Josh Waters in action at Suzuka during testing earlier this month.

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and Yoshimura Suzuki Racing are both chasing victory at this weekend’s prestigious and hotly-contested World Endurance Championship third round at Suzuka in Japan.

Reigning world champions and current series leaders, SERT, will field a three-man team of Daisaku Sakai, Vincent Philippe and Anthony Delhalle on the French team’s GSX-R1000, while Yoshimura Suzuki has put another strong and experienced line-up aboard its Yoshimura-prepped GSX-R1000, comprising former MotoGP, WSB and BSB rider Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki MotoGP test rider Nobuatsu Aoki and Australian Josh Waters.

The Suzuka 8 Hour race is an Endurance classic in Japan, attracting the top Japanese teams, and following a recent two-day test at the circuit, Yoshimura Suzuki and SERT are likely to face strong opposition from FCC TSR Honda with three regular Suzuka podium contenders – Kosuke Akiyoshi, Shinichi Itoh and Ryuichi Kiyonari along with 2010 Suzuka 8 Hour winners, Honda Musashi RT Harc Pro’s Takumi Takahashi, Makoto Tamada and Tadayuki Okada.

A total of six permanent World Endurance Championship teams are entered, including current second-placed BMW Motorrad France 99 and third-placed Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone.