YART Qualifies 2nd With Fastest Ever Time: 2'05.519!

Today was the first time in four years for the famous Suzuka 8 Hours Top 10 Trial to be held, after it had been cancelled at the 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours, and the three years preceding that were cancelled due to COVID-19. The only Yamaha team to qualify for the Top 10 Trial was the #7 Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team, who began it on provisional pole based on the combined qualifying sessions.

Representing YART were Karel Hanika, who set the second fastest time for the team with a 2:05.870, and Marvin Fritz, who was fastest overall in qualifying with a 2:05.845. The Top 10 Trial is organized such that the first group to ride is riders from the teams qualifying between 10th and 6th who had the slower time in their respective teams. The second group is riders from 10th to 6th who had the faster time in their respective teams. The third group was slower riders from 5th to 1st, and the final group is the faster riders from 5th to 1st. This meant that Hanika was 15th to take to the track, and Marvin was 20th--and last--to have his chance.

Hanika set a truly super lap. He bested the 14 riders who preceded him with a 2'05.519; setting new records for his own personal best time around Suzuka, the team's fastest ever time around Suzuka, and Yamaha's fastest ever Suzuka 8 Hours lap time, which put him on provisional pole position. Shortly after however, Tetsuta Nagashima from YART's main rival Team HRC with Japan Post, set a 2'05.329 to demote YART to 2nd.

Fritz was last to ride, and as he began his lap he had the fastest time through the first sector, and again through the second sector, before a difficult third sector prevented him from improving, and he came across the finish line for a 2:06.115. In the end, Hanika's time put YART in 2nd overall coming into Sunday's race.

Besides YART, the top-qualifying Yamaha team was Team Kodama in 13th, while IRF with AZURLANE qualified 41st with a 2'14.021. Including these three, a total of 11 teams will be competing on YZF-R1s in Sunday's race.

2nd Overall: Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team (2'05.519)

Karel Hanika

"I'm happy I got the chance to ride in the Top 10 Trial. My teammates were faster than me in qualifying, so I learned a lot, especially that I can be a bit more aggressive in Sector 1. That's where I lost out to our competitors. But overall I'm happy with the job we did, and I think the whole team did a great job.
Tomorrow we have to focus on the start first, and in the stints, we want to be in the 2:08s consistently. I don't know what the weather will be like, so it will be difficult, but it's like that for all the teams. We just need to have few mistakes and be as close to the top as possible. Really, our main goal is to beat our EWC rivals, but the goal in our hearts is to finish on the podium."

Marvin Fritz

"Today was my first time to do the Top 10 Trial. I had three chances in the past, but they were all cancelled because of typhoons and things like that, so first of all I was glad to be able to do it today. My lap was not so good in sector 3, but Karel did a great job for the team.
Tomorrow we don't know what the weather will do. I'm not sure though, because it was supposed to rain today but it didn't. It could be heavy rain...who knows? But, no matter what kind of conditions, we're ready. It was wet for our test here and we felt good. Our goal is to get on the podium. To achieve that tomorrow, we need to focus on ourselves and not make any mistakes. At the same time, we also need to finish in front of our EWC rivals FCC and SERT.

Niccolò Canepa

"First of all, I have to thank my teammates. They did a great job. Especially Karel's lap time was amazing. I think we're ready for the race, because all three of us were in the '05s this morning. Our main objective is to finish on the podium and in front of the other EWC teams. We just have to find our rhythm and set fast lap times. It would be easier if tomorrow was dry, and right now we don't know what the conditions will be. We can guess there will be some kind of drama in the race, but all we can do is prepare the best we can and be ready for it."

Team Manager Mandy Kainz

"Today we got the maximum from our R1 and all three riders were great. Once again we showed we were the strongest team. Especially Karel, he put it all on the table today. His lap time was a great moment, because he was really riding at the limit. YART has three fast riders, and we're ready and prepared to fight. Tomorrow, in any kind of conditions, we have to give it our all and do our best. We won't be racing focused on Honda, Suzuki, or Kawasaki. Instead, we'll be riding our own race. For us now, a podium finish is no longer a dream. Now, it's our goal. We have a real chance to take the EWC title this year. We showed that we can be on the podium at Le Mans, and showed that we can win at Spa. Next is the Suzuka 8 Hours. I'm really looking forward to it."

Overall Qualifying Classification

Pos.	No.	Team	Machine	Avg. Best Lap
1	33	Team HRC with Japan Post	Honda	02'05.329
2	7	YART Yamaha Official EWC TEAM	Yamaha	02'05.519
3	104	TOHO Racing	Honda	02'06.343
4	73	SDG Honda Racing	Honda	02'06.644
5	12	Yoshimura SERT Motul	Suzuki	02'06.720
6	17	Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing	Honda	02'06.756
7	76	AutoRace Ube Racing Team	Suzuki	02'06.811
8	71	Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA	Honda	02'06.970
9	95	S-PLUSE DREAM RACING -ITEC	Suzuki	02'07.780
10	1	F.C.C. TSR Honda France	Honda	02'07.788
13	50	TEAM KODAMA	Yamaha	02'07.798
15	74	AKENO SPEED	Yamaha	02'08.349
19	86	NCXX RACING with RIDERS CLUB	Yamaha	02'09.015
23	99	KM 99	Yamaha	02'09.165
30	70	OGURA CLUTCH ORC with RIDE IN	Yamaha	02'10.999
32	13	Taira Promote Racing	Yamaha	02'11.374
38	65	Motobox Kremer Racing #65	Yamaha	02'13.292
41	41	IRF with AZURLANE	Yamaha	02'14.021
43	55	NICHIRIN RACING NOIZ	Yamaha	02'14.401
46	411	Team MATSUNAGA KDC & YSP NAGOYA KITA	Yamaha	02'14.885