2024 Suzuka 8 Hours
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team will start Sunday’s 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race from pole position after its dramatic victory in the Top 10 Trial, which sets the first 10 positions on the starting grid for Japan’s round of the FIM Endurance World Championship.
“It was an amazing lap,” 31-year-old Marvin Fritz said. “At Spa I got the lap record but normally here at Suzuka Karel and Niccolò are a bit faster. But since last year I’ve got a really good feeling, especially in the third sector where I always struggled but it’s my favourite now. The bike was perfect, we work together like we all are a big family, and this is why we are always fast, all three of us. We were celebrating before Karel crashed because we knew the pole was sure, but we were happy when we saw he was standing up and fine. The bike was damaged, but the race bike is ready and we feel comfortable and confident. The main focus in the race is to gain points in the championship. Of course a win would be nice but it’s important to have good points going to the Bol d’Or [season finale].”
Marvin Fritz’s flying lap of 2m05.130s proved decisive after team-mate Karel Hanika crashed during his Top 10 Trial run. The German rider’s effort means YART, which also includes Niccolò Canepa in its line-up, can celebrate three pole positions out of three in this season’s EWC with the five points scored putting it ahead of Yoshimura SERT Motul in the race to win the 2024 EWC title.
Of his high-speed crash in the Top 10 Trial, Hanika said: “I just tried my maximum performance, my 100 per cent and it didn’t work out. Yamaha gave us a perfect machine for this kind of session where only one lap matters. I did my best ever first sector but to be able to go under 2m05s I had to keep going like this and I just carried too much corner speed into Turn 7. Unfortunately, I lost the front and I’m really sorry for this but the most important is Marvin could manage an amazing lap, super-smooth and super-clean, which gave us the five points for the championship.”
It was also Yamaha’s first Top 10 Trial success since Yamaha Factory Team triumphed in 2017 and came after YART had finished ahead in the combined qualifying classification after Friday’s running.
Ducati Team Kagayama, consisting of Ryo Mizuno, Hafizh Syahrin and Josh Waters, completed the Top 10 Trial in second position followed by Honda-powered Team HRC with Japan Post, which is chasing a third consecutive victory in its home round of the EWC with riders Teppei Nagoe, Takumi Takahashi and MotoGP race winner Johann Zarco.
Ryo Mizuno, who was fastest in both Blue Rider qualifying sessions on Friday, said: “I was aiming for the pole position so I’m not so super-satisfied but with the second position we did really well. The team did a really good performance and I’m very pleased how we brought everything together. Tomorrow is the day and tonight we’ll have further meetings to plan everything for tomorrow.”
Johann Zarco will start his first Suzuka 8 Hours – and his first EWC race – in third position alongside Team HRC with Japan Post team-mates Teppei Nagoe and Takumi Takahashi. After joining Takahashi in the Top 10 Trial, the French MotoGP star said: “It was special and I like it. You feel a different stress in MotoGP but I’m pretty happy I did this experience and also I did an improvement compared to yesterday and that’s important.”
Having failed to progress to the Top 10 Trial in 2023, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team claimed a fine fourth as Suzuki-powered Yoshimura SERT Motul rounded out the top five.
Although F.C.C. TSR Honda France reached the Top 10 Trial – one of four permanent EWC teams to do so – Kawasaki Webike Trickstar, KM 99, Motobox Kremer Racing and Tati Team Beringer Racing did not make the top ten cut-off on Friday. KM 99 qualified 15th, Kawasaki Webike Trickstar 18th, Tati Team Beringer Racing 31st and Motobox Kremer Racing 43rd.
Top Ten Shootout
- YART – YAMAHA EWC YAMAHA YZF-R1 02:05.130
- DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA EWC DUCATI PANIGALE V4R 02:05.248 +00.118s
- Team HRC with Japan Post EWC HONDA CBR1000RR-R SP 02:05.531 +00.401s
- BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM EWC BMW M1000RR 02:05.971 +00.841s
- Yoshimura SERT Motul EWC SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 02:06.097 +00.967s
- SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda EWC HONDA CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE 02:06.286 +01.156s
- AutoRace Ube Racing Team EWC SUZUKI GSX-R1000R 02:06.562 +01.432s
- F.C.C. TSR Honda France EWC HONDA CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE 02:06.836 +01.706s
- Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing EWC HONDA CBR1000RR-R 02:07.165 +02.035s
- Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA EWC HONDA CBR1000RR-R SP 02:07.453 +02.323s
Click here to read how the Aussies got on during Friday Qualifying
For comparison purposes, the qualifying record was set last year by Tetsuta Nagashima on the Team HRC Fireblade at 2m04.942s. The race lap record was set by Jonathan Rea in 2019 at 2m06.805s on his way to victory with Kawasaki Racing Team, alongside Leon Haslam and Toprak Razgatlioglu.
2024 marks the first serious attempt by Ducati to win the iconic event for more than quarter of a century. The best finish for the Italian manufacturer at the event came in 2011 when Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Hiromichi Kunikawa and Ken Eguchi finished tenth on a TOHO Racing 1098 R. The last time Ducati contested Suzuka with serious factory backing was in 1991, when current Ducati Lenovo MotoGP Team Manager Davide Tardozzi teamed with Belgian Stéphane Mertens on an 888 RS that expired after 26 laps.
A high of 35-degrees is forecast for Sunday, with only a 20 per cent chance of rain.
The 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race is round three of FIM Endurance World Championship.
Honda have 29 Suzuka 8 Hours wins. Next best is Yamaha with eight victories while Suzuki have five wins and Kawasaki two.
No European manufacturer has ever won the Suzuka 8 Hours and 2024 marks the first serious attempt by Ducati to win the iconic event for more than quarter of a century. The best finish for the Italian manufacturer at the event came in 2011 when Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Hiromichi Kunikawa and Ken Eguchi finished tenth on a TOHO Racing 1098 R. The last time Ducati contested Suzuka with serious factory backing was in 1991, when current Ducati Lenovo MotoGP Team Manager Davide Tardozzi teamed with Belgian Stéphane Mertens on an 888 RS that expired after 26 laps.
Click here for a list of previous winners and short history of the Suzuka 8 Hours.
2024 Suzuka 8 Hours
Friday Qualifying Team Rankings
Based on average of fastest laps of two riders
- YART – YAMAHA 2m05.222
- DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA 2m05.776
- Team HRC with Japan Post 2m06.032s
- Yoshimura SERT Motul 2m06.207s
- Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing 2m06.215s
- SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda 2m06.357s
- AutoRace Ube Racing Team 2m06.779s
- BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM 2m06.870s
- F.C.C. TSR Honda France 2m06.981s
- Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA 2m07.173s
- TOHO Racing 2m07.342s
- Team KODAMA 2m07.487s
- Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo 2m07.746s
- TeamATJ with docomo business 2m07.790s
- KM 99 2m07.919s
- Team SUZUKI CN CHALLENGE 2m08.077s
- TERAMOTO@J-TRIP Racing 2m08.272s
- Kawasaki Webike Trickstar 2m08.319s
- Team Étoile 2m08.349s
- Honda Suzuka Racing Team 2m08.386s
2024 FIM Endurance World Championship Calendar
- 24 Heures Motos (Le Mans, France): 18-21 April (FFM)
- 8 Hours of Spa Motos (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium): 6-8 June (FMB)
- 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race, Japan: 18-21 July (MJF)
- Bol d’Or (Circuit Paul Ricard, France): 12-15 September (FFM)
