Honda HRC on Suzuka 8 Hours pole after Top 10 trial canceled

Third Round – Suzuka 8 Hours
Suzuka Circuit, Japan

Top ten shootout canceled

There will be no top 10 trial at the Suzuka 8 Hours this year, after Saturday’s rain forced the cancellation of the single-lap shootout, which traditionally takes place at the front of the grid.

This means the starting order for Sunday’s 47th FIM Endurance World Championship “Coca-Cola” Suzuka 8 Hours reverts to Friday’s qualifying classification, which was decided by the average of each team’s two fastest rider times.

The Honda HRC therefore starts from pole position after topping qualifying on Friday with a 2m04.738 average, built around Jonathan Rea’s 2m04.422 and Takumi Takahashi’s 2m05.055 on the #30 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.

BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team would finish second just 0.075-second behind Honda HRC, with Michael van der Mark, Marcus Reiterberger and Steven Odendaal leading the second row of the front group.

Elf Mark VDS Racing Team/KM99 is in third place, YART Yamaha Official EWC Team is in fourth place and Yamaha Factory Racing Team is in fifth place. This leaves three Yamaha squads in the top five, with Jack Miller’s Factory Yamaha entry starting in the middle of that lead pack with Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Andrea Locatelli.

FCC TSR Honda France, Estemo Pro Honda SI Racing, Yoshimura SERT Motul, Autorace Ube Racing Team and SDG Team HARC-Pro. Honda made the top ten, but none of them had a chance to improve their positions in the planned top 10 testing.

Honda finished second in Saturday’s Free Practice 2, with Takahashi’s 2m06.267 finishing the #30 squad 0.173-second behind the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team in cold, overcast conditions. However, rain before the Top 10 time trial changed the format of the afternoon, leaving Friday to decide the grid.

For the Australians, Miller is best placed on the grid and the Yamaha Factory Racing Team is fifth. Max Stauffer will start 18th with Marume Team Kodama Yamaha after helping the team to a 2m06.576 qualifying average, while Waris Fleming’s Team Sugai Racing Japan Honda will start 45th.

The Suzuka 8 Hours is scheduled to start at 1130 local time on Sunday, with the weather eight hours away still unknown.

jonathan ree

“I was really happy with my lap time yesterday. It wasn’t easy to put that lap together because of the traffic, so I’m happy with what we achieved. Of course, it’s a shame we couldn’t do a top 10 time trial because I really like the format of going out for a flying lap. But with the conditions, it was the right decision to cancel it because it wouldn’t have been fair to everyone. To be honest, I was pretty nervous about going out in those conditions anyway. We will take tomorrow’s result, but tomorrow is what really matters.”

Takumi Takahashi

“Today the rain finally arrived, and the forecast for tomorrow is still quite uncertain, so we don’t really know what to expect. If I could choose, I would want it to be around 35 degrees Celsius! Anyway, I have full confidence in my team and my teammates; they are both incredible riders. We just have to give our best, avoid making even the smallest mistake, and finish it after eight hours. That’s the main factor.”

Michael van der Mark – BMW

“Yesterday was good; we did good laps together. I made some small mistakes and unfortunately not fast enough to beat this old guy next to me. Other than that, I’m very happy with P2 on the grid. It’s a shame we couldn’t do a top 10 time trial because I really like it. Anyway, tomorrow is more important but the three of us have very good pace so I’m looking forward to the rest.”

Suzuka 8 Hours 2026 provisional starting grid