Hazy sun but dry track welcomed most of the teams for this last free practice session of the Suzuka 8 Hours.
At the end of the 6 sessions (3 per group), we again find the Yoshimura Suzuki of the Tsuda / Haga crew at the top of the ranking, with a time almost identical within 9 thousandths to that achieved on the first day; 2'07.479.
Behind, the Honda FCC TSR showed itself well, but at the cost of several falls, the most spectacular of which ended with a motorcycle on fire yesterday (see photo). Concerning the current day, the information is not yet very precise to know which of Aegerter or Jacobsen was the author of the final fall. On the other hand, it is indeed the Swiss pilot Dominique Aegerter who recorded the 2'08 "224 which allowed us to obtain second place overall over the three days.
Similarly, Tatsuya Yamaguchi carried at arm's length the Honda Toho Racing to register a fairly promising 2'08.249, just ahead of the Kawasaki from Team Green in 2'08.342.
With the following 5 bikes in less than 2'09, that makes nine machines (what about the European teams?) ready to fight against the Yamaha #21 of Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Pol Espargaró and Alex Lowes which remains, after its performance last year, the bike to beat, even if no direct confrontation has yet taken place this season.
However, let us not neglect the very official Honda Musashi RT HARC-PRO largely handicapped during these three days by the absence of Nicky Hayden and Michael van der Mark busy with the Laguna Seca round of the World Superbike.
The next tests will take place on July 13 and 14, in principle reserved for tire constructors and manufacturers. There is currently no list of registrants.
01- Shell Advance Yoshimura Suzuki (Suzuki) – Tsuda / Haga – 2’07.479
02- FCC TSR Honda (Honda) – Watanabe / Jacobsen / Aegerter – 2’08.224
03- Toho Racing (Honda) – Yamaguchi / Rea – 2’08.249
04- Green Team (Kawasaki) – Yanagawa / Watanabe / Haslam – 2’08.342
05- Kagayama team (Suzuki) – Kagayama / Kiyonari / Uramoto – 2’08.368
06- Musashi RT HARC-PRO (Honda) – Takahashi – 2’08.474
07- SatuHATI Honda Team Asia (Honda) – Nakagami / Wilairot / Zaidi – 2’08.498
08- Au & Teluru Kohara RT (Honda) – Akiyoshi / Cudlin / Okubo – 2’08.608
09- YART Yamaha (Yamaha) – Parkes / Nozane / Fujita – 2’08.841
10- MotoMap Supply (Suzuki) – Konno / Aoki / Waters – 2’09.656
Photo credit: f1express.cnc.ne.jp/
