The 45th edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours, 3rd round of FIM Endurance World Championship EWC which will take place on Sunday July 21, 2024, offers 2 days of testing this Wednesday and Thursday on the figure-eight route.
The organizers took the opportunity to publish the provisional entry list, including 46 teams divided into 31 teams in the EWC category, 14 teams in the SST class and 1 team in EXP.
We see, only tire manufacturers equip the different teams, and, we suppose, as usual only those equipped with Bridgestone (which also provides the majority of information on the famous event) will have a chance to ride on the most top step of the podium (and again, there is Bridgestone and Bridgestone development…).
Note the return of an official Suzuki team in competition, but not competing with the usual Yoshimura SERT. This is the Suzuki CN Challenge team, which fields a GSX-R 1000 for Etienne Masson/Sodo Hamahara/Hideyuki Ogata, and competes in the Experimental category. The GSX-R1000 will use 40% bio-sourced sustainable fuel, certified by the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme). As it is not the official fuel of the EWC, it will be part of the experimental category. In addition to sustainable fuel, certain parts on the machine will also be developed using an eco-responsible approach, including the silencer, tires, oil, fairings and brakes.
41 teams responded to the first day which included 7 sessions of 45 minutes, 3 for each group A and B, plus one at night for everyone for 70 minutes.
It rained yesterday in Suzuka, but there was blue skies this morning, promising very high temperatures.
During the first session, group A was led by Team ATJ with Docomo Business (Honda CBR 1000RR-R – Satoru Iwata/Kohki Suzuki/Yuta Okaya) in 2'08.231, while group B was led by Official Honda HRC with an already very fast 2'06.867.
In the intermediate session, the Honda Dream RT SAKURAI Honda team (Honda CBR 1000RR-R – Kazuki Ito/Daijiro Hiura) led Group A in 2'08.544, but the Ducati Team Kagayama (Ducati Panigale V4 R – Ryo Mizuno/Josh Waters/Hafizh Syahrin) posted a 2'06.634 which bodes well, even if the record for the event remains at 2'04.934, held by Tetsuta Nagashima for Team HRC since 2022. It must be said that it was very hot at that time, 29° in the air and 50° on the ground.
Cooler temperatures for the last session of the day, with 27° in the air and 38° on the asphalt, allowing the Honda Dream RT SAKURAI Honda (Honda CBR 1000RR-R – Kazuki Ito/Daijiro Hiura) to go down in 2 » 07.661 in group A, while Ducati Team Kagayama (Ducati Panigale V4 R – Ryo Mizuno/Josh Waters/Hafizh Syahrin) retained command of group B, but this time in 2'07.102.
Finally, during the 70-minute “night” session, the Yamalube YART-Yamaha EWC Official Team (Yamaha YZF-R1 – Niccolò Canepa/Marvin Fritz/Karel Hanika) took advantage of the daytime minutes (only the last 20 minutes were took place in the dark) to achieve a 2'06.381, the reference time of the day, 16 thousandths of a second ahead of the Yoshimura SERT Motul (Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – Gregg Black / Dan Linfoot / Cocoro Atsumi).
This Thursday, the program provides only two test sessions, the first of 80 minutes, the second of 90.
This is the last test before the official tests for the Suzuka 8 Hours, the race of which will take place on Sunday July 21, 2024.
Rankings for the first test day of the Suzuka 8 Hours:
Photo credits and rankings: Bridgestone
