Versatile Aussie Josh Brookes has been selected to team up with Nobuatsu Aoki and Takuya Tsuda in Yoshimura Suzuki’s Suzuka 8 Hour campaign next month.

Josh Brookes will join Yoshimura Suzuki’s assault on the 2013 Suzuka 8 Hour. Image: G Honda/Suzuki-Racing.com.

The announcement broadens Brookes’ schedule for 2013 which has seen him compete with tremendous success at his first Isle of Man TT races as well as challenging for the lead of the British Superbike Championship.

Yoshimura Suzuki is the only team to have competed in all 36 World Endurance Championship outings at the famed Japanese circuit, and has won the event on five occasions.

Brookes was pleased with the opportunity presented to him and said he hoped to realise a long-held dream of winning the gruelling multiple-rider event.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have been asked to join the Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team at this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour,” said Brookes.

“I have had an ambition to win at Suzuka since watching GPs as a kid, when all the Grand Prix greats like Doohan, Rainey and Schwantz stopped mid-season to take part in the event.”

Suzuki MotoGP test team rider Aoki brings plenty of experience to the fore and will compete in his 10th Suzuka 8 Hour in 2013. Tsuda is a rookie to the event but has had a number of test outings on the GSX-R1000 the trio will campaign.

Team Manager Yohei Kato expected the lineup to be extremely competitive at the 25-28 July event.

“Our riders Takuya Tsuda, Nobuatsu Aoki and Josh Brookes are all skilled riders with lots of experience and we are sure they will all put in great performances at the race,” said Kato.

“We’d like to thank everyone for their support and we will do our best to get our fifth victory at the Suzuka 8 Hours this year. We have built our best machine ever and we are aiming for victory.”