Round three of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship, the Suzuka 8 Hours will take place on Sunday31st July, in Japan. This year, six of the permanent teams will go there to challenge the best Japanese teams on their home ground.

Vincent Philippe, Daisaku Sakai and Anthony Delhalle will race on the official Suzuki machine, the 2010 Endurance World Champion and winner of the Bol d’Or at the opening of the season. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, who is currently leading the provisional championship classification by two points, will have to hold back the BMW Motorrad France 99.

With its usual trio, Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Damian Cudlin, the BMW Motorrad France 99, recent winner of the 8 Hours of Albacete, aims at making a difference with the talent of their riders and the power of the S1000RR to come back with a championship lead on this very long (5.8km) and fast Suzuka race track.

Monster Yamaha YART also hopes for a great Suzuka performance to catch up with the leaders after they retired during the Bol d’Or. For Suzuka, the Austrian official team strengthen itself with the support of Katsuyuki Nakasuga, 2008 and 2009 Japanese Superbike champion, and current third place runner in the 2011 championship. Nakasuga will be a great support to Igor Jerman and Gwen Giabbani on the Monster Yamaha YART.

The Bolliger Team Switzerland is also doing some temporary Japanese recruitment. Horst Saiger and Roman Stamm will pair with Isami Higashimura on the Swiss Kawasaki.

Third from the provisional world championship, team Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone will enter with their usual riders David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive, while the Honda TT Legends will enter their CBR 1000 RR with John McGuinness, Keith Amor and Cameron Donald in place of an injured Steve Plater.

These six teams will be looking for maximum points at the Qtel FIM Endurance WorldChampionship, alongside the best Japanese teams who are only racing for a victory at this all-time great Japanese classic.

Amongst the favourites are 2010 winners, Honda Musashi RT Harc Pro, entering with Takumi Takahashi, Makoto Tamada and Tadayuki Okada.

Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team will enter with with Yukio Kagayama, Nobuatsu Aoki and Australian rider Josh Waters.

The FCC TSR Honda team will come armed with Suzuka 8 Hours podium finishers Kosuke Akiyoshi, Shinichi Itoh and Ryuichi Kiyonari, while the Honda Dream RT Sakurai with two Australian riders Jamie Stauffer and Wayne Maxwell.