YART beats Kagayama Ducati to win Suzuka 8H in Top Ten shootout

news7g07/20/2024

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YART beats Kagayama Ducati to win Suzuka 8H in Top Ten shootout

2024 Suzuka 8 hours

The official Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC team will start the 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours on Sunday from pole position after a spectacular win in the Top 10 Qualifying, thereby securing the first 10 places on the starting grid for the FIM Endurance World Championship round in Japan.

“It was a great race,Marvin Fritz, 31, said.At Spa I set the lap record but usually at Suzuka Karel and Niccolò were a bit quicker. But since last year I have a really good feeling, especially in the third sector, which I always struggled with but is now my favourite sector. The bike was perfect, we worked together like we were a big family, and that’s why we were always fast, all three of us. We were celebrating before Karel crashed because we knew pole position was certain, but we were happy to see him up and fine. The bike was damaged, but the race bike was ready and we felt comfortable and confident. The main focus in the race was to get points in the championship. Of course a win would be nice but the important thing is to get good points going into the Bol d’Or [season finale]“ .

Marvin Fritz’s flying lap of 2:05.130 proved decisive after team-mate Karel Hanika crashed during his Top 10 test. The German’s effort means YART, which also counts Niccolò Canepa in its squad, can celebrate three pole positions out of three in the EWC this season, with the five points scored taking the team ahead of Yoshimura SERT Motul in the race for the 2024 EWC title.

Speaking about her high-speed accident during the Top 10 competition, Hanika said: “I just tried my maximum performance, my 100 per cent and it didn’t work. Yamaha gave us a perfect machine for this kind of session where only one lap matters. I did my best ever in the first sector but to be able to go under 2:05 I had to continue like this and I just carried too much speed into Turn 7. Unfortunately I lost the front and I’m really sorry for that but the most important thing is that Marvin managed a great lap, super smooth and super clean, which gave us five points for the championship.“ .

It was also Yamaha’s first Top 10 Trial success since the Yamaha Factory Team won in 2017 and comes after YART finished ahead in the combined qualifying standings after Friday’s race.

Ducati Team Kagayama, comprising Ryo Mizuno, Hafizh Syahrin and Josh Waters, completed the Top 10 in second place, followed by Honda-sponsored Team HRC with Japan Post, chasing a third consecutive win at the EWC’s home race 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 pole position so I’m not too happy but with second place we did really well. The team had a really good performance and I’m very happy with how we put everything together. Tomorrow is the day and we’ll have more meetings tonight to plan everything for tomorrow“ .

Johann Zarco will start his first Suzuka 8 Hours – and his first EWC race – in third place for Team HRC alongside Japan Post teammates Teppei Nagoe and Takumi Takahashi. After joining Takahashi in the Top 10 Trial, the French MotoGP star said: “It’s been a great experience for me.It was special and I enjoyed it. You feel a different tension in MotoGP but I’m quite happy to have had this experience and I also improved from yesterday and that’s important.“ .

Failing to progress to the 2023 Trial Top 10, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team took a superb fourth place while Suzuki-powered Yoshimura SERT Motul finished fifth.

Although FCC TSR Honda France made it into the Trial Top 10 – one of only four permanent EWC teams to do so – Kawasaki Webike Trickstar, KM 99, Motobox Kremer Racing and Tati Team Beringer Racing did not make it. top ten cuts on friday. KM 99 finished 15th, Kawasaki Webike Trickstar finished 18th, Tati Team Beringer Racing finished 31st and Motobox Kremer Racing finished 43rd.

Top Ten Shootout

YART – YAMAHA EWC YAMAHA YZF-R1 02:05.130
DUCATI KAGAYAMA EWC Racing Team DUCATI PANIGALE V4R 02:05.248 +00.118s
Team HRC vs Japan Post EWC HONDA CBR1000RR-R SP 02:05.531 +00.401s
BMW MOTORRAD EWC WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM 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 +01.156 seconds
AutoRace Ube Racing EWC Team SUZUKI GSX-R1000R 02:06.562 +01.432 seconds
FCC 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 about how the Australians did in the Sixth Round

For comparison, the qualifying record was set last year by Tetsuta Nagashima on his Team HRC Fireblade with a time of 2:04.942. The lap record was set in 2019 by Jonathan Rea with a time of 2:06.805 on his way to victory for Kawasaki Racing Team, alongside Leon Haslam and Toprak Razgatlioglu.

2024 marks Ducati’s first serious attempt to win the iconic event in more than a quarter of a century. The Italian manufacturer’s best finish at the event was in 2011, when Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Hiromichi Kunikawa and Ken Eguchi finished tenth on a TOHO Racing 1098 R. The last time Ducati entered Suzuka with serious factory support was in 1991, when current Ducati Lenovo MotoGP team manager Davide Tardozzi teamed up with Belgian Stéphane Mertens on an 888 RS that was retired after 26 laps.

The high temperature expected on Sunday is 35 degrees, with just a 20 percent chance of rain.

The 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours was the third round of the FIM Endurance World Championship.

Honda has 29 wins at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Yamaha is second with eight wins, while Suzuki has five and Kawasaki has two.

No European manufacturer has ever won the Suzuka 8 Hours and 2024 marks Ducati’s first serious attempt to win the iconic event in more than a quarter of a century. The Italian manufacturer’s best finish at the event was in 2011, when Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Hiromichi Kunikawa and Ken Eguchi finished tenth on a TOHO Racing 1098 R. The last time Ducati entered Suzuka with serious factory support was in 1991, when current Ducati Lenovo MotoGP team manager Davide Tardozzi teamed up with Belgian Stéphane Mertens on an 888 RS that was retired after 26 laps.

Click here for a list of past winners and a brief history of the Suzuka 8 Hours.