YART on Provisional Pole with All Three Riders in the 2'05s!
Qualifying practice, which was held over two days last year, was consolidated into a single day for this year, and it took place on Friday, July 19. The blue, yellow, and red armband-wearing riders for each team had two 20-minute qualifying sessions each. The Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team sent their riders out on fresh tires in the first session, with each one raising their game to push for fast times right from the start.
Last year, all three riders set times in the 2'05s in qualifying to take 2nd place overall. This year, it was Niccolò Canepa who had his turn first as the blue armband rider, and he went out to immediately set a time in the 2'06 range, but a red flag shortly after brought the session to a stop. Canepa maintained his focus and got into the 2'05s on his next attempt. It was a 2'05.741, which bettered his best lap of a 2'05.948 from last year. He finished the session in 2nd overall, just 0.126 seconds behind the leader, DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA's Ryo Mizuno.
Next up was Marvin Fritz. Similarly, he also set a 2'06 lap at his first try, and in his second attempt managed to beat his best time from last year (2'05.845) by a big margin, for a new personal Suzuka best of 2'05.252. The lap was 0.832 seconds faster than Team HRC with Japan Post's Johan Zarco, putting Fritz on top of the time sheets for the yellow armband riders.
Last to take to the track in the first session was Karel Hanika, who had been showing his speed since the first laps of the weekend. He set a 2'06 lap on used tires to start the session, before going on to put in a set of new tires and improve for his second attempt. In doing so, he set a personal best time of 2'05.192, which was 0.750 seconds faster than the next-fastest rider, Yuki Kunii of SDG Team HARC-PRO. With the average time of the top two riders determining the overall position, YART also secured provisional pole position in the overall standings, ahead of its rivals.
In the second session of the day, the track surface temperature was over 50°C. The team had already used new sets of tires in the earlier session, and as such elected not to push for time attacks in the latter session. Instead, they made use of the 20 minutes available to further refine their race pace and gather valuable data.
In the latter session, Canepa was 6th with a 2'07.504, Fritz was 7th with a 2'07.494, and Hanika was 8th with a 2'07.889.
In the end, the combined result of the two sessions for the three riders in blue, yellow, and red armbands was that YART set the fastest overall time of 2'05.222, and will advance into tomorrow's Top 10 Trial in provisional pole position. Behind YART was DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA in 2nd with a 2'05.776, and Team HRC with Japan Post on 3rd with a 2'05.980.
1st Qualifying Rider Blue
| Pos. | No. | Team | Machine | Best lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA | Ducati | 02:05.615 |
| 2 | 1 | YART - YAMAHA | Yamaha | 02:05.741 |
| 3 | 12 | Yoshimura SERT Motul | Suzuki | 02:06.079 |
| 4 | 30 | Team HRC with Japan Post | Honda | 02:06.381 |
| 5 | 37 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | BMW | 02:06.551 |
| 6 | 76 | AutoRace Ube Racing Team | Suzuki | 02:06.865 |
| 7 | 5 | F.C.C. TSR Honda France | Honda | 02:06.871 |
| 8 | 50 | Team KODAMA | Yamaha | 02:06.890 |
| 9 | 40 | TeamATJ with docomo business | Honda | 02:07.183 |
| 10 | 17 | Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing | Honda | 02:07.654 |
| 31 | 15 | IRF with AZURLANE | Yamaha | 02:12.905 |
2nd Qualifying Rider Blue
| Pos. | No. | Team | Machine | Best lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA | Ducati | 02:05.789 |
| 2 | 17 | Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing | Honda | 02:05.923 |
| 3 | 76 | AutoRace Ube Racing Team | Suzuki | 02:06.911 |
| 4 | 40 | TeamATJ with docomo business | Honda | 02:07.213 |
| 5 | 71 | Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA | Honda | 02:07.372 |
| 6 | 1 | YART - YAMAHA | Yamaha | 02:07.504 |
| 7 | 30 | Team HRC with Japan Post | Honda | 02:07.547 |
| 8 | 73 | SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda | Honda | 02:07.863 |
| 9 | 99 | KM 99 | Yamaha | 02:07.882 |
| 10 | 64 | Kawasaki Plaza Racing Team | Kawasaki | 02:07.913 |
| 31 | 15 | IRF with AZURLANE | Yamaha | 02:12.645 |
1st Qualifying Rider Yellow
| Pos. | No. | Team | Machine | Best lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | YART - YAMAHA | Yamaha | 02:05.252 |
| 2 | 30 | Team HRC with Japan Post | Honda | 02:06.084 |
| 3 | 17 | Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing | Honda | 02:06.743 |
| 4 | 73 | SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda | Honda | 02:06.772 |
| 5 | 76 | AutoRace Ube Racing Team | Suzuki | 02:07.163 |
| 6 | 5 | F.C.C. TSR Honda France | Honda | 02:07.529 |
| 7 | 2 | DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA | Ducati | 2:07.648 |
| 8 | 37 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | BMW | 02:07.681 |
| 9 | 71 | Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA | Honda | 02:07.715 |
| 10 | 88 | Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo | Honda | 02:08.017 |
| 31 | 15 | IRF with AZURLANE | Yamaha | 02:12.083 |
2nd Qualifying Rider Yellow
| Pos. | No. | Team | Machine | Best lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing | Honda | 02:06.507 |
| 2 | 76 | AutoRace Ube Racing Team | Suzuki | 02:06.692 |
| 3 | 30 | Team HRC with Japan Post | Honda | 02:06.795 |
| 4 | 71 | Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA | Honda | 02:06.974 |
| 5 | 37 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | BMW | 02:07.188 |
| 6 | 2 | DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA | Ducati | 02:07.479 |
| 7 | 1 | YART - YAMAHA | Yamaha | 02:07.494 |
| 8 | 73 | SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda | Honda | 02:07.639 |
| 9 | 104 | TOHO Racing | Honda | 02:07.760 |
| 10 | 88 | Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo | Honda | 02:07.897 |
| 31 | 15 | IRF with AZURLANE | Yamaha | 02:13.119 |
1st Qualifying Rider Red
| Pos. | No. | Team | Machine | Best lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | YART - YAMAHA | Yamaha | 02:05.192 |
| 2 | 73 | SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda | Honda | 02:05.942 |
| 3 | 30 | Team HRC with Japan Post | Honda | 02:05.980 |
| 4 | 12 | Yoshimura SERT Motul | Suzuki | 02:06.334 |
| 5 | 5 | F.C.C. TSR Honda France | Honda | 02:07.090 |
| 6 | 76 | AutoRace Ube Racing Team | Suzuki | 02:07.481 |
| 7 | 88 | Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo | Honda | 02:07.595 |
| 8 | 37 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | BMW | 02:07.898 |
| 9 | 2 | DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA | Ducati | 02:08.062 |
| 10 | 0 | Team SUZUKI CN CHALLENGE | Suzuki | 02:08.412 |
| 33 | 15 | IRF with AZURLANE | Yamaha | 02:13.867 |
2nd Qualifying Rider Red
| Pos. | No. | Team | Machine | Best lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA | Ducati | 02:05.936 |
| 2 | 12 | Yoshimura SERT Motul | Suzuki | 02:06.402 |
| 3 | 104 | TOHO Racing | Honda | 02:06.923 |
| 4 | 73 | SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda | Honda | 02:07.036 |
| 5 | 0 | Team SUZUKI CN CHALLENGE | Suzuki | 02:07.466 |
| 6 | 30 | Team HRC with Japan Post | Honda | 02:07.574 |
| 7 | 88 | Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo | Honda | 02:07.760 |
| 8 | 1 | YART - YAMAHA | Yamaha | 02:07.889 |
| 9 | 99 | KM 99 | Yamaha | 02:07.956 |
| 10 | 37 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | BMW | 02:08.096 |
| 33 | 15 | IRF with AZURLANE | Yamaha | 02:14.280 |
Overall Qualifying Ranking
| Pos. | No. | Team | Machine | Avg. Best Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | YART - YAMAHA | Yamaha | 02:05.222 |
| 2 | 2 | DUCATI Team KAGAYAMA | Ducati | 02:05.776 |
| 3 | 30 | Team HRC with Japan Post | Honda | 02:06.032 |
| 4 | 12 | Yoshimura SERT Motul | Suzuki | 02:06.207 |
| 5 | 17 | Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing | Honda | 02:06.215 |
| 6 | 73 | SDG Team HARC-PRO. Honda | Honda | 02:06.357 |
| 7 | 76 | AutoRace Ube Racing Team | Suzuki | 02:06.779 |
| 8 | 37 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | BMW | 02:06.870 |
| 9 | 5 | F.C.C. TSR Honda France | Honda | 02:06.981 |
| 10 | 71 | Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA | Honda | 02:07.173 |
| 12 | 50 | Team KODAMA | Yamaha | 02:07.487 |
