Official Qualifying 1: YFRT's Miller and YART's Hanika Set Team-quickest Times

In sharp contrast to the previous day, intense, midsummer conditions typical of the Suzuka 8 Hours were present to begin official qualifying on Friday, July 3. Qualifying is divided into three sessions, one for each "color" rider in each team. The first session was for "Rider Blue," which was Nakasuga, so he headed out first for the Yamaha Factory Racing Team. With fresh tires on the YZF-R1, he clocked a 2'05.984 to finish 9th; 1.137 seconds off the leader's pace.

For the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team, Karel Hanika took to the track despite lingering concerns over his physical condition following a major crash in the pre-event test. He delivered a strong performance, setting a lap for 4th in his session with a time of 2'05.232--just 0.385 adrift of the team in 1st.

For the "Rider Yellow" session, Jack Miller--who had been setting quick laps all weekend so far despite a tight back-to-back schedule with MotoGP--took to the track. The session was interrupted by a red flag early on, but following that, Miller posted a 2'05.422 to be 3rd, 0.839 seconds off of the top time.

Marvin Fritz headed out as YART's "Rider Yellow," but his bike experienced a technical issue shortly after the session began, causing it to slow down and eventually come to a halt. A crash elsewhere on the circuit brought out a red flag, giving the team a brief window of time to reset, but Fritz was unable to return to make the restart on time. Although the engine fired up immediately afterward allowing him to go back out, the bike soon stopped again. Consequently, Fritz was unable to set a lap time before the session concluded.

The final group of the first qualifying session was handled by Rider Red Andrea Locatelli. On his second lap after leaving the pits, he was able to set a 2'05.436--nearly identical to Miller's--to move into 2nd. In the end, he dropped one spot to finish in 3rd, just 0.104 away from the fastest team.

After switching bikes due to a mechanical issue, YART's Rider Red Leandro Mercado went on the attack for YART. He clocked a 2'08.439 on a tough second lap, then improved to a 2'06.644 on the third lap before pitting in. He then switched back to the original bike that had experienced the issue and did one more run. In it, he set a new personal best time of 2'05.945 to secure 8th as he double-checked the bike for issues and wrapped up his single run.

1st Qualifying Rider Blue

Pos.	No.	Team	Machine	Time
1	76	AutoRace Ube Racing Team	BMW	2:04.847
2	30	Honda HRC	Honda	2:05.055
3	37	BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM	BMW	2:05.142
4	1	YART Yamaha Official EWC Team	Yamaha	2:05.232
5	17	Astemo Pro Honda SI Racing	Honda	2:05.504
6	12	Yoshimura SERT Motul	Suzuki	2:05.829
7	0	Team SUZUKI CN CHALLENGE	Suzuki	2:05.869
8	6	ERC Endurance #6	BMW	2:05.984
9	21	YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM	Yamaha	2:05.984
10	5	F.C.C. TSR Honda France	Honda	2:06.059

1st Qualifying Rider Yellow

Pos.	No.	Team	Machine	Time
1	30	Honda HRC	Honda	2:04.583
2	99	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99	Yamaha	2:05.229
3	21	YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM	Yamaha	2:05.422
4	17	Astemo Pro Honda SI Racing	Honda	2:05.500
5	37	BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM	BMW	2:05.597
6	5	F.C.C. TSR Honda France	Honda	2:05.785
7	12	Yoshimura SERT Motul	Suzuki	2:05.792
8	40	Team ATJ with NTT docomo Business	Honda	2:06.142
9	76	AutoRace Ube Racing Team	BMW	2:06.361
10	71	Team SAKURAI HONDA	Honda	2:06.467
NQ	1	YART Yamaha Official EWC Team	Yamaha	-

1st Qualifying Rider Red

Pos.	No.	Team	Machine	Time
1	5	F.C.C. TSR Honda France	Honda	2:05.332
2	37	BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM	BMW	2:05.380
3	21	YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM	Yamaha	2:05.436
4	12	Yoshimura SERT Motul	Suzuki	2:05.470
5	99	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99	Yamaha	2:05.493
6	30	Honda HRC	Honda	2:05.763
7	71	Team SAKURAI HONDA	Honda	2:05.881
8	1	YART Yamaha Official EWC Team	Yamaha	2:05.945
9	25	Team Étoile	BMW	2:06.117
10	17	Astemo Pro Honda SI Racing	Honda	2:06.734