 degrees before the crash. A terrible figure for the Japanese giant, with Stoner paying the consequences, fortunately in a solvable way. The crash was truly frightening and in the end the two-time MotoGP world champion can, despite his fractures, breathe a sigh of relief.

“I am very sorry that the 8 hours of Suzuka ended this way. We've done a lot of work over the last few weeks to get used to the bike and the track and we were doing well. The race was going as planned, we were saving tires and fuel, but unfortunately we had a mechanical problem – said Casey Stoner referring to the stuck accelerator – I didn't have enough time to engage the clutch, I was too fast, I tried to slow down by more, but when I saw that I was going against the wall I decided to slip, but unfortunately I suffered two fractures. I want to thank my teammates Michael van der Mark and Takumi Takahashi who have done a fantastic job over these weeks and this weekend in particular. I also thank the team for their efforts and their professionalism. I really enjoyed working with them. I am very sorry that we were unable to achieve the result that was within our reach.”

Casey Stoner crash video 8 hours Suzuka