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.
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 |
|
2m07.116s |
| 2 | 12 | Yoshimura Suzuki Motul Racing |
|
2m07.553s |
| 3 | 634 | Musashi RT HARC-Pro Honda |
|
2m07.538s |
| 4 | 11 | Kawasaki Team Green |
|
2m07.867s |
| 5 | 5 | F.C.C. TSR Honda |
|
2m07.919s |
| 6 | 7 | YART Yamaha |
|
2m08.176s |
| 7 | 71 | Team Kagayama |
|
2m08.553s |
| 8 | 19 | Moriwaki Motul Racing |
|
2m08.796s |
| 9 | 25 | Honda Suzuka Racing Team |
|
2m08.984s |
| 10 | 22 | Honda Team Asia |
|
2m09.295s |
Alex Lowes
Katsuyuki Nakasuga
Michael van der Mark
Josh Brookes
Sylvain Guintoli
Azlan Shah
Dominique Aegerter
Marvin Fritz
Dimas Ekky Pratama
Ratthapong WilairotShare Or Save This Story
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