YART had to retire from the Suzuka 8 Hours, but Jason O'Halloran has switched his focus to next month's 24 Hours of Bol d'Or.

The Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team entered the Suzuka 8 Hours with an 18-point lead in the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) standings.

YART entered with their usual riders, Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz, and Jason O'Halloran. However, their race ended in disaster as they were forced to retire after Hanika crashed four hours into the race.

The race had seen difficulties earlier in the race, with O'Halloran also crashing and dropping the team back to 29th in the order.

However, after a difficult race, the Australian rider has already moved on from a difficult outing and has switched his focus to the 24 Hours of Bol d'Or in September, where YART could win the title.

"It's obviously a shame not to finish the race," O'Halloran said after YART failed to finish the Suzuka 8 Hours.

"My first stint was going quite well until I had a crash in the last chicane. I went in a little bit slower. There were some bikes ahead of me – maybe it unloaded the front tire a little bit too much. I lost the front, so that was a shame, as we were in a good position on the track.

"The lap time was quite strong, and I felt quite good. I got the bike back and went back out, but I had an issue that I needed to pit for.

"It's unfortunate for Karel to have the technical issue and the crash at the end of his second run. It is what it is – you have good luck and bad luck in racing, and you move on to the next one. We still have a 24-hour race and it's still all to play for."