Yamaha Factory aiming for a hat-trick

Yamaha Factory Racing Team topped the timesheets at the first two private sessions in Suzuka today: a sign the team is determined to pick up its third successive win at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark clocked the fastest lap on their Yamaha #21 today, ahead of Musashi RT Harc-Pro’s Honda with Takumi Takahashi, Jack Miller and Takaaki Nakagami in the saddle and the Yoshimura Suzuki Motul Racing line-up: Sylvain Guintoli, Joshua Brookes and Takuya Tsuda.

The standings are shaping up in the wake of the two private test sessions. After finishing 10th at the tests, YART Yamaha Official EWC Team (2'09.343) is the best placed of the teams in the running for the world title, ahead of GMT94 Yamaha, which placed 14th with a 2'09.873 lap. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team finished 23rd after falling back due to a crash by Vincent Philippe, who was unharmed.

Following this latest session to adjust settings, the 68 teams competing in the Suzuka 8 Hours will have one last round of free practice tomorrow (Friday) before the qualifying, which starts at 11.30 am local time (GMT + 9h).

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