Coca-Cola Zero 37th Suzuka 8 Hours
FIM Endurance World Championship
July 25, 2014
Combined Qualifying Results, Before Special Stage:
1. MuSASHI RT Harc-Pro (Takumi Takahashi 2:09.205/Leon Haslam 2:09.923/Michael vd Mark 2:07.839), Honda CBR1000RR, 2:07.839
2. Monster Energy Yamaha with YSP (Katsuyuki Nakasuga 2:08.159/Broc Parkes 2:09.808/Josh Brookes 2:09.599), Yam YZF-R1, 2:08.159
3. Team Green (Akira Yanagawa 2:09.233/Kazuki Watanabe 2:08.370/Katsuaki Fujiwara 2:10.318), Kaw ZX-10R, 2:08.370
4. Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance (Takuya Tsuda 2:08.752/Josh Waters 2:09.076/Randy de Puniet 2:08.800), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:08.752
5. Team Kagayama & Verity (Noriyuki Haga 2:10.893/Dominique Aegerter 2:09.610/Yukio Kagayama 2:08.947), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:08.947
6. F.C.C. TSR Honda (Kohsuke Akiyoshi 2:09.230/Jonathan Rea 2:09.062/Lorenzo Zanetti 2:12.633), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:09.062
7. Honda Endurance Racing (Sebastien Gimbert 2:09.104/Julien Da Costa 2:10.662/Freddy Foray 2:10.694), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:09.104
8. Honda Suzuka Racing Team (Daijiro Hiura 2:09.277/Taketsuna Morii 2:12.881/Takashi Yasuda 2:10.860), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:09.277
9. Legend of Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance (Kevin Schwantz 2:11.386/Satoshi Tsujimoto 2:15.224/Nobuatsu Aoki 2:09.338), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:09.338
10. TOHO Racing With Moriwaki (Hiromichi Kunikawa 2:11.506/Tatsuya Yamaguchi 2:09.420/Ryuta Kobayashi 2:10.674), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:09.420
11. Yamaha Racing GMT94 Michelin (Kenny Foray 2:10.394/Mathies Gines 2:11.297/David Checa 2:09.610), Yam YZF-R1, 2:09.610
12. TELURU & Kohara RT (Kazuma Watanabe 2:09.889/Tetsuta Nagashima 2:12.970/Shin’ichi Itoh 2:10.185), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:09.889
13. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Anthony Delhalle 2:09.917/Erwan Nigon 2:10.139/Damian Cudlin 2:10.506), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:09.917
14. Honda Team Asia (Josh Hook 2:10.007Muhammad Zamri Baba 2:10.928/Dimas Ekky Pratama 2:10.677), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:10.007
15. Honda Dream RT Sakurai Honda (Troy Herfoss 2:10.306/Jamie Stauffer 2:16.682/Chojun Kameya 2:12.504), Hon CBR1000RR, 2:10.306
16. EVA RT Test Type-01 Synergy Force Trickstar (Osamu Deguichi 2:10.836/Gregory LeBlanc 2:10.367/Hitoyasu Izutsu 2:12.647), Kaw ZX-10R, 2:10.361
17. Team Tenmei Sakura Project (Ismai Higashimura 2:10.362/Akinori Inoue 2:13.892/Hidemichi Takahashi 2:12.176), Kaw ZX-10R, 2:10.362
18. CONFIA Flex Motorrad 39 (Daisaku Sakai 2:10.721/Shin’ya Takeishi 2:13.513/Takatoshi Ohnishi 2:14.770), BMW S1000RR, 2:10.721
19. Patlabor Team JP Dogfightracing Yamaha (Takuya Fujita 2:10.831/Dan Kruger 2:20.679/Seijin Oikawa 2:17.611), Yam YZF-R1, 2:10.831
20. Kawasaki K-TEC Team38 PS-K (Shohei Karita 2:11.152/Shoichi Tsukamoto 2:15.164/Shigeru Yamashita 2:15.817), Kaw ZX-10R, 2:11.152
22. Monster Energy Yamaha – YART (Tommy Bridewell 2:11.986/Wayne Maxwell 2:11.992/Rick Olson 2:12.734), Yam YZF-R1, 2:11.986
23. Bolliger Team Switzerland (Horst Saiger 2:12.344/Roman Stamm 2:12.268/Daniel Sutter 2:15.807), Kaw ZX-10R, 2:12.268
24. Team R2CL (Gareth Jones 2:13.798/Gwen Giabbani 2:13.133/Matthieu Lagrive 2:12.653), Suz GSX-R1000, 2:12.653
Americans Shelina Moreda and Melissa Paris, riding their Synergy Force Moriwaki Club Honda CBR600RR, did a best time of 2:30.063 during Friday’s practice session for the Suzuka 4 Hours endurance race for ST600-class machines, which ranked them 52nd out of 69 teams. The fastest time in the session was a 2:19.105 turned by Yamaha Racing Indonesia B, 2.1 seconds faster than any other team.
