Team Suzuki Press Office – July 30. Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance will start tomorrow’s 39th Coca-Cola Zero Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance Championship third round in Japan from second on the grid after a blistering lap in this afternoon’s Top-10 Trial.
Takuya Tsuda lapped the team GSX-R1000 at 2’06.405, which was just 0.147-seconds off Pole Position; and the fastest Suzuki lap so far in this year’s event.
Following a night practice session on Friday and further practice this morning at the Suzuka Circuit, the Top-10 Trial started at 15:20 local time with yesterday’s ninth-placed qualifiers, Moto Map SUPPLY, the first of the three Suzuki teams on track. Yoshihiro Konno recorded a 2’09.968-lap on his GSX-R1000, followed by Team KAGAYAMA’s Yukio Kagayama on a 2’08.425. Moto Map’s Josh Waters then put-in a time of 2’09.774 and then Ryuichi Kiyonari a 2’07.651 aboard the Kagayama Suzuki. Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance, fifth in yesterday’s qualifying, put-out Nori Haga first and he scored a 2’08.310 before Tsuda took his stint to lap at 2’06.405.
Takuya Tsuda:
“There were some troubles until the qualifier, but the condition of our machine was finalized in yesterday afternoon’s session. We confirmed it in the Top-10 Trial and we have found the best setting for the race. This has been a fruitful day for us today.”
Noriyuki Haga:
“I was very disappointed that I made a mistake on the final corner before the attacking lap. However, I got my best time of the week and we could find a good setting. We are helping each other and aiming for the top of the podium tomorrow.
Yukio Kagayama:
“I am concentrating on making everything work well for the team and so that Ryuichi can ride with a good feeling. I received a big confident from his riding today and we are ready for the race.”
Ryuichi Kiyonari:
“I confirmed the bike behavior with a full tank of fuel at the free practice session.
The bike is good and things are going well and I understand what we need to do tomorrow.”
Yoshihiro Konno:
“Our machine’s improvement is going well in this race week.
We took a soft tyre for the Top-10 Trial but the road surface temperatures were a little bit higher than we thought. It is little bit disappointed that I could not show the original performance today, but we got some very good preparation for the race.”
Josh Waters:
“I have enjoyed the Top-10 Trial. Compared to the qualifier on Friday, there is no traffic jams on the course and I got a good feeling. Out team’s combination is very good and the team atmosphere is great. I think we can do a good race tomorrow.”
Defending World Endurance Champions SERT, who will start from 17th on the grid, made good use of Friday evening’s practice and today’s earlier sessions, run in increasing heat and track temperatures, making final changes to settings on their GSX-R1000. Riders Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Etienne Masson also proved these revisions were successful, improving their lap-times into 11th at one stage. Said Delhalle: “It’s the toughest race of the season, because of the heat, but mainly because of the fierce competition from the Japanese teams, who’ll stop at nothing to win! But we’ll do our absolute best to score as many points as pos¬sible tomorrow and inch closer to the title”
Top-10 Time Trial Results: 1 Yamaha Factory Racing Team (Yamaha) 2’06.258, 2 Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance – Tsuda, Brookes, Haga – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 2’06.405, 3 Team Green (Kawasaki) 2’06.469, 4 FCC TSR Honda (Honda) 2’07.248, 5 Musashi RT Harc-Pro (Honda) 2’07.394, 6 Team KAGAYAMA – Kagayama, Uramoto, Kiyonari – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 2’07.651, 7 YART (Yamaha) 2’08.602, 8 Toho Racing (Honda) 2’08.716, 9 Moto Map SUPPLY – Waters, Aoki, Konno – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 2’09.774, 10 Team JP Dogfighting Australia (Yamaha) 2’14.223.
