The Honda Endurance Racing team will start Sunday’s 38th “Coca-Cola Zero” Suzuka 8 Hours from 20th position after today’s qualifying sessions at the 5.821km Honda-owned Suzuka circuit in Japan.

Honda’s endurance specialists Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sebastien Gimbert are taking part in the second Endurance World Championship round in which the squad’s main objective will be to score as many important championship points as possible on board the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP.

With 70 teams competing at the 2015 Suzuka 8 Hours, the teams were separated in two groups and each rider had two qualifying sessions. The Honda Endurance Racing team finished tenth within B Group.

With a 2’10.342 best lap performed by Gimbert around the legendary Suzuka circuit, the Honda Endurance Racing team will start Sunday’s 8-hour race from 20th position. The Suzuka 8 Hours will start at 11:30 Japanese Standard Time (GMT+9) on Sunday 26 July.

Neil Tuxworth – team manager

We had no problems in qualifying which is a good thing. Freddy had a small crash but that’s not a serious issue for us because we had no problems with the machine and reliability is what we wanted to achieve. Generally the three riders have a very good race pace, we know we are very quick in the pits, we know what our fuel strategy will be and now we’re just looking forward to the race. I’m confident we can be in the top ten and even possibly in the top six if we don’t have any issue during our race.

Julien Da Costa

We are in the same pace as the permanent teams – one of the things that we are sure of is that we have a very good race pace – but of course we would have liked to do a better qualifying as we are competitors. Personally I am quite satisfied, I would have like to be a bit faster but still I am confident for the race.

Sébastien Gimbert

We have a good rhythm on the CBR, we also have a lot of experience in the field of endurance, we have a great strategy and there is consistency between all the three riders within the team – we are all in the same lap times and this is what will make us stronger. We still have a lot of work to do tomorrow before the race on Sunday, but I am happy with what we achieved today. I was satisfied with my lap times, the team worked well, the Dunlop tyres are good and my team-mates were in a good pace as well.

Freddy Foray

Today was not so good for me as I crashed out, but we worked a lot, we will still work hard tomorrow in order to try to get a better feeling at the front. I hope that it will help me to get my confidence back… Tomorrow is another day!

Qualifying positions  

1 Team GREEN 2'06.656 KAWASAKI Team GREEN 
2 YOSHIMURA SUZUKI Shell ADVANCE 2'06.958 SUZUKI YOSHIMURA SUZUKI Shell ADVANCE
3 Yamaha Factory Racing Team 2'06.877 YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
4 F.C.C. TSR Honda 2'07.798 HONDA F.C.C. TSR Honda
5 MuSashi RT HARC-PRO 2'06.963 HONDA MuSashi RT HARC-PRO
6 Honda DREAM RT SAKURAI Honda 2'08.693 HONDA Honda DREAM RT SAKURAI Honda
7 Team KAGAYAMA - Verity 2'07.594 SUZUKI Team KAGAYAMA - Verity
8 EVA RT TEST TYPE-01 SynergyForce TRICKSTAR 2'09.117 KAWASAKI EVA RT TEST TYPE-01 SynergyForce TRICKSTAR
9 TOHO Racing with MORIWAKI 2'07.622 HONDA TOHO Racing with MORIWAKI
10 Moto Map SUPPLY 2'09.215 SUZUKI Moto Map SUPPLY
11 Monster Energy Yamaha-YART 2'08.973 YAMAHA Monster Energy Yamaha-YART
12 Teluru - KoharaRT 2'09.278 HONDA Teluru - KoharaRT
13 Honda Team Asia 2'09.432 HONDA Honda Team Asia
14 BMW Motorrad France Team PEN13 2'09.325 BMW BMW Motorrad France Team PEN13
15 Honda Suzuka Racing Team 2'09.432 HONDA Honda Suzuka Racing Team
16 GMT94 Yamaha 2'09.871 YAMAHA GMT94 Yamaha
17 SRC Kawasaki 2'09.556 KAWASAKI SRC Kawasaki
18 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 2'10.222 SUZUKI Suzuki Endurance Racing Team
19 CONFIA Flex Motorrad39 2'10.169 BMW CONFIA Flex Motorrad39
20 Honda Racing 2'10.342 HONDA Honda Endurance Racing - EWC
21 Team Bolliger Switzerland 8 2'12.099 KAWASAKI Team Bolliger Switzerland 8
22 TEAM TENMAI SAKURA PROJECT 2'10.971 YAMAHA TEAM TENMAI SAKURA PROJECT
23 Team Tras 135HP 2'12.548 BMW Team Tras 35HP
24 Honda Kumamoto Racing 2'11.512 HONDA Honda Kumamoto Racing
25 Team Hashimotogumi AKENO SPEED 2'12.845 SUZUKI Team Hashimotogumi AKENO SPEED