Josh Waters part of runner-up team at Suzuka 8 Hour

Waters, the 2009 Australian Superbike champion, partnered Yukio Kagayama and Nobuatsu Aoki in the Yoshimura squad for the 8 Hour, which is the third round of the 2011 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship. Other Aussies in the race this year included Jamie Stauffer, Wayne Maxwell, Damian Cudlinand Cam Donald.

Yoshimura Suzuki were stroing throughout qualifying, and Water's teammate Yukio Kagayamawon pole position with a time of 2:08.001 duringthe 'Top-10 Time Trial' qualifying format which made its debut at this year's event. Yoshimura Suzuki were on the pace early, and in the lead at the halfway mark before the F.C.C. TSR Honda team made their move, eventually winning from Yoshimura by only 38.765 seconds, milliseconds in endurance racing terms. The Musashi RT Harc Pro team finished third, 1:31.161 behind.

"This event is just so huge here it is amazing," Waters said afterward. "The crowd just goes wild and being right on the doorstep of all the Japanese manufacturers is great. I feel so lucky to have been given this opportunity. I can't thank Team Yoshimura Suzuki enough!"

All three placegetters featured familiar names from World Superbike, British Superbike and MotoGP competition. The winningF.C.C. TSR Honda squadcomprised Kosuke Akiyoshi, Shinichi Itoh and Ryuichi Kiyonari, while the Honda Musashi RT Harc Pro squad included Takumi Takahashi, Makoto Tamada and Tadayuki Okada. TSR's win gave Honda its 24th Suzuka 8 Hour win.

Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Damian Cudlin finished fourth, and took the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship lead as the BMW Motorrad France 99 now leads the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team by six points.

The other Aussies at Suzuka fared significantly worse than Cudlin and Waters, failing to complete the event. The Honda TT Legends team, featuring Cam Donald and fellow TT winner, John McGuinnes, were one of the first casualties, retiring after 53 laps due to a rear wheel axle issue. Jamie Stauffer and Wayne Maxwell, riding for the Honda Dream RT Sakurai squad, were in the top five until the last two hours and had to quit the race due to an electronic problem.

The next round of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, September 24th and 25th.