Suzuka Eight-Hours winner Leon Haslam has revealed that his pace in Sunday’s race was slower than it was when he won in 2013 with a broken leg.
The Derbyshire man, who is the first British rider to win the prestigious race more than once, missed the official testing due to World Superbike commitments with his Pata Honda team, so was restricted to only a handful of laps in practice.
“In all honesty, I was slower this year with two legs than I was last year with one as we missed all the testing and with having three riders, you don’t get many laps in practice,” said Haslam, speaking to Bikesport News.
“It’s a big achievement for me and the team and it’s a bit of a confidence booster too. TCC-TSR did kind of help us in a way but that’s the nature of the Eight-Hours.
“Usually I enjoy my riding but for this time I felt pressure not to crash or not to make any mistakes. The team did a fantastic job and the pit-stops were very neat and quick. Michael was super-fast and Takumi was Mr. Consistent in his stints! I was really nervous watching him at the end, but he made it for our second win in a row.”
