For Jonas Folger, his second appearance in what is arguably the most prestigious endurance race, the «Suzuka 8 Hours» was once again not only an unforgettable experience but also a success from a sporting point fof view, as he finished in P11 overall with his Japanese team S-PULSE DREAM RACING SUZUKI.
Despite extremely difficult conditions, mainly due to the changeable weather over the past few days, 32-year-old Jonas Folger was once again thrilled by Suzuka and the events during race week in Japan. Folger didn’t arrive in Japan until late Monday evening although, the first test sessions for the 47th edition of the endurance classic were already scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Racing again with S-PULSE DREAM RACING SUZUKI, he shared the team’s GSX R1000R Superbike with Japanese rider Sho Nishimura and Frenchman Jérémy Guarnoni, who brought a wealth of experience from endurance racing on World Championship level. The trio gelled quickly, and their speed made it clear early on that a top ten finish was a realistic possibility.
After Friday’s qualifying sessions, the team was ranked in 16th place in the overall standings; Folgers’ fastest lap time from his group’s Qualifying 2 session was only a few tenths of a second slower than Nishimura’s personal best, although the Japanese rider has a better knowledge of the Suzuka circuit.
The weather took a turn for the worse day by day leading up to the weekend. Rain had already disrupted Saturday’s schedule, and on Sunday, the track at the Suzuka International Circuit remained wet throughout the entire eight-hour race. As in the previous year, Folger had been selected by the team as its starting rider. In the final stages, the race was neutralized by a safety car period due to heavy rain. By that point, Folger and his team had already secured eleventh place.
Jonas FOLGER (S-PULSE DREAM RACING SUZUKI #95, Suzuki GSX R1000R):
«My second time in Suzuka was a lot of fun again, even though the conditions on Sunday were extremely challenging. In the end, we finished in eleventh place, which I think calls for a little celebration with the team. The weather was very changeable over the last two days, and the heavy rain during the race was a real hurdle, but we handled it well. The hardest part was adapting to it as quickly as possible, and given those circumstances, P11 is really good. Considering that the top teams and their riders had already completed eight to ten days of testing under a wide variety of conditions, our performance is quite remarkable. I think we can be satisfied with that.»
«It’s a shame that a safety car period during the first stint cost me a lot of time. I think I lost at least a minute and a half because of it, and unfortunately, we were hit by a second safety car period right after that. Without those time losses, a spot in the top ten would have been very likely. But we came together as a strong team over these few days, and our rider lineup, with Sho and Jérémy, was really good. Each of us did a great job both on and off track and proved ourselves to be team players. Plus, the entire team was highly motivated, and the pit crew always did a first-class job. For Hideyuki Ogata, it was also the first time he led S-PULSE as team principal at this event, which was certainly not easy for him. After all, last year, still as a rider in his own team, he was mainly occupied with other tasks.»
«I can well imagine that he still has a lot of work ahead of him, namely, evaluating and analyzing this week’s results and using them to set the course for next year so that the team can perform even better. But I don’t want to be misunderstood: They really did everything very well, and everyone gave it their all. Maybe next year we’ll have the opportunity to take part in a test before the race week, which would be a huge advantage from our perspective as riders. Because if we can improve our pace by up to a second with a bit more preparation, we’ll not only line up further up the starting grid but also be closer to the top teams during the race, which of course helps us find a better rhythm and finish a few spots higher at the end of the eight hours.»
«Overall, there’s still room for improvements in our preparations, but considering the circumstances we ultimately faced, we did well. In the end, I had an incredible amount of joy again; the atmosphere was great, and I really enjoyed Suzuka once more. I’m looking forward to hopefully having the opportunity to do it again next year. First of all, however, I’d like to express my heartfelt thanks to the entire team, including my teammates Sho and Jérémy, the technicians and mechanics in the pit, and all the other helpers who took so much work off our hands during this grueling week — thank you very much; all of this together is what makes Suzuka so unique and unforgettable. Finally, I’d like to thank KTM once again for allowing me to participate in this event.»
«Suzuka 8 Hours» 2026 - Final Results:
1 Honda HRC (Takumi TAKAHASHI, Jonathan REA, Somkiat CHANTRA) / Honda CBR 1000 RR-R-SP (Bridgestone) 188 Laps
2 Yamaha Factory Racing Team (Katsuyuki NAGASUKA, Jack MILLER, Andrea LOCATELLI) / Yamaha YZF-R1 (Bridgestone) +1´34.280
3 BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team (Markus REITERBERGER, Steven ODENDAAL, Michael VAN DER MARK) / BMW M 1000 RR (Bridgestone) +1´44.087
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11 S-PULSE DREAM RACING SUZUKI (Sho NISHIMURA, Jonas FOLGER, Jérémy GUARNONI) / Suzuki (Bridgestone) / 183 Laps