More, from a press release issued by FIM:
Musashi RT Harc-Pro calls the shots at Suzuka
Honda Endurance Racing places in the Top 10
The winners of the 2013 edition, the Musashi RT Harc-Pro Team have headed the qualification of this year’s Suzuka 8 hours. The Honda squad leads the Monster Energy Yamaha Team with YSP and Team Green the official Kawasaki squad respectively. The Top 10 was dominated by the Japanese based teams with the single exception being the Honda Endurance Racing Team who took 7th best time with Sébastien Gimbert.
Recognised for his incredible performance last year, when he won on his debut at the Suzuka 8 hours riding for the Honda du Musashi RT Harc-Pro Team, Michael Van der Mark once again stunned his rivals with his best lap time of 2’07.839. This deposed Katsuyuki Nakasuga riding for the Monster Energy Yamaha Team with YSP who is a specialist when it comes to flying laps at Suzuka, into second place at the end of qualifying. There was also a good performance for the Kawasaki clan. Team Green achieved the third best time with Kasuki Watanabe at 2’08.370, which was in front of the Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance Team represented by Takuya Tsuda and Randy de Puniet who recorded laps of 2’08.752 and 2’08.800 respectively.
Other Japanese favourites are also placed in the Top 10, these include Team Kagayama & Verity on Suzuki (2’08.947) and the FCC TSR Honda Team (2’09.062). The best showing from the permanent squads was by the Honda Endurance Racing Team that placed 7th thanks to a lap of 2’09.104 by Sébastien Gimbert, who was closely followed by his team mates Julien da Costa and Freddy Foray. The English based official Honda Team will take their place in tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) Top 10 shootout. Superpole will re-order the top ten places on the grid. This will include the Honda Suzuka Racing Team, the Legends of Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance Team with Nobuatsu Aoki who is very capable, and also Kevin Schwantz, and the Honda du Toho Racing Team with Moriwaki.
In eleventh is the Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Team who just missed out on a place in the Top 10, but the time posted by David Checa (2’09.610) and the strength of his crew bode well for the race. The situation is more delicate for the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, 13th, mainly due to problems with tyre grip and chassis settings. Three other permanent teams are placed together from 22nd position: Monster Energy Yamaha YART Team, Bolliger Team Switzerland (Kawasaki) and the Team R2CL (Suzuki). The Team Flembbo Leader Team (Kawasaki) and the Team Motors Events April Moto (Suzuki) hold 37th and 38th positions in the rankings respectively. The Motobox Kremer by Shell Advance (Suzuki) Team is in 54th place out of the 70 teams who will start.
The start of 37th edition of the Suzuka 8 hours will be on Sunday at 11.30hrs local time (GMT+9h).
More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing:
Honda Racing EWC team through to Suzuka 8 Hours Top 10 Trial
The Honda Racing Endurance World Championship team completed official qualifying for the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours as the highest-placed permanent EWC contender and the seventh fastest team overall. The result sees the squad qualify for tomorrow’s Top 10 Trial, which will determine the final grid positions for Sunday’s race.
Timed qualifying, which was divided into three 30-minute sessions with each rider completing one apiece, took place this afternoon in incredibly hot conditions with temperatures reaching 37°c. Sebastien Gimbert was first up for Honda Racing and put in an impressive lap of 2’09.104 to place third fastest, ending his session as the quickest Honda rider on track. Julien Da Costa and Freddy Foray followed with 2’10.662 and 2’10.694 respectively.
In accordance with Suzuka 8 Hours rules, the final positions are determined by the team’s single fastest time. Gimbert’s lap places Honda Racing seventh overall, meaning the team will take part in tomorrow’s Top 10 Trial – the only permanent EWC squad to do so. The MuSashi RT Harc-Pro team, which includes Pata Honda World Superbike and Supersport riders Leon Haslam and Michael van der Mark, secured provisional pole position.
The Suzuka 8 Hours race will begin at 11.30am JST on Sunday 27 July.
Neil Tuxworth team manager
All the free practice and qualifying sessions have gone very well with no problems whatsoever for our riders or our machinery. As always, the most difficult thing here in Japan is to dealing with the intense heat and humidity, but the team and riders have got on with the job and we’ve qualified for the Top 10 Trial for the first time, which is an excellent achievement. Of course, the most important thing for us now is the race on Sunday and we’re hoping for a good result.
Sebastien Gimbert
I am happy after today. It was a really good session for me. This is a difficult circuit with lots of short, fast corners and chicanes but the bike is easy to ride and the tyres are working well. It is very hot but it’s not too different to where I live in the south of France so I don’t mind too much. I just want to put in a good lap time tomorrow for my team-mates, for Honda and for Dunlop and hopefully we can get a good result on Sunday.
