Yamaha trio top Suzuka 8 Hour First Practice

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 yesterday 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 regular 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, headed by Broc Parkes, 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.

Further practice sessions take place this morning at Suzuka ahead of the first official qualifying session for Sunday’ race.