HRC Honda

No.11: Ryuichi Kiyonari, James Toseland, Tadayuki Okada (reserve)

No.33: Carlos Checa, Jonathan Rea, Yusuke Teshima (reserve)

Kiyonari and Rea are fighting for the BSB championship lead, Checa has done Suzuka before, Toseland makes his debut after some good performances during testing.

Yoshimura Suzuki

Yukio Kagayama was paired with Kohsuke Akiyoshi on the Yoshimura Suzuki for the Suzuka 300km race, so we expect to see them back for the 8 hour. Hopefully with more accurate fuel consumption figures this time; they ran out of petrol while leading the 300km race.

Moriwaki Motul Honda

Expect to see Suzuka 8 Hour veteran (this'll be his third time) Leon Camier paired with Tatsuya Yamaguchi on the Moriwaki CBR1000RR.

Yamaha Racing

No.21: Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Nobuyuki Ohsaki

No.81: Norifumi Abe, Jamie Stauffer

Jamie Stauffer is the Australian superbike champion, but there is no sign of either of last years short-lived Dream Team pairing of Nori Haga and Colin Edwards.

Permanent Teams

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team

Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive, Julien Da Costa

How will they fare without Kitagawa?

Yamaha Austria Racing Team

Igor Jerman, Steve Martin, Damien Cudlin

Frenchman (that's what it says on the list) Steve Martin steps in for injured Sebastien Scarnato, and we now hear that Cudlin might also be injured.

Yamaha Phase One Endurance

Warwick Nowland, Glen Richards, Stefan Nebel

Stefan Nebel steps in for injured Didier Van Keymeulen, Nowland is recovering from British Superstock injuries.

Bolliger Team Switzerland

David Morillon, Patric Muff, Horst Saiger

Safe hands with regular team. Never discount Bolliger.

Suzuki Sweden

Tobias Andersson, Mikael Nilsson, Paul Young

Paul Young joins regulars Andersson and Nilsson.

Diablo 666 Bolliger Kawasaki

Gary Mason, James Hutchins, Alexander Cudlin

Gary Mason is back for another Suzuka, alongside regulars James Hutchins and Alex Cudlin.

RT Racing Team & Motovirus
(replacing No Limits& MCS Racing #44)

Naoki Yamada, Yosuke Sumi, Eric Monot

Endurance Moto 45

Nicolas Jaulneau, Marcel Levrel, Cédric Clouvel

Zone Rouge

Olivier Depoorter, Serge Fischer, Michel Nickmans

Team Amadeus X One

Paolo Tessari, Will Gruy, Riccardo Ricci

Gruy broke his pelvis last month in a road bike accident but is aiming to be back in the saddle for Suzuka.

Endurance Moto 38 Yamaha

Erwan Nigon, Julien Millet, João Contente Fernandes

Raffin Motos Kawasaki

Damien Chene, Stephane Kokes, Pascal Grosjean

ABG Performance #134

Christophe Alluard, Franck Gaziello, Emmanuel Debray

FCC TSR Eurosport Benelux
(replacing EWC Eurosport Benelux #5)

Satoru Iwata, Yoshiyuki Sugai, Heinz Platacis

Wily old dog (and 2000 World Endurance Champion) Platacis joins TSR hotshots Iwata and Sugai.

RMT 21 Racing Honda

Henrik Meyer, Frank Heidger

Maco Moto Racing Yamaha

Tomas Mikšovsky, Damian Rowley, Leroy Verboven

QERT Qatar Endurance Racing Team

Shohei Karita, Naoki Shimizu, Mashel Mohamed A.

Regular rider Al Naimi is joined by Japanese Suzuka regulars Karita and Shimizu. Will he get to ride in the race this time?

Team LTG 57

Amaury Baratin, Michael Lalevee, Anthony Dos Santos

More information from:

www.motoracing-japan.com/english (Who also sell Suzuka 8 Hour DVDs!)

www.mobilityland.co.jp/8tai

Got some World Endurance news? send it to info@redleg.co.uk