Six Honda Teams Qualify for Suzuka 8 Hours Top 10 Trial – Team HRC on top
Timed qualifying and night sessions for 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race (Suzuka 8 Hours) on Friday, August 5.
Free practice sessions for the Suzuka 4 Hours held on the previous day were marred by intermittent showers, which lingered into Friday morning as the two-hour free practice session for the Suzuka 8 Hours commenced at 8:10am. From 12:10pm, team riders were designated as blue, yellow and red riders for two separate 20-minute qualifying sessions each. In the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC), starting grid positions are determined by the average best lap of each team’s three riders. Two riders from the top ten teams then proceed to the Top 10 Trial to be held on August 6 to determine the final starting grid.
In the morning’s free practice session, Team HRC (Tetsuta Nagashima / Takumi Takahashi / Iker Lecuona) led the field as Tetsuta Nagashima set the fastest lap time of 2 min 5.823 s, which went unchallenged. Third fastest was ♯73 SDG Honda Racing (Teppei Nagoe / Naomichi Uramoto / Ikuhiro Enokido) with 2 min 6.838 s. In the 2 min 7 s range, ♯5 F.C.C. TSR Honda France (Josh Hook / Gino Rea / Mike Di Meglio) was sixth-fastest, ♯17 Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing (Kosuke Sakumoto / Kazuma Watanabe / Taiga Hada) was seventh, and ♯72 Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA (Sodo Hamahara / Daijiro Hiura / Yuki Kunii) was eighth. One second slower, ♯9 Murayama.Honda Dream.RT was tenth-fastest with 2 min 8.130 s.
Weather improved by midday, when the skies were much brighter. The track was mostly dry by the time Blue riders were up for their first qualifying session. Nagashima (#33) clocked 2 min 6.659 s on his second lap, followed by an extremely fast 2 min 4.942 s, faster than the lap record of 2 min 5.1682 s set by Jonathan Rea in 2018.
As the first Yellow riders qualifying session began, the sun was shining. Takahashi (#33) went through the pit road, timing his entry into the track for his hot lap. Takahashi’s 2 min 7.238 s placed him fifth, and on the fourth lap, he improved by nearly a second to 2 min 6.494 s. The top 3 remained the same, while Hiura (#72) improved his position to sixth with a 2 min 7.204 s lap. Rea (#5) was one place behind with 2 min 7.204 s.
Rain began to fall as the Red riders prepared for their first qualifying session. Lecuona (#33) returned to the pits. Later in the session, the sun shone as the showers continued, and riders began to return to the track with seven minutes remaining. In the end, De Meglio (#5) was the fastest rider with 2 min 10.556 s.
Rain had stopped by the time the second Red riders qualifying session began. As the track nearly dried up, the rain started again. ♯104 TOHO Racing (Ryuichi Kiyonari / Takuma Kunimine / Hiromichi Kunikawa) rider Kunimine set the fastest time of 2 min 11.831 s. Lecuona (#33) set a lap time of 2 min 15.174 before returning to the pits. Overall, Di Meglio (#5) was the fastest, Kunimine (#104) was third, Lecuona (#33) was seventh, and Kunii (#72) was ninth.
The results of the averaged best laps from the Blue, Yellow and Red rider sessions were in: #33 Team HRC was the fastest. ♯17 Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing was fourth, ♯5 F.C.C. TSR Honda France fifth, ♯72 Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA seventh, ♯73 SDG Honda Racing eighth, and ♯25 Honda Sofukai Suzuka Racing ninth. These teams progress to tomorrow’s Top 10 trial.
In the Top 10 Trial, two riders from each team have timed hot laps, determining the top ten places on the starting grid. Eleventh onwards are unchanged from today’s Qualifying results. #88 Honda Asia-Dream Racing with SHOWA (Md Zaqhwan Bin Zaidi / Gerry Salim / Helmi Bin Azman) will start the race from 16th grid.
The night session was held under heavy rain. ♯5 F.C.C. TSR Honda France was seventh-fastest, ♯17 Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing was ninth, ♯73 SDG Honda Racing 11th, ♯33 Team HRC 13th, and ♯25 Honda Sofukai Suzuka Racing 14th.
