Suzuka qualifying

Yoshiteru Konishi is on provisional pole for the Suzuka 8 Hour event on the No 101 Toy Story Honda, ahead of Akira Watanabe and Noryuki Haga.

Although the morning qualifying sessions were dry, the mixed weatehr for the afternoon sessions saw them declared officially "wet" sessions, which meant teams could use more than the usual four sets of tyres for qualifying, despite little rain actually falling.

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Konishi posted a time of 2:09.176, 1.5 seconds than in the morning sessions, to place ahread of Group B fastest man Watanabe on the Yoshimura Suzuki, and Haga on the Yamaha Blue Racing R1. Haga may have placed higher, but caught a slower rider while braking for the final chicane. Fourth overall was Shinichi Itoh.

The World Endurance regulars were headed by 15th place Suzuki Castol with Vincent Philippe (2:11.795), from Yamaha Austria and Yamaha Acropolis. Britain’s Yamaha Phase One were 47th overall, with Diablo 666 59th, and Shell Endurance 60th. Both Suzuki Castrol’s Keiichi Kitagwa and Suzuki Endurance Moto45’s Durpez both crashed during qualifying.

Provisional Qualifying – Top Ten

1st 101 Toy Story Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – Y.Konishi – 2:09.176

2nd 12 Yoshimura Suzuki – JPN – A.Watanabe – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – 2:09.636

3rd 45 Yamaha Blue Racing – JPN – N.Haga – Yamaha YZF-R1 – 2:09.687

4th 778 FCC TSR Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – S.Itoh – 2:09.950

5th 48 FCC TSR Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – G.Kamada – 2:09.975

5th 39 Team Challenger Yamaha – JPN – Yamaha YZF-R1 – N.Osaki – 2:09.975

7th 04 Masked Rider Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – T.Yamaguchi – 2:10.018

8th 21 YSP & Presto Yamaha – JPN – Yamaha YZF-R1 – K.Nakasuga – 2:10.052

9th 7 Seven Stars Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – R.Kiyonari – 2:10.089

10th 11 Seven Stars Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – T.Okada – 2:10.199

Qualifying Times – Permanent Teams

15th 1 Suzuki Castrol – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – V.Philippe – 2:11.795

38th 07 Yamaha Austria – AUT – Yamaha YZF-R1 – I.Jerman – 2:15.372

43rd 199 Yamaha Acropolis Zone Rouge BEL – Yamaha YZF-R1 – M.Nickmans – 2:15.730

47th 3 Yamaha Phase One Endurance GBR- Yamaha YZF-R1 – D.Cudlin – 2:15.957

50th 8 Kawasaki Bolliger – SUI – Kawasaki ZX10R – P.Muff – 2:16.348

58th 012: Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se – SWE – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – P Young – 2:17.658

59th 666 Kawasaki Diablo – GBR – Kawasaki ZX10R – J.Hutchins – 2:18.659

60th 6 Shell Endurance Academy – GBR – Yamaha YZF-R1 – A.Dubelski – 2:18.808

61st 44 Suzuki No Limits & RT – ITA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – F.Jond – 2:19.334

62nd 100 Suzuki Endurance Moto45 – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – D.Briere – 2:19.761