8 Hours of Suzuka (Q1): Jonathan Rea impresses – BMW strong once again!

Following two intensive days of testing, the crucial phase of the Suzuka 8 Hours got underway on Friday. Contrary to the weather forecasts issued in the run-up to the event, conditions were dry and stable at the start of qualifying. Good conditions are also expected for the second qualifying session.

In the morning’s free practice session, Yoshimura SERT Motul had underlined its ambitions. Gregg Black, Dan Linfoot and Cocoro Atsumi completed 29 laps and set the fastest time of 2:05.323 minutes. Behind them were the BMW works team with Markus Reiterberger, Steven Odendaal and Michael van der Mark, as well as F.C.C. TSR Honda France with Alan Techer, Corentin Perolari and John McPhee.

BMW sets fastest time in the blue group

The first qualifying session began at 12 noon local time with the riders from the blue group. Local hero Naomichi Uramoto made the first big impression. The Japanese rider took the lead in the BMW of the AutoRace Ube Racing Team with a time of 2:04.847 minutes, beating Honda works rider Takumi Takahashi by 0.208 seconds.

BMW works rider Markus Reiterberger also confirmed his strong form of recent days, taking third place with a lap time of 2:05.142 minutes. Karel Hanika finished fourth on the YART Yamaha, whilst the Yamaha works team, with Katsuyuki Nakasuga, surprisingly could not manage better than ninth place.

Marcel Schrötter auf der BMW von ERC Endurance

Foto: BMW

Marcel Schrötter secured another strong result for Germany. The BMW rider guided the Dunlop-shod BMW from ERC Endurance to eighth place, putting in an excellent performance in a field packed with top-class competitors.

Lennox Lehmann from Team Motobox Kremer Racing had already caused a moment of panic during free practice. The young Saxon skidded across the home straight at high speed and limped off the track when he came to a halt. As a result, Lehmann was unable to set a time in Qualifying 1.

Yellow Group: Jonathan Rea shines, YART without a lap time!

In the Yellow Group qualifying session, Jonathan Rea then impressively demonstrated why Honda HRC is considered one of the big favourites for overall victory. The six-time Superbike World Champion lapped the Suzuka Circuit in 2:04.583 minutes, making him by far the fastest rider of the entire session.

Jonathan Rea auf der Werks-Honda

Foto: HRC

Florian Marino followed in second place on the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team’s Yamaha, 0.646 seconds behind, whilst MotoGP rider Jack Miller rounded off the top three on the factory Yamaha.

Jack Miller auf der Werks-Yamaha

Foto: Yamaha

The session proved less successful for defending champions and championship leaders YART. Marvin Fritz was unable to set a timed lap and was therefore not classified. Jonas Folger finished 14th on the S-Pulse Dream Racing Suzuki.

Red Group: Honda narrowly ahead of BMW

In the final qualifying session of the Red Group, John McPhee of Team F.C.C. TSR Honda France took the top spot with a lap time of 2:05.332 minutes. He was followed by BMW works rider Michael van der Mark and Andrea Locatelli on the works Yamaha. After Marvin Fritz had failed to set a time earlier, YART made a comeback with Leandro Mercado. The Argentine finished the session in 8th place.

Michael van der Mark auf der Werks-BMW

Foto: BMW

After the three qualifying groups, everything was still up for grabs. The fastest times were set by three different teams, meaning the picture is very wide open ahead of the second qualifying session. Q2 begins at 15:30 local time (08:30 CEST).