The #104 Honda CBR1000RR-R crewed by Ryuichi Kiyonari, Takuma Kunimine and Ikuhiro Enokido has been excluded from the results after its fuel tank was found to be overcapacity during a post-race technical inspection.
The infringement was first recorded by an FIM technical director following the end of the 44th running of the Japanese endurance classic on Sunday.
As per the rules, a separate control test was conducted by a different technical director from FIM, who also found that the bike's fuel tank was beyond the maximum allowed capacity.
The matter was referred to the FIM EWC Steward Panel, which concluded that the bike did not conform to article 2.6.6.10 of the 2023 FIM Endurance World Championship Regulations.
It subsequently decided to disqualify the team entirely from the results.
TOHO Racing elected to appeal the decision, but the outfit’s bid to overturn the verdict was rejected by the FIM EWC Appeal Stewards Panel.
It means the #73 SDG Honda bike shared by Naomichi Uramoto, Teppei Nagoe and Haruki Noguchi moves up to second place, while Mike di Meglio, Alan Techer and Tarran Mackenzie are elevated to the final spot on the podium, in a boost to FCC TSR Honda's hopes of the 2023 EWC title.
The top non-Honda bike in the final classification is the #76 Ube Racing Suzuki crewed by Dan Linfoot and Takuya Tsuda in fourth.
The updated result gives the factory Honda team of Xavi Vierge, Tetsuta Nagashima and Takumi Takahashi a winning margin of a whopping three laps, having originally finished a lap ahead of the now-disqualified TOHO squad.