Overall Qualifying Classification (average of the 2 bests times)
Pos. | No. | Team | Rider Blue | Rider Yellow | Rider Red | Bike | Best Rider Blue | Best Rider Yellow | Best Rider Red (WET) | B. Lap |
1 | 33 | Team HRC | NAGASHIMA Tetsuta * | TAKAHASHI Takumi | LECUONA Iker | Honda | 2:04.942 | 2:06.494 | 2:15.174 | 2:05.718 |
2 | 7 | YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC | FRITZ Marvin * | CANEPA Niccolò | HANIKA Karel | Yamaha | 2:06.138 | 2:05.863 | 2:20.643 | 2:06.001 |
3 | 10 | Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H | HASLAM Leon * | LOWES Alex | REA Jonathan | Kawasaki | 2:06.409 | 2:06.204 | 2:14.892 | 2:06.307 |
4 | 17 | Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing | SAKUMOTO Kosuke * | WATANABE Kazuma | HADA Taiga | Honda | 2:06.393 | 2:06.801 | 2:28.197 | 2:06.597 |
5 | 5 | F.C.C. TSR Honda France | HOOK Josh * | REA Gino | DI MEGLIO Mike | Honda | 2:06.740 | 2:07.326 | 2:10.556 | 2:07.033 |
6 | 37 | BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM | REITERBERGER Markus * | MYKHALCHYK Illya | GUARNONI Jérémy | BMW | 2:06.963 | 2:07.191 | 2:18.659 | 2:07.077 |
7 | 72 | Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA | HAMAHARA Sodo * | HIURA Daijiro | KUNII Yuki | Honda | 2:07.274 | 2:07.204 | 2:16.922 | 2:07.239 |
8 | 73 | SDG Honda Racing | NAGOE Teppei * | ENOKIDO Ikuhiro | URAMOTO Naomichi | Honda | 2:06.733 | 2:07.840 | 2:17.614 | 2:07.287 |
9 | 25 | Honda Sofukai Suzuka Racing Team | KAMEI Yudai * | TADOKORO Jun | SUGIYAMA Yuki | Honda | 2:06.829 | 2:08.360 | 2:23.274 | 2:07.595 |
10 | 2 | EVA RT 01 Webike TRICKSTAR | OKUBO Hikari * | SANO Yuto | NIGON Erwan | Kawasaki | 2:07.602 | 2:07.675 | 2:21.153 | 2:07.639 |
11 | 806 | NCXX RACING with RIDERS CLUB | ITO Yuki * | MINAMIMOTO Soichiro | ITE Shota | Yamaha | 2:08.995 | 2:08.258 | 2:14.031 | 2:08.627 |
12 | 11 | WEBIKE SRC KAWASAKI FRANCE | DE PUNIET Randy * | MASSON Etienne | MARINO Florian | Kawasaki | 2:08.135 | 2:09.133 | 2:17.412 | 2:08.634 |
13 | 95 | S-PULSE DREAM RACING – ITEC | OGATA Hideyuki * | COCORO Atsumi | TSUDA Takuya | Suzuki | 2:08.524 | 2:08.796 | 2:28.677 | 2:08.660 |
14 | 64 | Kawasaki Plaza Racing Team | IWATO Ryosuke * | OKAYA Yuta | KIYOSUE Naoki | Kawasaki | 2:07.364 | 2:10.287 | 2:29.475 | 2:08.826 |
15 | 50 | TEAM KODAMA | KODAMA Yuuta * | NAGAO Kenji | NAGAO Kengo | Yamaha | 2:08.806 | 2:09.182 | 2:10.964 | 2:08.994 |
