Third Round – Suzuka 8 Hours
Suzuka Circuit, Japan
suzuka 8 hours qualifying
After topping qualifying on Friday for the 47th FIM Endurance World Championship “Coca-Cola” Suzuka 8 Hours, Honda HRC will head into Saturday’s top 10 time trial as the team to beat.
Friday’s qualifying order at Suzuka is decided by the average of each team’s two fastest rider times rather than an absolute flyer. That format put the #30 Honda HRC squad on top with a 2m04.738 average, built around Jonathan Rea’s 2m04.422 and Takumi Takahashi’s 2m05.055.
Rea’s 2m04.422 was the fastest lap recorded in qualifying in the Yellow Rider session, while Somkit Chantra also continued to build momentum on the third Honda HRC entry with a best of 2m05.465.
BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team was just 0.075-seconds behind in second place, with Michael van der Mark’s 2m04.485 and Markus Reiterberger’s 2m05.142 with two counting laps.
Yamaha also made a strong statement on Friday, with Elf Mark VDS Racing Team/KM99 third, Yart Yamaha Official EWC Team fourth and Yamaha Factory Racing Team fifth. For the factory Yamaha squad, Andrea Locatelli’s 2m04.971 and Jack Miller’s 2m05.422 were two laps that put the #21 machine within half a second of the Honda HRC on average.
Suzuka 8 Hours Qualifying Results
| Situation | No. | Team | Bike | average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 | honda hrc | Honda | 2:04.738 | – |
| 2 | 37 | BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team | BMW | 2:04.813 | +0.075 |
| 3 | 99 | Elf Mark VDS Racing Team/KM99 | YAMAHA | 2:04.960 | +0.222 |
| 4 | 1 | YART Yamaha Official EWC Team | YAMAHA | 2:05.169 | +0.431 |
| 5 | 21 | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | YAMAHA | 2:05.196 | +0.458 |
| 6 | 5 | FCC TSR Honda France | Honda | 2:05.321 | +0.583 |
| 7 | 17 | Estemo Pro Honda SI Racing | Honda | 2:05.323 | +0.585 |
| 8 | 12 | Yoshimura Sert Motul | Suzuki | 2:05.359 | +0.621 |
| 9 | 76 | Autorace Ube Racing Team | BMW | 2:05.461 | +0.723 |
| 10 | 73 | SDG Team Hark-Prof. Honda | Honda | 2:05.851 | +1.113 |
Classification based on the average of each team’s two fastest rider lap times. The top ten teams will advance to Saturday’s Top 10 Trial, which determines the first ten grid positions.
So Honda will have four machines in the Shootout, Yamaha will have three, BMW will have two and Suzuki will have one, with Yoshimura SERT Motul eighth after setting the pace in free practice on Friday.
Australian interest within the Yamaha camp remains strong. Miller’s factory Yamaha team advanced to the top 10 trials in fifth place, while Max Stauffer’s Marume Team Kodama Yamaha qualified in 18th place with a 2m06.576 average. Stauffer had his personal best of 2m06.865 in the Yellow Rider session.
Conditions could still play a role in Saturday’s Top 10 time trial, with Honda HRC riders pointing to the uncertain forecast and the possibility of rain. This could make the single-bike shootout less about chasing the first 2m03 lap of the week and more about keeping laps clean.
Rea said that a 2m03s lap would be ambitious unless conditions were favourable, and suggested that the race would likely be won by the team that made the fewest mistakes, remained consistent and avoided problems throughout the eight hours.
Takahashi was more focused on race execution than the theater of a top 10 time trial, given that starting anywhere between third and fifth could change quickly once the race began.
Further down the order in Australian interest, Max Stauffer helped Marume Team Kodama finish 18th overall with a best of 2m06.865, which counts towards the team’s 2m06.576 average, while Waris Fleming improved to 2m12.564 on the #31 Team Sugai Racing Japan Honda, leaving the team 45th overall.