| 15 | 99 | KM 99 | Yamaha | 02:07.919 |
| 21 | 13 | Taira Promote Racing | Yamaha | 02:08.419 |
| 24 | 806 | NCXX RACING with RIDERS CLUB | Yamaha | 02:09.020 |
| 37 | 15 | IRF with AZURLANE | Yamaha | 02:12.364 |
| 40 | 411 | MATSUNAGA KDC & YSP NAGOYA KITA with RPT NAGANO | Yamaha | 02:14.050 |
| 41 | 57 | NICHIRIN RACING NOI:Z | Yamaha | 02:14.367 |
| 43 | 65 | Motobox Kremer Racing #65 | Yamaha | 02:15.335 |
| 46 | 90 | SANTOKU DENKOU&TATEAKI MOTORS FK works | Yamaha | 02:15.413 |
YAMALUBE YART YAMAHA EWC Official Team
Niccolò Canepa: 2'05.741
" I'm very happy I could set my personal best lap of Suzuka. My time attack wasn't perfect, but everything felt good. The red flag in the session didn't really affect me because I was already planning to stop when the flag came out. After that, my teammates did a great job and I think we're now in a good position for the Top 10 Trial tomorrow, and of course for the race. In the second session, there was no red flag and we were doing a race simulation including checking the tires. The team is working hard on all the details, and the bike keeps getting better and better, which I am really happy about. The atmosphere in the team is good, and I think winning the title last year has contributed to that. My body is not in perfect condition right now, but when I get on the bike I can forget everything and just ride, so that's what I'll do. Overall, everything is going well."
Marvin Fritz: 2'05.252
"From the very first test this year to Le Mans and Spa, which we won, the team has worked hard on the bike setup and now we're in the best shape we have ever been. We did a lot of work in these two days and now we have a good base to go fast and be consistent. My qualifying lap was almost perfect. I went a little too far out onto the kerb, but I had a clear lap, so it was really fun, and my time attacks felt so good today. My teammates were also both fast, and once again we are the only team with all three riders in the '05s, just like last year. We are in good shape. Of course I wanted to do a lap in the '04s, but that's not the most important thing. Most important is the race on Sunday. In the second session, I had a little moment passing a rider when I got a bit too close, but in the race I'll be more careful, also so I don't get the boss's heart rate up too far! (laughs). For tomorrow's Top 10 Trial, we haven't decided who will ride yet. Yes, we'd like the 5 points we can get for a pole position, but the main goal is to get more points than the other teams. Right now we're better than we've ever been, we all know exactly what we have to do, so this has given some quietness to the team, so we're all focused with no stress."
Karel Hanika: 2'05.192
"To get the lap time in qualifying, I just pushed like I usually do to get the most out of our great bike and tire package! Everything worked well and I gave it my all, and my teammates did, too. Everyone did a great job and it's really nice to be going into the Top 10 Trial tomorrow as the top team. Sure, we don't get any points for it, but I think it gives us confidence. In the Top 10 Trial, of course we want to get pole position. In the second qualifying session I worked on used tires to get a good feel for how the bike will move in these kind of conditions. It gave us a very good idea I think."
Team Manager Mandy Kainz
"Every year we improve the bike more, and that gives us more confidence. As I said at the test, we're so fast that it's almost scary to me, and we showed that again today. We were on top after Q1, on top in the night session, so what more could we ask for? For the Top 10 Trial tomorrow, we come into it on top, so we want to take pole and start from the front. More than that though, we just want to get as many points as possible. But it's good to be fastest. Honestly, we came to Japan with five flight cases, we don't speak Japanese and we can't train at home in hot and humid conditions like these. But even so, we're still the world champions and all the other teams are trying to beat us. We want to enjoy the situation and show our fans how fast we are. We give our best in every session, and no matter where we finish, even if it's 5th or 6th, what's important is that we gave it our best. We're going to do the exact same tomorrow."
