Suzuka 8 Hour: Yamaha Factory Racing Off To A Fast Start

Yamaha Factory Racing picked up where they left off in 2015, topping the field in today's private practice for the famed Suzuka 8 Hour set for this weekend, July 29-31. Considered by many to be the favorites to pull off a repeat of last year's win at Suzuka, Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Pol Espargaro and Alex Lowes set a best lap time of 2:08.194. Trailing the factory Yamaha squad by .635 of a second with a 2:08.829 was Musashi RT Harc-Pro's Honda's Takumi Takahashi, Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden.

In third was Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance’s Takuya Tsuda, Josh Brookes and Noriyuki Haga, who posted a lap time of 2:08.933 for, followed by Team Green (Akira Yanagawa, Kazuki Watanabe and Leon Haslam), the last to make it into the 2:08s.

F.C.C. TSR Honda was fifth and the quickest of the teams in the running for the FIM EWC 2016 title. Kazuma Watanabe and American PJ Jacobsen (Dominique Aegerter will join them for qualifying) lapped their fastest time - a 2:09.135. Team Kagayama was sixth ahead of TOHO Racing. YART Yamaha Official EWC Team ended the day eighth with a lap time of 2:09.683. Completing the top 10 was SatuHATI Honda Team Asia and Rosetta Motorrad 39.

Free practice will start at 8.30 a.m. local time (GMT+9) tomorrow (Friday), while qualifying gets underway at 11.30 a.m.

2016 Suzuka 8 Hour Thursday Practice Results:
1. Yamaha Factory Racing 2:08.194
2. Musashi RT Harc-Pro's Honda 2:08.829
3. Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance 2:08.933
4. Team Green 2:09.683
5. F.C.C. TSR Honda 2:09.135
6. Team Kagayama 2:09.537
7. TOHO Racing 2:09.613
8. YART Yamaha Official EWC Team 2:09.683
9. SatuHATI. Honda Team Asia 2:10.256
10. Rosetta Motorrad39 2:10.623