Honda HRC topped the timesheets at the conclusion of Friday's two-part qualifying session at Suzuka.

The factory Honda HRC team set the pace in Friday’s two-part qualifying session for the "Coca-Cola" Suzuka 8 Hours.

MotoGP star Johann Zarco and six-time event winner Takumi Takahashi combined to post an average lap time of 2m05.187s aboard the No. 30 HRC entry, putting them at the top of the leaderboard.

"Qualifying was good. We have two tyres to use across the two qualifying sessions, so it was good to push for one lap, then stop and control the situation," Zarco said after Friday Qualifying at Suzuka.

"You always need a good strategy because there is often a red flag, so you need to calculate your moves very carefully. Going under 2’05 was important. The top opponents are fast as well, but tomorrow we will have another chance to further improve our potential.

"That said, qualifying or pole position is not the most important thing for Honda. We are very strong in consistency, and that is the main target for the race. But a top-three result tomorrow would be a good starting position for Takumi."

Takahashi added: "I evaluate my qualifying positively, especially because I did my second qualifying stint on the same tyre as in the first one, and even so, the lap time improved.

"Of course, my goal was to exploit the new tyres in the first session, but surprisingly the time didn’t come as expected. In the second one, I set my own pace, and the times improved.

"I don’t really understand why, but apparently, I set better laps when I don’t push too hard. And of course, Zarco managed to set a strong lap time."

Team Manager Teruaki Matsubara commented: "In today’s qualifying we used the same setup for both riders, opting for a race configuration rather than a qualifying one. Both were able to achieve very good lap times, which we are happy with, but we remain fully focused on the rest of the weekend."