YART Yamaha secured pole position for the Suzuka 8 Hours, the headline event of the Endurance World Championship (EWC), taking place this weekend at the legendary Suzuka Circuit. This result has propelled the team to the top of the championship standings, overtaking Yoshimura SERT Motul.
On Friday, the qualifying session saw YART Yamaha finish with the best average time of 2m05.192s, with Marvin Fritz setting the fastest lap of the trio. The Ducati Team Kagayama finished in second place, just over half a second behind.
These positions were less critical for the starting grid, as the top ten from the qualifying session advanced to Saturday’s Time Trial to determine the top ten grid positions. The TOHO Racing team narrowly missed the Time Trial, finishing 11th, just 0.169s behind Dream RT Sakurai Honda.
On Saturday, ten bikes returned to the track for the Time Trial. YART Yamaha was the fastest, with Marvin Fritz clocking a lap time of 2m05.130s after his teammate Karel Hanika had a fall. They edged out Team Kagayama by just 0.118s. Team HRC with Japan Post, featuring MotoGP rider Johann Zarco, will start from third.
The BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team and Yoshimura SERT Motul rounded out the top five. The highest-placed Supersport bike, which did not advance to the Time Trial, is the #52 Teramoto@J-Trip Racing bike, starting from 17th.