YART Sets Fastest Time in Test Session

The Suzuka 8 Hours main event weekend began with engines firing to life on Friday morning, August 4 at 8:30 a.m. for a 1.5-hour test session.

Though the sun was hidden behind the clouds to start, it was extremely hot and humid even in the morning, as is the norm at this time of year in Japan. From the start of the session, the F.C.C. TSR Honda France, SDG Honda Racing, BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM and Team Kawasaki Webike Trickstar teams were all near the top of the timing sheets in the 2:08 range.

Meanwhile, the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team waited a bit longer to head out on track. Niccolò Canepa, riding the team's YZF-R1 with new tires, immediately set a fast lap to jump to the #1 spot over rivals with a time of 2'06.661. It was a preemptive jab in the opening 10 minutes of the session, and was a clear indicator of both the team's ever-increasing experience at Suzuka, and of the hard work done to find a base setup in the pre-event tests.

In the next few laps he ran a pace in the 2:07 range similar to the team's rivals. Then, at 35 minutes into the 1.5 hour session, he came back and handed over the YZF-R1 to teammate Marvin Fritz, who went out on another set of new tires and set a team best lap of 2:06.424 to improve on Canepa's time. That time would go uncontested at the top of the timing sheets to close out the session.

Third up was Karel Hanika, who also rode with a set of new tires to quickly find a 2'06.917. With that, all three riders were into the 2'06s straight away in the weekend's first test session.

However, the team were staying realistic about the fast lap times. "No matter how fast our time is, all it takes is one mistake to ruin everything. Our R1 is set up to be easy for the riders to ride, and their main focus for the race is to be consistent." That consistency was apparent as all three riders stayed in the 2:07 to 2:08 range throughout the session, once again showing the team's high potential.

Team IRF with AZURLANE had already found a base setup in the pre-event test on August 2, so for today, riders Fumitoyo Kawana, Motoaki Sawamura and Kokei Endo worked to fine-tune their YZF-R1 to be ready for the official qualifying session to come in the afternoon, setting times in the 2'14 to 2'15 range. They finished the session 39th overall in the standings.

8 Hours Test Session

Pos.	No.	Team	Machine	Time
1	7	YART Yamaha Official EWC TEAM	Yamaha	2'06.424
2	33	Team HRC with Japan Post	Honda	2'07.569
3	1	F.C.C. TSR Honda France	Honda	2'07.708
4	73	SDG Honda Racing	Honda	2'08.056
5	95	S-PLUSE DREAM RACING -ITEC	Suzuki	2'08.102
6	9	TTSRacing MurayamaUnso HondaDream	Honda	2'08.155
7	11	Kawasaki Webike Trickstar	Kawasaki	2'08.328
8	37	BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM	BMW	2'08.387
9	17	Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing	Honda	2'08.475
10	12	Yoshimura SERT Motul	Suzuki	2'08.514
39	41	IRF with AZURLANE	Yamaha	2'14.511