16 | 88 | Honda Asia-Dream Racing with SHOWA | ZAIDI Muhammad Zaqhwan * | SALIM Gerry | AZMAN Muhammad Helmi | Honda | 2:08.739 | 2:09.324 | 2:18.519 | 2:09.032 |
17 | 85 | TONE RT SYNCEDGE 4413 BMW | HOSHINO Tomoya * | ISHIZUKA Takeshi | NAKATOMI Shinichi | BMW | 2:10.318 | 2:08.231 | 2:19.913 | 2:09.275 |
18 | 40 | Team ATJ with JAPAN POST | TAKAHASHI Yuki * | ITO Kazuki | KOYAMA Tomoyoshi | Honda | 2:08.518 | 2:10.221 | 2:21.445 | 2:09.370 |
19 | 104 | TOHO Racing | KIYONARI Ryuichi * | KUNIKAWA Hiromichi | KUNIMINE Takuma | Honda | 2:08.311 | 2:10.461 | 2:11.631 | 2:09.386 |
20 | 9 | Murayama. Honda Dream. RT | AKIYOSHI Kosuke * | DEGUCHI Osamu | KONNO Yoshihiro | Honda | 2:08.292 | 2:10.880 | 2:23.046 | 2:09.586 |
21 | 3 | KRP SANYOKOGYO&RS-ITOH | YANAGAWA Akira * | MATSUZAKI Katsuya | HASEGAWA Sho | Kawasaki | 2:09.188 | 2:10.006 | 2:18.207 | 2:09.597 |
22 | 1 | Yoshimura SERT Motul | GUINTOLI Sylvain * | BLACK Gregg | WATANABE Kazuki | Suzuki | – | 2:07.363 | 2:12.432 | 2:09.898 |
23 | 44 | SANMEI Team TARO PLUSONE | SEKIGUCHI Taro * | OKUDA Kyosuke | SATO Taiki | BMW | 2:10.083 | 2:10.914 | 2:19.470 | 2:10.499 |
24 | 74 | AKENO SPEED.YAMAHA | DATE Yuta * | ABE Maiki | SUGAWARA Riku | Yamaha | 2:09.351 | 2:11.839 | 2:18.916 | 2:10.595 |
25 | 70 | OGURA CLUTCH ORC with RIDE IN | TAKEDA Yuichi * | YOKOYAMA Shota | SAKAMOTO Takashi | Yamaha | 2:10.893 | 2:12.278 | 2:25.839 | 2:11.586 |
26 | 52 | TERAMOTO@J-TRIP Racing | TERAMOTO Koji * | AOKI Nobuatsu | TSUDA Kazuma | Suzuki | 2:10.996 | 2:12.451 | 2:34.000 | 2:11.724 |
27 | 15 | TEAM HANSHIN RIDING SCHOOL | NAKAMURA Shuichiro * | NAKAMURA Tatsuya | WATANABE Kazuki | Kawasaki | 2:11.334 | 2:12.213 | 2:27.388 | 2:11.774 |
28 | 54 | GOSHI Racing | KUROGI Reitoku * | TAJIRI Yuto | YASUDA Takashi | Honda | 2:13.623 | 2:10.803 | 2:18.166 | 2:12.213 |
29 | 42 | Shinshu activation project Team NAGANO | SAKURAYAMA Shigenori * | HIGASHIMURA Isami | OKAMURA Mitsunori | BMW | 2:12.464 | 2:12.348 | 2:20.275 | 2:12.406 |
30 | 82 | Team BIZENSEIKI Kirimoto Techno Works | YAMANAKA Masaki * | NAKAMOTO Gun | NAGAHATA Daijirou | Kawasaki | 2:11.716 | 2:13.306 | 2:25.699 | 2:12.511 |
31 | 89 | CLUB NEXT & Honda Dream TAKASAKI | KATAHIRA Ryosuke * | YOSHIHIRO Hikaru | OHNUKI Kimihiko | Honda | 2:11.662 | 2:13.825 | 2:25.868 | 2:12.744 |
32 | 60 | Honda Hamamatsu ESCARGOT RT | NAKAJIMA Genki * | HANE Takumi | SAKAI Takatsugu | Honda | 2:12.724 | 2:12.886 | – | 2:12.805 |
33 | 112 | Honda Soyukai Tochigi Racing & Dream RT | KATO Takafumi * | HONDA Keiichi | MIZUSAWA Shotaro | Honda | 2:11.208 | 2:14.514 | 2:27.696 | 2:12.861 |
