Honda is catching the lead at Suzuka. Winner of the 2006 edition with the same two riders, Shinichi Itoh and Takeshi Tsujimura, FCC TSR Honda 2 took the best from the “Coca Cola Zero Suzuka 8 Hours” qualifying, ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki with Denso 12. However, Yoshimura Suzuki with Denso 12 was leading the qualifying for a very long time, thanks to the 2’07”984 lap signed by Daisaku Sakai this morning, but Shinichi Itoh took him over on the FCC TSR Honda 2 later this afternoon. Shinichi Itoh did his best lap in 2’07”657. Itoh and Sakai are the only two riders under the 2’08 mark and they are close to the best lap signed by 2007 “Special Stage” winner Carlos Checa, a Superpole that is unique in Endurance to the Suzuka round. Then comes the 2007 winner Yoshimura Suzuki with Jomo 34, followed by Yamaha Racing 218 and the two official Dream Honda Racing 11 and 33, all lapping inside the 2’08 bracket. The top-ten is completed with four Hondas, Moriwaki 19, Sakurai Honda 10, Honeybee Racing 99 and Kyubo Harc-Pro. This group of ten will dispute their spot for the final starting tomorrow Saturday during the “Special Stage”. We had some hope in seeing the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team entering the “Special Stage” after their results in the first free session. But the official Suzuki lost this morning one of their fastest riders and finally took the nineteenth place in qualifying. At the beginning of his first session, Vincent Philippe was caught in a collective crash involving three other Japanese bikes. He was found with a broken ankle and unfortunately won’t be able to take part of the race on Sunday. The SERT remains the best permanent team, however, due to the performance of Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa. Da Costa managed to cut down his lap times by 1.5 second between the two qualifying sessions, and signed an impressive 2’11”755. Amongst the 2008 Qtel FIM World Endurance Championship permanent teams, Bolliger Team Switzerland, Yamaha Austria Racing Team and Phase One Endurance all managed to hook with the leading group. In the Superstock class, the best result goes to Qatar Endurance Racing Team IJT with a lap of 2’16”013, that puts them ahead of many Formula EWC teams. The “Special Stage” will take place tomorrow Saturday afternoon and concerns only the first ten teams. The race will start Sunday at 11:30 am for a 7:30 night arrival at Suzuka. QTEL FIM Endurance World Championship Suzuka 8 Hours Suzuka Circuit, Japan July 25, 2008 Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. F.C.C.TSR Honda (Tsujimura TSUJIMURA/Shinichi ITO), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:07.657 2. YOSHIMURA SUZUKI with DENSO (Daisaku SAKAI/Atsushi WATANABE), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:07.984 3. YOSHIMURA SUZUKI with JOMO (Yukio KAGAYAMA/Kohsuke AKIYOSHI/Nobuatsu AOKI), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:08.284 4. YAMAHA RACING (Yuji SATO/Katsuyuki NAKASUGA/Yuichi TAKEDA), Yam YZF-R1, 2:08.290 5. DREAM Honda Racing Team 11 (Ryuichi KIYONARI/Carlos CHECA/Kazuki TOKUDOME), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:08.626 6. DREAM Honda Racing Team 33 (Jonathan REA/Yuki TAKAHASHI/Yusuke TESHIMA), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:08.778 7. MORIWAKI MOTUL RACING (Tatsuya YAMAGUCHI/Cal CRUTCHLOW/Jason O’HALLORAN), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:09.426 8. Team SAKURAI HONDA 10 (Chojun KAMEYA/Leon HASLAM), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:09.969 9. Teluru Honeybee Racing (Hiroki NODA/Takuma YAMAMOTO), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:10.225 10. Kyubo.com team HARC-PRO (Takashi YASUDA/Yoshiteru KONISHI/Takumi TAKAHASHI), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:10.872 19. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent PHILIPPE/Julien DA COSTA/Matthieu LAGRIVE), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:11.775 40. MAco Motoracing Team (Warwick NOWLAND/Jason PRIDMORE/Martin KUZMA), Yam YZF-R1, 2:15.301 55. La Fortezza Amadeus X-ONE (Paolo TESSARI/Will GRUY/Riccardo RICCI), Yam YZF-R1, 2:17.870 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Yoshimura Suzukis are second and third on the grid for the Suzuka 8-Hours World Endurance round in Japan Suzuki with Denso 12 was leading the qualifying for a long time, thanks to the 2’07”984 lap signed by Daisaku Sakai this morning, but Shinichi Itoh took him over on the FCC TSR Honda 2 later this afternoon. Shinichi Itoh did his best lap in 2’07”657. Itoh and Sakai are the only two riders under the 2’08 mark and they are close to the best lap signed by 2007 “Special Stage” winner Carlos Checa, a Superpole that is unique in Endurance to the Suzuka round. Third is 2007 winners Yoshimura Suzuki with Jomo 34, followed by Yamaha Racing 218 and the two official Dream Honda Racing 11 and 33, all lapping inside the 2’08 bracket. World Championship leaders SERT are in 19th position. Qualifying: 1 F.C.C.TSR Honda (CBR1000RR) T .TSUJIMURA/ S.ITO 2’07.657. 2 YOSHIMURA SUZUKI with DENSO (GSX-R1000) D.SAKAI / A.WATANABE 2’07.984, 3 YOSHIMURA SUZUKI with JOMO (GSX-R1000) Y.KAGAYAMA/ K.AKIYOSHI/ N.AOKI 2’08.284, 4 YAMAHA RACING (YZF-R1) Y.SATO/ K.NAKASUGA/ Y.TAKEDA 2’08.290, 5 DREAM Honda Racing Team (CBR1000RR) 2’08.626. 19 SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM (GSX-R1000) V.PHILIPPE / J.DA COSTA/ M.LAGRIVE 2’11.775.