Honda extended its winning streak at the Suzuka 8 Hour with a commanding victory in the 2025 running of the historic endurance race.
MotoGP star Johann Zarco and now seven-time Suzuka winner Takumi Takahashi never really looked in doubt as they led almost from start to finish at Honda's home track.
Able to take the lead early on in the race and never really looking back after that, only a late safety car drama offered any risk to their race, as it allowed Zarco's fellow MotoGP racer Jack Miller, on Yamaha's factory bike, to reduce the lead to only seconds with 30 minutes to go.
But in the end it was too little too late to break Honda's four-year winning streak.
Running as only a two-rider team against everyone else's three-rider line-ups, after a crash last weekend for World Superbike rider Iker Lecuona that took him out of the squad at the last minute, the normally physically exhausting race was even harder for Honda's winners, something that was visible from Zarco's face after the chequered flag.
"We had good pace, and it's always a good race when you can control a gap," he said afterwards.
"But doing the race with only two is really difficult because it's too hot. You sweat a lot, recovery time is too short, and it's too hot when you go back on the bike.
"At the end the pace was quite good. We got two safety cars and that always changes the game a little, but we were able to keep an advantage. But I hope next year we'll be [a team of] three, because that's always better!"
The win is likely to mean that news of Zarco's two-year contract extension with satellite Honda MotoGP team LCR will be made imminently, given the importance of the event to the Japanese factories - something that runner-up Miller may well also be hoping helps secure his future with satellite Yamaha team Pramac as well.
Third place went to one of the Endurance World Championship's permanent teams, with defending EWC champion SERT taking its first podium of the season and reigniting its title hopes as championship leaders YART failed to score points.
