FCC TSR Honda 2 confirmed its domination by taking over the “Special Stage” on Saturday, a Superpole reserved only to the first ten teams in qualifying. Shinichi Itoh, already the fastest rider after Friday’s qualifications, hammered the competition by clocking an even faster lap, in 2’07’’014. The Honda FCC TSR 2 will start from pole with the same two riders who already won the 2006 edition of the 8 Hours of Suzuka. This is surely a psychological advantage.
FCC TSR Honda leads on the starting grid 2007 Suzuka winner, Yoshimura Suzuki with Jomo 34, with Yukio Kagayama and Kosuke Akiyoshi, who signed a 2’07’’310 lap. The first official Honda, Dream Honda Racing 11, will start from third place with Carlos Checa and Riyuichi Kiyonari, who did a 2’07’’687 lap.
The official Yamaha Racing 218 with Yuji Sato and Katsuyuki Nakasuga remains in fourth place, same as Friday. They are ahead of Suzuki Yoshimura with Denso 12 of Atsushi Watanabe and Daisaku Sakai, the machine who lost the biggest ground, stepping back from second place after Friday’s qualifying to fifth at the “Special Stage”.
Sixth on the starting grid is Dream Racing Honda 33 of Yuki Takahashi and Jonathan Rea, leading by nearly two seconds the Honda Moriwaki Motul Racing of Cal Crutchlow and Tatsuya Yamaguchi.
The “Special Stage” is absolutely unique in Endurance to the Suzuka round. It’s the only race of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship where an individual best lap determines the position of a team on the starting grid. For the riders, it’s all about signing the most perfect lap, but there is one single chance to do so. For the spectators, it’s a one-hour breath-holding experience. To keep the suspense to the fullest, the fastest riders get last on the track, so there are constant new developments towards the end of the session.
The race will start Sunday at 11:30 am, for a 7:30 pm night arrival at Suzuka.
Special Stage results
1. 2 - F.C.C.TSR Honda (H-CBR1000RR) / T.TSUJIMURA / S.ITO 2'07.014
2. 34 - Yoshimura Suzuki with Jomo (S-GSX-R1000) / Y.KAGAYAMA / K.AKIYOSHI 2'07.310
3. 11 - Dream Honda Racing Team 11 (H-CBR1000RR) / R.KIYONARI / C.CHECA 2'07.687
4. 218 - Yamaha Racing (Y-YZF-R1) / Y.SATO / K.NAKASUGA 2'07.936
5. 12 - Yoshimura Suzuki with Denso (S-GSX-R1000) / D.SAKAI / A.WATANABE 2'08.030
6. 33 - Dream Honda Racing Team 33 (H-CBR1000RR) / J.REA / Y.TAKAHASHI 2'08.454
7. 19 - Moriwaki Motul Racing (H-CBR1000RR ) / T.YAMAGUCHI / C.CRUTCHLOW 2'10.197
8. 10 - Team Sakurai Honda 10 (H-CBR1000RR) / C.KAMEYA / L.HASLAM 2'10.491
9. 73 - Kyubo.com team Harc-Pro (H-CBR1000RR) / Y.KONISHI / T.TAKAHASHI 2'10.644
10. 99 - Teluru Honeybee Racing (H-CBR1000RR) / T.YAMAMOTO / H.MATOBA 2'11.690
