Honda HRC will start from pole position for Sunday’s 47th edition of the FIM Endurance World Championship “Coca-Cola” Suzuka 8 Hours after Saturday’s Top 10 Trial was cancelled due to persistent rain at Suzuka Circuit.
Based on Friday’s combined qualifying results, Honda HRC secured pole position with an average lap time of 2:04.738. Following the cancellation of the Top 10 Trial, Takumi Takahashi, Jonathan Rea and Somkiat Chantra will line up first aboard the Honda CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP #30 for Sunday’s race.
Free practice session 2 got underway at 13:00 under cooler conditions than Friday before rain arrived towards the end of the session. Takahashi was first on track, setting the team’s fastest lap of 2:06.267 on his sixth lap. Rea followed with a personal best lap time of 2:07.354, before handing the bike over to Chantra for the final seven minutes. Chantra’s best lap time was 2:06.325, leaving Takahashi’s lap as Honda HRC’s fastest lap time and placing the team second overall in the session.
For F.C.C. TSR Honda France, free practice session 2 was dedicated to race preparation rather than setting fast lap times. The team focused on confirming the race setup across both Honda CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP #5 machines, comparing engine and electronic settings while gathering valuable data ahead of Sunday’s eight-hour race.
With rain forecast, the riders also prioritised preserving the wet tyres for the race and planned to use Sunday’s warm-up to further refine the bike’s setup in wet conditions. Despite not chasing a fast lap, the team completed the second free practice confident in the package developed for Sunday’s race.
With the Top 10 Trial cancelled, Friday’s combined qualifying results determined the starting grid, with F.C.C. TSR Honda France securing sixth place on the grid with a qualifying time of 2:05.321.
The result represents a significant improvement on last year’s 11th-place grid position and puts the Honda #5 squad in a strong position for Sunday’s race, with all three riders encouraged by the progress made throughout the week and confident in the race package developed across both machines.
Among the other permanent Honda teams, Tati Team AVA6 Racing will start 28th on the grid after recording a qualifying time of 2:08.094 with Hugo Clère, Mike Di Meglio and Isaac Viñales aboard the Honda #4.
In the Superstock category, Dafy-Kaedear-RAC41-Honda will line up fifth in class with a qualifying time of 2:07.772, with Takeshi Ishizuka, Diego Poncet and Kevin Manfredi, while Wójcik Racing Team #77 SST will start seventh in the category with a 2:08.356, with Oscar Gutiérrez Iglesias, Jordi Torres Fernández and Gabriele Giannini.
The 47th edition of the ‘Coca-Cola’ Suzuka 8 Hours will start on Sunday, 5 July, at 11:30 am local time.
F.C.C. TSR Honda France
“Free practice session 2 went quite well. The most important thing is that both bikes are working well and are now on the same race setup in terms of the engine, electronics and everything else, so we’re in a good position.Tomorrow we’ll probably have wet conditions, so we’ll use the warm-up to try a few things and improve our feeling in the wet ahead of the race.Sixth place is a good result and we’re happy with it. Last year we started from 11th on the grid, so it’s definitely a step forward. I’m just a little disappointed that both of my teammates missed out on the Top 10 Trial because it’s the first time here for John and Corentin. I’ve experienced it before, and it’s something really special with all the fans watching as you go out for that one flying lap. Hopefully they’ll get the chance to experience it next year.”
F.C.C. TSR Honda France
“Today I only did one run before coming back in, mainly to save the wet tyres for the race. We still haven’t decided who will take the start, that will be decided this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Depending on the conditions, it could be John, Alan or me. With rain expected tomorrow, we’re feeling confident, so we’ll see how everything unfolds.”
F.C.C. TSR Honda France
“Today we didn’t do many laps. The only running we completed was to check the base map for the race engine and compare the settings between the two bikes. Although we didn’t complete a fast lap, everything we did was focused on preparing for the race.It’s a real shame that we won’t be able to put on a show for the fans in the Top 10 Trial, but we’re feeling good and looking forward to Sunday’s race.”
- Qualifying
- Standings
| Pos. | Team | Constr. | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honda HRC | Honda | 2’04.738 |
| 2 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | BMW | 2’04.813 |
| 3 | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team / KM99 | Yamaha | 2’04.960 |
| 4 | YART – YAMAHA | Yamaha | 2’05.169 |
| 5 | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM | Yamaha | 2’05.196 |
| 6 | F.C.C. TSR Honda France | Honda | 2’05.321 |
| 7 | Astemo Pro Honda SI Racing | Honda | 2’05.323 |
| 8 | YOSHIMURA SERT Motul | Suzuki | 2’05.359 |
| 9 | AutoRace Ube Racing Team | BMW | 2’05.461 |
| 10 | SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda | Honda | 2’05.851 |
| 11 | Team SAKURAI HONDA | Honda | 2’05.892 |
| 12 | Team ATJ with NTT docomo Business | Honda | 2’05.898 |
| 13 | Team SUZUKI CN CHALLENGE | Suzuki | 2’05.924 |
| 14 | KWT Kaedear | Kawasaki | 2’06.007 |
| 15 | Team Étoile | BMW | 2’06.209 |
| 16 | S-PULSE DREAM RACING SUZUKI | Suzuki | 2’06.397 |
| 17 | ERC Endurance #6 | BMW | 2’06.496 |
| 18 | MARUMAE Team KODAMA | Yamaha | 2’06.576 |
| 19 | Team BabyFace Titanium Power | Yamaha | 2’06.598 |
| 20 | Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo | Honda | 2’06.709 |
| 21 | NCXX RACING with RIDERS CLUB | Honda | 2’07.110 |
| 25 | Dafy-RAC 41-Honda | Honda | 2’07.772 |
| 28 | Tati Team AVA6 Racing | Honda | 2’08.094 |
| 31 | Honda Suzuka Racing Team | Honda | 2’08.301 |
| 32 | Wójcik Racing Team #777 SST | Honda | 2’08.356 |
| 34 | Honda Tochigi Racing & Kouyoukai Dream Racing Team | Honda | 2’08.463 |
| 38 | SANRIO CHARACTERS × Honda Kumamoto Racing | Honda | 2’09.683 |
| 39 | Honda Hamamatsu ESCARGOT RT with DREAMO | Honda | 2’10.009 |
| 40 | TEAM KOHSAKA & Takahon Racing | Honda | 2’10.258 |
| 45 | TEAM SUGAI RACING JAPAN | Honda | 2’11.898 |
| 46 | Honda Blue Helmets MSC Kumamoto & Asaka | Honda | 2’12.492 |
| 47 | Moto Win Racing | Honda | 2’12.494 |
| 50 | MOTORCYCLES#27 EJ YIC | Honda | 2’13.885 |
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