On Sunday, the Suzuka rookie took centre stage twice when he was nominated as the starting rider and for the final stint by his Japanese team S-PULSE Dream Racing. However, after a long pit stop to fix the heavily damaged bike after a crash, the team ended up outside the rankings.
Had Jonas Folger, who has temporarily returned to racing, known this in advance, he would probably have had a sleepless night from Saturday to Sunday. The decision to send the 32-year-old rider as the first of the three riders into the gruelling eight hours of Suzuka was preceded by a strong warm-up by the Bavarian rider.
Folger finished the session in 13th place, just 1.3 seconds behind the fastest time. The decisive factor was a change in setup, which gave him a better feeling for his race bike. However, something happened at the start that you cannot blame a Suzuka newcomer for, namely that he missed the start signal a bit and therefore lost the sprint to his bike compared to his competitors.
A few laps later, that was long forgotten, as Folger impressed on track with his pure speed and fighting spirit. He quickly overtook one opponent after another and soon saw P15 displayed on his pit board, but shortly afterwards slipped out of the top 20 due to a riding error. Sodo Hamahara then took over the bike, followed by team owner Hideyuki Ogata, who sent Folger back onto the track after him.
At this point, the team was already within reach of the top ten. However, a crash by Hamahara, a brief pit stop, and another crash by the Japanese rider dashed all of the team’s hopes for a good result. Despite the unpleasant end to the weekend, there were many personal highlights for Folger at the 2025 edition of what is arguably the most prestigious endurance race.
Jonas FOLGER (S-PULSE DREAM RACING, Suzuki GSX-R100R):
«My first time in Suzuka was an incredible experience for me, I am thrilled. I am very happy that I took on this challenge and I think I did well. The race itself is unlike anything else. Even though the efforts and stresses are almost inhuman, I really enjoyed it. It was only about an hour before the start of the race that the team told me I would be the starting rider. That almost knocked me off my chair and made me even more excited, as I had never done or practiced a «Le Mans» start before. In fact, I almost messed it up completely because I focused a little too much on the riders next to me and my mechanics at my bike instead of paying attention to the starter and his flag signal. As a result, I ran to the motorcycle a few moments later than the others.»
«After a few laps, I found a good rhythm and was able to ride freely in the large pack. I quickly caught up with the riders in front of me and started to overtake. Unfortunately, a mistake threw me back again. That was a shame, because instead of handing over the bike in 15th place, we were just outside the top 20. The detour through the gravel trap was the only thing in the first stint that I am still annoyed about. Before the race, I heard from many people that the first stint was the worst. That is how I felt afterwards, too. I had no idea how I was going to manage the second stint. In fact, it turned out to be much easier for me. Unfortunately, Sodo crashed later on when we were already in ninth place in the top ten. He was able to continue but still came into the pits because the brakes were overheated and had to be changed. After resuming his stint, he crashed a second time. That caused quite a lot of damage to the bike. The repairs took a good three hours.»
«Despite the hopeless situation, as there was no chance of making it into the rankings, we continued our race. This was mainly in honour to Hideyuki, the team’s owner, who retired as a racer on Sunday. In his last race, he wanted to see his motorcycle crossing the finish line. And I was given this honour, as I did the last stint. But that was not the only reason why Suzuka was such a great experience for me. I had a lot of fun, and it motivated me even more to want to be there again. I am also grateful that I was allowed to be the last rider, because it gave me my first experience of riding in the dark, which was also very exciting for me. In any case, next year I will use the pre-event tests as training if I have the opportunity to participate in this legendary eight-hour race again. Unfortunately, I did not have time for that this year and that meant I was missing a few days and many laps. But now I know the track and the conditions you have to cope with here. I would like to thank the entire team, who are committed with heart and soul and always show incredible dedication. They worked on the motorcycle for three hours to get it back on the road. Ultimately, it was a very nice weekend that I enjoyed. So, a big thank you to Hideyuki and the entire team, who are like a family, and also to KTM for their support in this regard allowing me to take part.»
#2025Suzuka8Hours: Rennergebnis
1 Honda HRC (Takumi TAKAHASHI, Johann ZARCO) / Honda CBR1000 RR-R-SP / 08´00´26.580
2 YAMAHA RACING TEAM (Katsuyuki NAKSUGA, Jack MILLER, Andrea LOCATELLI) / Yamaha YZF R1 / +34.243
3 Yoshimura SERT MOTUL (Gregg BLACK, Dan LINFOOT, Cocoro ATSUMI) / Suzuki -R1000R / 1 Laps
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NC S-PULSE DREAM RACING (Hideyuki OGATA, Jonas FOLGER, Sodo HAMAHARA) / Suzuki / 60 Laps
