Na alle pre-tests is één ding duidelijk, het Yamaha Factory Racing team met Pol Espargaro, Katsuyuki Nakasuga en Alex Lowes (winnaars van 2015) is favoriet. Althans, ze klokten de snelste rondetijd, maar of ze dat 8 uur lang kunnen volhouden wordt zondag pas duidelijk. En natuurlijk tellen de tijden van vrijdag past echt.
Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Pol Espargaro and Alex Lowes are clear favourites to carry off another win at the Suzuka 8 Hours. They’ve already placed Yamaha Factory Racing at the top of the timesheets, following the first private tests today in Japan. With a best lap time of 2.08’194, they were ahead of Takumi Takahashi,
Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden who clocked a 2.08’829 lap in the saddle of Musashi RT Harc-Pro’s Honda. Takuya Tsuda, Josh Brookes and Noriyuki Haga posted a lap time of 2.08’933 for Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance, while Team Green (Akira Yanagawa, Kazuki Watanabe and Leon Haslam) clocked 2.08’989.
F.C.C. TSR Honda was the quickest of the teams in the running for the FIM EWC 2016 title. Kazuma Watanabe and Patrick Jacobsen (Dominique Aegerter will join them for qualifying) lapped their fastest tour in 2.09’135.
YART Yamaha Official EWC Team were right behind with a lap time of 2.09’683. Next in the pecking order were GMT94 Yamaha, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, Team SRC Kawasaki and Honda Endurance Racing Team.
Team Bolliger Switzerland, Team R2CL, Team April Moto Motors Events (currently leading the FIM EWC championship), Motobox Kremer Racing and Flembbo Leader Team will also be on the Suzuka 8 Hours starting grid.
Free practice will start at 8.30am local time (GMT+9) tomorrow (Friday), while qualifying gets underway at 11.30am.