YART 2nd in Qualifying, Advance to Top 10 Trial

Official qualifying for the 43rd "Coca-Cola" Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race took place today, August 5. The Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team's Niccolò Canepa set a 2:05.863, teammate Marvin Fritz a 2:06.138, and Karel Hanika rode in the wet to a 2:20.643. The team finished a strong 2nd overall to lock in a spot for tomorrow's Top 10 Trial.

The day's qualifying sessions were split into morning and afternoon, with the blue, yellow and red armband-wearing riders having two 20-minute sessions each, from which the average of the fastest two riders' times is used to decide the qualifying results. YART's blue rider Marvin Fritz made the team's speed clear right away, setting a time in the 2:06s on his first flying lap, and on his second run managing what was at that point the team's fastest ever lap time of a 2:06.138.

Up next was the team's yellow rider, Niccolò Canepa, who at first got held up on his lap to set a time in the 2:07 range, but with his second attempt he got into the 2:06s. On Canepa's third lap he rode to a blistering 2:05.863, which became Yamaha's fastest ever lap time in a Suzuka 8 Hours event, also placing him on top of the yellow armband group's qualifying results.

Finally Karel Hanika rode for the team in the red armband group. In the EWC season so far, Hanika has been the rider to consistently set fast qualifying laps for the team, but today he ran into some bad luck with a crash on his out lap. He came back to the pits as quickly as possible to try for a restart, but by that time rain had started to fall. Nevertheless, he went out with rain tires and set a time of 2:24.127. As his time was not within 108% of the fastest rider's time, it resulted in a DNQ for Hanika.

The EWC rulebook states that if a rider does not set a lap time that is at least 108% as fast as the fastest rider, they are unable to qualify. In cases like this, a team could be forced to ride the 8 Hours with only two riders, so it was important that Hanika try again in the afternoon to ensure he would be able to participate.

The afternoon sessions began with Fritz taking time to confirm the feeling with the team's YZF-R1 that had been repaired after Hanika's fall in the morning. Canepa was up next, but with mixed conditions on track the team elected not to send him out. When it was Hanika's turn, the bike was fitted with slick tires on front and rear, and Hanika headed out to try for a fast lap. Almost immediately after he had left pit lane, rain began to fall, preventing him from getting in a full flying lap. He once again missed his chance due to the weather conditions and only set a 2:20.643. However, this time was within the 108% cutoff rule, which ensured that Hanika would be eligible to ride in the race. In the end, YART finished qualifying in 2nd overall and guaranteed themselves a place in tomorrow's Top 10 Trial.

2nd Overall in Qualifying: Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team (2:06.001)

Karel Hanika

"For me it was one of the most difficult qualifying in endurance in my life. The condition was impossible to use any slick tire to make a good lap time, which is a shame, because this morning I felt pretty good and I believed a good lap time was possible. On the out lap of the first qualifying I had the crash immediately, so I didn't do any laps there. I was forced to get a lap time in the second qualifying and that was very difficult because we went out with slick tires and it was raining quite a lot. Maybe I'm not the best rider in this condition, but I made some mistakes and it I only barely made it to qualify. But, I'm happy that my teammates did a great job and we are currently in second position, which is the most important. I'm happy with my pace and the pace of my teammates is great and also I could show at the end that our bike is working perfect. It was important that we all qualified, so we are happy to be in the race."

Marvin Fritz

"If someone had told me before that we would do 05s and 06s in qualifying I would say it's not true. So we're pretty happy about this. About my lap I'm not so happy because I had a little mistake because the bike we rode in the qualifying, I hadn't ridden with that setting in all the sessions so far. The engine braking was more than I was used to, so we had to change the engine braking for the second flying lap. I think I could have done two or three tenths faster and maybe be like Niccolò with a 2:05 lap. But overall I'm happy. The team did a fantastic job, the bike is working fantastic in dry and in wet conditions. I was first in the wet night practice too, so we can look forward to the race, because we have no pressure."

Niccolò Canepa

"For me it was amazing because I think it was the fastest lap time Yamaha has ever done at the Suzuka 8 Hours, so I'm really proud of it. I know that it's possible to improve because my first timed lap I made a mistake passing some traffic, so I thought it was possible to do a low 2:05. So I really hope that tomorrow we can do the top 10 trial and that the weather will be good to try to improve even more but apart from that I'm really happy. I'm happy that despite the bad luck, Karel could qualify, because it was really tricky conditions. Marvin did a super good lap too, so we are strong and ready for the race."

Team Manager Mandy Kainz

"In qualifying, all the teams put everything on the table, and even then it was very positive for us. I think we were over everybody's expectations. We knew from the test and from the pre-test that we were already very competitive. So in the end today we are very satisfied with this result. Thank you to Yamaha for all the support, and I hope with these results we can make all Yamaha fans very happy."

Overall Qualifying Classification

Pos.	No.	Team	Machine	Average Time
1	33	Team HRC	Honda	2'05.718
2	7	YART-YAMAHA OFFICIAL TEAM EWC	Yamaha	2'06.001
3	10	Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H	Kawasaki	2'06.307
4	17	Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing	Honda	2'06.597
5	5	F.C.C. TSR Honda France	Honda	2'07.033
6	37	BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM	BMW	2'07.077
7	72	Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA	Honda	2'07.239
8	73	SDG Honda Racing	Honda	2'07.287
9	25	Honda Sofukai Suzuka Racing	Honda	2'06.829
10	2	EVA RT 01 Webike TRICKSTAR Kawasaki	Kawasaki	2'07.595
41	41	IRF with AZURLANE	Yamaha	2'14.061