Honda’s Suzuka 8 Hours Challenge ⑤ 2022～23
2022
2022 marked the first Suzuka 8 Hours in three years, as 2020 and 2021 were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team HRC was represented by Tetsuta Nagashima, Takumi Takahashi, and Superbike World Championship rider Iker Lecuona. In qualifying, Nagashima set a 2 min 4.934s lap to give Honda its first pole position since 2009. In the race where the track temperature reached 53 degrees Celsius, Nagashima took the lead on Lap 10 to dominate the race, lapping every other rider to give Honda its first Suzuka 8 Hours victory in eight years (since 2014), its 28th in total.
2023
Reflecting the new partnership with Japan Post Co., Ltd., the team’s name was changed to Team HRC with Japan Post. Takumi Takahashi and Tetsuta Nagashima once again represented the team, joined by Xavi Vierge for the first time. In Qualifying, Nagashima set the fastest lap of 2 min 5.329 s, giving the team pole position for the second year in a row. In the race, Team HRC with Japan Post led from the start and continued to increase its lead to the end, completing 216 laps to win the event for the second consecutive year. This was also Takahashi’s fifth victory, equalling Tohru Ukawa’s record number of Suzuka 8 Hours wins.