34 | 27 | TransMapRacing with ACE CAFE | OOISHI Masahiko * | HIRANO Luna | KAJIYAMA Toshiki | Suzuki | 2:12.148 | 2:13.753 | 2:30.123 | 2:12.951 |
35 | 78 | Honda Blue Helmets MSC Kumamoto & Asaka | MORI Kensuke * | OKADA Hiromasa | KOBAYASHI Hiroaki | Honda | 2:12.262 | 2:14.143 | 2:31.424 | 2:13.203 |
36 | 69 | Auto Race UBE KEN RACING YIC | SHINJO Masahiro * | KABETANI Yuya | KAWAGUCHI Atsushi | Kawasaki | 2:11.823 | 2:15.093 | 2:19.407 | 2:13.458 |
37 | 31 | Hamamatsu Team TITAN | TAKEDA Kazuma * | YASHIRO Genya | MURASE Takeru | Suzuki | 2:13.525 | 2:13.584 | 2:28.276 | 2:13.555 |
38 | 51 | T.MOTOKIDS TAKADA I.W. NAC | FUKUYAMA Kyota * | NAKAJIMA Hinata | NISHINAKA Tsuna | Yamaha | 2:14.147 | 2:13.277 | 2:17.735 | 2:13.712 |
39 | 61 | Team de”LIGHT | OKUDA Takaya * | HASEGAWA Shudai | KATAOKA Homare | Ducati | 2:13.591 | 2:13.972 | 2:21.575 | 2:13.782 |
40 | 99 | ADVANCE MC & FOC CLAYMORE EDGE with DOGHOUSE | MANABE Masahiro * | IWATANI Keita | SAMURA Eisuke | Suzuki | 2:13.885 | 2:13.971 | 2:34.079 | 2:13.928 |
41 | 41 | IRF with AZURLANE | MIYAKOSHI Takeshi * | KAWANA Kent | NISUIMURA Kazuyuki | Yamaha | 2:14.732 | 2:13.390 | 2:26.773 | 2:14.061 |
42 | 34 | Honda Ryokuyoukai Kumamoto Racing | YOSHIDA Mitsuhiro * | KITAORI Makoto | WADA Ruka | Honda | 2:13.139 | 2:15.612 | 2:16.843 | 2:14.376 |
43 | 38 | K’sWORKS RACING | ADACHI Masaki * | YAMAUCHI Yoshinori | NAKAI Tsunekazu | Yamaha | 2:15.815 | 2:15.816 | 2:21.507 | 2:15.816 |
44 | 71 | Team MATSUNAGA KDC & YSP NAGOYA KITA | MATSUNAGA Osamu * | ARAKAWA Masahiko | KUNO Mitsuhiro | Yamaha | 2:14.310 | 2:17.584 | 2:26.274 | 2:15.947 |
45 | 45 | YSS Mercury with TKm | TAJIMA Kiyotsugu * | YAMAGIWA Koshi | KIMURA Tomohiro | Kawasaki | 2:17.799 | 2:17.483 | 2:21.933 | 2:17.641 |
Location Information
SUZUKA 8HOURS ESSENTIAL* Name: SUZUKA CIRCUIT Location: 7992 Ino-Cho, Suzuka-shi, Mie-ken 510-0295, Japan Track length: 5.821 kilometres Race distance: 8 hours Official website Suzuka Circuit Suzuka Circuit Operated by Honda-owned Mobilityland, Suzuka features a unique figure-of-eight layout and presents a considerable challenge for riders thanks to its wide variety of corners.… read more.
7992 Inoucho, Suzuka, Mie, Japan - View in Google Maps
Records
POLE POSITION RECORD | 2'04.934s Team HRC - Tetsuta Nagashima - Honda CBR1000RR-R SP (2022) |
RACE RECORD | 2'06.805s Kawasaki Racing Team - Jonathan Rea - Kawasaki ZX10RR (2019) |