YART Yamaha secures pole position for the Suzuka 8 Hours and leads the championship; Johann Zarco starts from third place

YART Yamaha secured pole position for the Suzuka 8 Hours, the main event of the Endurance World Championship (EWC), which takes place this weekend at the legendary Suzuka Circuit. The result has taken the team to the top of the championship, overtaking Yoshimura SERT Motul.

On Friday, YART Yamaha finished the qualifying session with the best average time of 2m05.192s, with Marvin Fritz setting the fastest lap of the trio. 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 would progress to Saturday’s Time Trial to determine the top ten positions on the grid. The TOHO Racing team narrowly missed out on 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 fastest, with Marvin Fritz setting a lap time of 2m05.130s after his teammate Karel Hanika crashed. They beat Team Kagayama by just 0.118s. Team HRC with Japan Post, with MotoGP rider Johann Zarco, will start from third place.

The BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team and Yoshimura SERT Motul completed the top five. The highest-placed Supersport bike, which did not progress to the Time Trial, is the #52 Teramoto@J-Trip Racing bike, which started from 17th place.