Freddy Foray
I think the team have done a really good job so far this week. Sebastien was fast today and I want to thank him as that got us into the top ten. Tenth place for me was not so bad. The feeling on the bike was better every time I went out so we are improving and that’s a good thing for the race. I’m sure I can do better but it is my first time here, so it’s not so bad.
Julien Da Costa
Suzuka is a very difficult track and I need to do a few laps to get used to it, but I feel like I’m improving every time I go out. The bike is better with every session. To qualify in the top ten is really good and we’re happy with that. We are the only permanent EWC team in the top ten too, so this shows that we are fast in the championship. The heat is very difficult to deal with – after ten minutes everything is so hot and you feel like your head is in a boiler, but we deal with it!
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
Both Yoshimura Suzukis and Team Kagayama will go through to tomorrow’s Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance Championship round Top-10 Trial following the opening day of qualifying at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan.
The #34 Yoshimura Shell Advance Suzuki, ridden by Takuya Tsuda, Randy De Puniet and Josh Waters, qualified fourth overall after the three riders’ times were combined. The #12 Legend of Yoshimura Shell Advance Suzuki of former World 500cc Champion Kevin Schwantz, Nobuatsu Aoki and Satoshi Tsujimoto took ninth position and Team Kagayama’s GSX-R1000, ridden by Noriyuki Haga, Dominique Aegerter and Yukio Kagayama carded fifth place overall.
With the day starting with temperatures of 30 degrees and a track temperature of around 55 degrees, there were many crashes that caused several red flags, although the #34 Yoshimura Suzuki team opened with third place overall in free practice on a time of 2’09.334, #12 Yoshimura Legend ninth, Team Kagayama 13th and 13-times world Endurance Champion SERT – fielding stand-in rider Damian Cudlin, who is replacing injured Vincent Philippe, alongside Anthony Delhalle and Erwan Nigon – starting with 15th.
Temperatures soared to 37 and 65 degrees respectively in the afternoon’s Time Attack Qualifying as each rider took turns to set a ‘hot-lap’ on Japan’s hottest day of the year so far to get through to Saturday’s Top 10 Trial; and in the first rider session Tsuda posted the second-fastest time overall with a 2’09.752. Dehalle finished ninth with a 2’09.91, Haga was 17th (2’10.893) and Schwantz 19th (2’11.386).
In the second-rider qualification, Waters put the #34 Yoshimura Suzuki into third overall with a lap of 2’09.076, Aegerter scored fifth after a final lap dash of 2’09.610; and SERT’s Nigon was eighth on 2’10.139.
The final third rider qualifying saw Kagayama put in his best lap of 2’08.947 in the closing stages to claim fifth overall as Suzuki MotoGP Test Team rider De Puniet just missed the top spot, but finished second on 2’08.800. Aoki also put in a strong performance to help the Yoshimura Legends through to the Top-10 Trial with a lap of 2’09.338.
Said Aoki: “I was aiming to score a 2’09.400. I was pushing myself and shouting at myself again and again to get under this time and we got through to the Top-10 Trial.”
Schwantz said: “Conditions are very different compared to last year, but we have a perfect team, staff, partners and the finest machines. All these things make me serious to do well – I’ve not come here just to race for my enjoyment and I hope I can show my best performance as the professional rider.”
Kagayama added: “I did not care about the Top-10 Trial so much as our main focus is the race result, but I knew we were on the border or getting through, so I thought I should do something. I came in and changed the tyres and then pushed myself hard and got the 2’08-time on the third lap, so I am happy that I could do my job!”
Suzuka 8-Hour Schedule (GMT+9hrs):
Saturday:
14:15-15:00 – Free Practice.
15:30-16:45 – Top-10 Trial.
Sunday:
08:30-09:15 – Warm-up.
11:30-19:30 – Suzuka 8-Hour Race.
Suzuka 8-Hour Combined Qualifying Results: 1 MuSASHI RT HARC-PRO (Honda) 2’07.839, 2 Monster Energy Yamaha (Yamaha) 2’08.159, 3 Team GREEN (Kawasaki) 2’08.370, 4 YOSHIMURA SUZUKI Shell ADVANCE (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – Takuya Tsuda, Josh Waters, Randy De Puniet – 2’08.752, 5 TEAM KAGAYAMA and Verity (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – Noriyuki Haga, Dominique Aegerter, Yukio Kagayama – 2’08.947, 6 FCC TSR Honda (Honda) 2’09.062, 7 Honda Endurance Racing (Honda) 2’09.104, 8 Honda Suzuka Racing Team (Honda) 2’09.277, 9 Legend of YOSHIMURA SUZUKI Shell ADVANCE (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – Kevin Schwantz, Satoshi Tsujimoto, Nobuatsu Aoki – 2’09.338, 10 TOHO Racing with MORIWAKI (Honda) 2’09.420. 13 SERT (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – Anthony Delhalle, Erwan Nigon, Damian Cudlin – 2’09.917.