Motorcycles

Yoshimura Suzuki Lead First Practice For Suzuka 8 Hours

1 Mins read

Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team set the pace in first practice for this weekend's Suzuka 8 Hours, the third round of the 2011 FIM World Endurance Championship. Unsurprisingly, there was a strong Japanese presence at the top of the leaderboard with eight home riders among the three quickest teams on Thursday.

The Yoshimura trio of Yukio Kagayama, Josh Waters and Nobuatsu Aoki set a fastest lap between them of 2:10.336, giving them the smallest of advantages over FCC TSR Honda's all Japanese line-up of Kousuke Akiyoshi, Shinichi Ito and reigning British Superbike champion Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Honda, owners of the Suzuka circuit, saw their CBR1000RR machines fill the next three places with Musashi RT HARC-PRO third, Honda SuzukaRacing Team in fourth and Teluru-HoneyBee Racing in fifth position, 1.731s off the pace.

The leading championship contenders are all European based and didn't make the strongest of starts to the weekend. Series leaders Suzuki Endurance Racing Team were down in 13th, a full four seconds behind the pacesetters with BMW Motorrad France 99, two points behind in the standings, even further down in 15th.

Yamaha Racing France GMT94 Ipone followed the BMW squad home in the Albacete 8 Hour and enter this weekend 19 points of the lead. David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive were 14th quickest on Thursday.

The Honda TT Legends team also made a quiet start with John McGuinness, Keith Amor and Australian Cameron Donald in 32nd place. As reserve rider, Donald has been called in to replace the injured Steve Plater who suffered a broken arm in a Supersport accident in May.

The race will go ahead despite the recent natural disasters that have had such an effect on the country but so as not to waste electrical supply, the race will take place during the daylight hours on Sunday, starting at 11am local time. The weather forecast is uncertain for the weekend ahead though, and rain may well throw another variable into the event.

Avatar photo
5101 posts

About author
MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 and WorldSBK writer for The Checkered Flag. Contact: [email protected]
Articles
Related posts
Circuit NewsMotorcycles

Pol Tarres breaks own bike altitude world record

1 Mins read
Yamaha’s rally raid ace Pol Tarrés set the world record for the highest altitude climb on a bike when he ascended 6,677 metres up Ojos del Salado on his Ténéré World Raid.
Circuit NewsMotorcycles

FIM ban on Russians, Belarusians to continue into 2024

2 Mins read
As Moscow’s three-day war on Ukraine extends into its 651st day, its riders as well as Minsk’s will remain barred from competing in FIM-sanctioned events through at least the start of 2024.
MotorcyclesOff Road

Gotland Grand National losing Tofta site amid Swedish Army activity

3 Mins read
The Gotland Grand National, the world’s largest enduro race, will no longer be held at Tofta shooting range after 2023 as the Swedish military increases exercises there amid the current global climate.