Suzuka 8 Hours: Yamaha on provisional pole after Friday
Yamaha Factory Racing topped Friday's first qualifying for the 40th running of the Suzuka 8 Hours, with Alex Lowes, Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Michael van der Mark setting an average time of 2m07.116s.
Photo by: Yamaha Motor Racing
Lowes was quickest of the trio on board the #21 Yamaha YZF-R1, lapping the legendary Japanese circuit in 2m06.779s during the morning session.
The Yoshimura Suzuki and HARC-Pro Honda squads were separated by just 0.015s in the battle for second, with the former’s #12 crew of Takuya Tsuda, Sylvain Guintoli and Josh Brookes holding the edge.
MotoGP star Jack Miller was the quickest of the HARC-Pro riders after clocking a time of 2m07.524s.
Leon Haslam, Kazuma Watanabe and Azlan Shah put the #11 Kawasaki Green outfit in fourth place, while the #5 FCC TSR Honda trio of Dominique Aegerter, Randy de Puniet and Josh Hook - substituting for Stefan Bradl - were the last of the runners to break the 2m07s barrier in fifth.
The #7 YART squad was second-best of the Yamahas in sixth ahead of the #71 Team Kagayama Suzuki.
Positions eight to 10 were occupied by Honda outfits, making it fives bikes from the Japanese manufacturer inside Saturday's top 10 qualifying shootout.
Top 10 qualifying results:
Pos. | No. | Team | Riders | Avg Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 21 | Yamaha Factory Racing Team |
Alex Lowes Katsuyuki Nakasuga Michael van der Mark |
2m07.116s |
2 | 12 | Yoshimura Suzuki Motul Racing |
Takuya Tsuda Josh Brookes Sylvain Guintoli |
2m07.553s |
3 | 634 | Musashi RT HARC-Pro Honda |
Jack Miller Takumi Takahashi Takaaki Nakagami |
2m07.538s |
4 | 11 | Kawasaki Team Green |
Leon Haslam Kazuma Watanabe Azlan Shah |
2m07.867s |
5 | 5 | F.C.C. TSR Honda |
Randy de Puniet Dominique Aegerter Josh Hook |
2m07.919s |
6 | 7 | YART Yamaha |
Broc Parkes Marvin Fritz Kohta Nozane |
2m08.176s |
7 | 71 | Team Kagayama |
Yukio Kagayama Hafiz Syahrin Naomichi Uramoto |
2m08.553s |
8 | 19 | Moriwaki Motul Racing |
Yuki Takahashi Ryuichi Kiyonari Dan Linfoot |
2m08.796s |
9 | 25 | Honda Suzuka Racing Team |
Daijiro Hiura Takashi Yasuda Yudai Kamei |
2m08.984s |
10 | 22 | Honda Team Asia |
Dimas Ekky Pratama Ratthapong Wilairot Md Zaqhwan Zaidi |
2m09.295s |
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