SDG-Ducati Team Kagayama has recruited Leon Haslam, Ryo Mizuno and Marcel Schrötter for the upcoming 46th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race as it bids to improve upon the fourth place it scored in Japan’s FIM Endurance World Championship counter last season.
Run by former racer Naruomi Kagayama, the squad resorted to a crowdfunding campaign earlier this year following a crash at the Sugo circuit in Japan, which destroyed one of its Ducati Panigale V4R motorcycles and left Mizuno injured.
Mizuno, who has raced in Moto2, Moto3 and British and World Superbikes, was part of the Kagayama line-up at Suzuka in 2024. The Japanese rider also scored Ducati’s first win in the All Japan Road Race Championship last year and is expected to be fit for his home round of the EWC.
Forty-two-year-old Briton Haslam is a three-time Suzuka winner and finished first in the second race of the 2025 British Superbike season riding with Ducati power. He’s also raced extensively in World Superbikes.
Schrötter, 32, starts his third Suzuka 8 Hours having finished fourth on two occasions. A successful Moto2 rider in the past, the German is currently racing in the FIM Supersport World Championship.
Speaking following a recent two-day test, Schrötter said: “I am very happy to be able to race in Suzuka again. At the same time, I am also a little proud to be riding for Team Kagayama. My thanks go to everyone involved who made this possible.
“The test went very well. I found my way around straight away, which is as a non-Japanese rider not a matter of course in Suzuka. The Suzuka Circuit is one of the most difficult tracks I know to ride fast. The bike was also new to me; I had never ridden the Panigale V4R before. All in all, I was able to get used to the track again relatively quickly after I was at Suzuka for the last time two years ago.
“I was very happy about that and also about the fact that I was able to ride a lot on both days. I was faster than ever before in Suzuka. And this by a large margin. I also had a lot of fun, and when I look at the timesheets, I am even happier because I was among the top teams. To achieve this time at the end in over 30 degrees and extreme humidity is very positive. I am mega-happy, and I think the team is happy with me too. I cannot wait to go back to Japan and start the race week.”
The 46th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race takes place from 1-3 August.The 46th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race takes place from 1-3 August.
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]
