Finally completed watching the entire race. Suzuka was basically just 8 hours of HRC domination. They optimized their engine specifically for the Suzuki 8 Hour, which gave them an apparent horsepower advantage. They also had the tires and setup dialed-in, and perfectly mated to their fuel strategy. KRT did a nice job as well, but they didn't have the budget or the engineering firepower to keep pace with Honda this year. KRT put their best foot forward in the early stints, but lack of pace from Loews allowed HRC to benefit from a safety car at the 2.5 hour mark, and then Rea had a small crash to add another 28 seconds to HRC's advantage. KRT still did an awesome job to recover from their pitstop woes late in the race to secure 2nd place.
YART and SERT did a good job to be the best of the regular teams, especially since SERT didn't have Guintoli. YART eventually hit trouble and finished 5 laps down, but still a great effort, and the highlight of their race was Nicolo Canepa charging through the field to take control of 3rd place at about the 30 minute mark. The Japanese teams were a mixed bag. S-Pulse Suzuki , TOHO Honda and RT Sakurai Honda were the highlights, finishing in 4th, 5th, and 6th positions, ahead of most of the regulars. The lowlight being Astemo Honda, whose rider, Sakumoto, caused an early safety car by losing the front at the very beginning of spoon curve, and launching the Astemo Honda at missile-like speeds into the back of the SDG Honda. Perhaps, Sakumoto deserves the benefit of the doubt, it could have been a technical issue, but two contenders were eliminated two laps into the race. Thankfully both riders involved were okay.
Best livery, imo, goes to the RT Sakurai Honda team. Okay, they've had this livery forever, but it caught my eye this year
https://www.mcnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-Suzuka-Test-Sakurai_Hamahara.jpg
