HRC takes control in "Coca Cola Zero Suzuka 8 Hours" qualifiers

James Toseland. © Honda Pro Images. The Honda HRC 11 of Ryuichi Kiyonari and James Toseland took the plaudits in Friday's qualifying sessions for the ‘Coca Cola Zero' Suzuka 8 Hours. In the second round of qualifying James Toseland recorded a lap of 2'08.344, just ahead of the other Honda HRC 33 of Tadayuki Okada and Carlos Checa who, thanks to Okada, recorded a best of 2'08.352.

The official Honda team took control after Thursday's free testing sessions had been dominated by the Suzuki Yoshimura 34 of Yukio Kagayama and Kosuke Akiyoshi, who finished third quickest after today's qualifying rounds with a best time of 2'08.735, courtesy of Kagayama. The Yamaha Racing 21 and Honda Kyubo Harc-Po teams complete the make-up of the top five teams following the end of qualifying. The ten fastest teams will now compete in the Superpole competition on Saturday afternoon to decide the final make-up of the top ten places on the starting grid.

James Toseland and Carlos Checa. © Honda Pro Images. The best machine in the Superbike class (which is competing for points in the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship) is the Honda FCC TSR 778 of Yusuka Teshima and Sinichi Itoh who qualified in 10th at Suzuka today.

The second best Superbike machine was the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team who took 15th place in qualifying with a time of 2'11.572, ahead of Honda FCC TSR Eurosport Benelux which, thanks to its two Japanese riders, qualified in 19th.

Tadayuki Okada. © Honda Pro Images. Beyond 20th position, several permanent teams are bunched together. With a time of 2'14 were Yamaha Austria Racing Team, Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland, Endurance Moto 38, and Yamaha Phase One Endurance who leap-frogged the Kawasakis of Qatar Endurance Racing Team, RMT 21, Diablo 666 Bolliger and LTG 57. For other teams who are new to Suzuka this year, the head-to-head battle with the highly-motivated Japanese riders, a fast circuit, and the extreme local climate (over 30 degrees) has not made things any easier.

The full results from today's qualifying session are available "here".