The Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team of Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika, and Niccolò Canepa survived some late drama to claim a sensational pole position at the 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race after dominating qualifying on Friday and setting a 2:05.130 to win Saturday’s Top Ten Trial in Japan.
The YART team’s dream of a Suzuka podium is still very much a reality after an excellent build-up to the iconic race on Sunday. The defending champions, who are Yamaha’s leading team at the event, entered the third round of the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) second in the overall standings, just one point behind the leaders, and have enjoyed a strong week so far in the sweltering heat and humidity of Suzuka.
YART finished Wednesday’s Private Practice fourth overall on the combined timesheets with a 2:07.105, as they got to work on finding the perfect setup for their Bridgestone-shod R1, enjoying a productive day with both wet and dry track sessions proving useful. The only dampener was a crash for Canepa during the first session of the day, but the Italian walked away unharmed.
The action at Suzuka kicked off in earnest on Friday, with a two-hour Free Practice session in the morning that saw track temperatures rise to 50 degrees Celsius. YART continued their solid progress, with Canepa setting a fastest time of 2:06.389 to end the session in third, with all three riders displaying superb race pace and recording times in the 2:06s.
Friday afternoon saw the first set of qualifying sessions for each rider. In the EWC, each rider gets two 20-minute sessions to set a time. Then, the two fastest riders’ laps are combined to give an average time used to decide the starting order, but at Suzuka, there is an extra step, with the fastest ten teams from qualifying going through to the always exciting Top Ten Trial on Saturday.
Having built up their confidence, YART demonstrated their pace in qualifying on Friday, with all three riders aiming to set a fast time in their first sessions on fresh rubber, and the plan worked perfectly. Canepa was first on track, and he set a 2:05.741 to end his first session in second, just 0.126s off the fastest time, despite a red flag interrupting proceedings. It was then Fritz’s turn to take to the track in the Yellow group, and the German managed a superb 2:05.252 to top his first session by 0.832s.
Hanika then went even faster, with the Czech rider setting a 2:05.192 in the Red Riders’ session to top his group by 0.750s. With the track temperatures rising to well over 50 degrees Celsius as the afternoon went on, most riders did not improve their times in the second qualifying sessions, and the YART trio instead used the time to refine their race setup further. This meant that Fritz and Hanika topped their respective groups, with their times combined to give an average of 2:05.222, which saw YART on provisional pole and having the advantage of taking to the track last during the Top Ten Trial.
The team then continued their excellent work in the one-hour Night Practice session, again topping the timesheets, this time with a 2:06.918, to further boost their confidence. They followed this up with a 2:06.448 in Saturday morning’s 45-minute Free Practice session, as the team focused on race pace with used tyres to finish second fastest.
Saturday’s Top Ten Trial, which always brings a level of pressure and excitement to proceedings, was dramatic in more ways than one. Each team nominates two riders to take to the track, and both get one flying lap, with the fastest time counting towards the result. Fritz was the first rider for YART, and he pulled off an incredible time of 2:05.130, setting his and the team’s fastest-ever lap around the 5.821km Suzuka Circuit to put them on provisional pole.
By the time it came to Hanika’s time to go out for his flying lap, nobody had been able to match Fritz’s pace, meaning that YART had secured pole position, and effectively, Hanika had a free attempt to try and set a new lap record. Up in the first sector, he was on course for a 2:04 lap time when he unfortunately crashed at Turn 7, but luckily, he walked away unhurt.
Even though it should not have mattered, as Fritz’s time was still good enough for pole position, confusion reigned at Suzuka for a few minutes, as a fault with the timing software showed that Fritz’s lap had been cancelled due to Hanika’s crash, and the team would be forced to start from ninth position.
After a tense wait, during which emotions were understandably running high, it was finally confirmed that YART had indeed secured pole position with Fritz’s time, and the celebrations could begin. The result also saw the team maintain their 100% pole position record in 2024 as they push to retain their EWC crown.
Securing pole not only means the team will start Sunday’s race from first position in their pursuit of their first-ever podium at Suzuka, but it also saw them claim the maximum five points on offer during qualifying, taking over the championship lead in the process with a total of 92 points, three points ahead of their closest rival, while there is another 30 up for grabs in Sunday’s race.
The KM99 squad of Jérémy Guarnoni, Florian Marino, and Randy de Puniet also produced a solid performance after they set an average time of 2:07.919 during Friday’s qualifying, meaning the team will start from 15th on the grid.
Sunday begins with a 45-minute Warm Up for all the teams at 8:30 am local time (UTC+9) before the 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race kicks off at 11:30 am local time, with the legendary nighttime finish set for 7:30 pm.
Suzuka 8 Hours, Top Ten Trial, Qualifying and Free Practice Results
Marvin Fritz – P1 2:05.130
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team
“I am super happy with this pole position, and also the five points we secured, which is the most important thing, as we are now leading the championship. While our one-lap pace has been amazing, we also feel really good on the race bike and have found a great setup for Sunday. It will be very hot and physically demanding for the race, but it is the same for everyone. We feel confident; we have the best team, the bike is working great, and the Bridgestone tyres have been excellent. I am happy to have Niccolò and Karel as teammates; I think as a trio, we are the strongest. Now we just have to focus on our own race and not worry about anyone else, as we have done all season, and I’m sure we can get a good result.”
Karel Hanika – P1
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team
“It is great to be on pole position here in Suzuka. Great job from Marvin, and I am happy with my 2:05.192 in Friday’s qualifying. Today was all about trying to set the best lap time possible, and Marvin did that. I was feeling really strong and had been doing some very fast lap times during the Free Practice session before the Top Ten Trial on used tyres. So, I came into the Top Ten Trial feeling confident, and I did my fastest first sector of the whole week, but then I lost the front in Turn 7. I think I entered the corner just a bit too fast, as I was trying to carry the speed and momentum to try and break the 2:05 barrier, but sometimes it is like this. You have good days and bad days. I made a mistake, but it didn’t matter as Marvin’s time was already good enough for pole. We also have taken the championship lead thanks to the five points we claimed, which is the most important thing. The whole team has worked hard all week, and the bike feels amazing. We have a good race pace on used tyres, so we are confident and ready to race, and I cannot wait!”
Niccolò Canepa – P1
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team
“I am thrilled to be on pole position, thanks to Marvin’s amazing lap. We feel confident and ready for the race. We have been doing longer runs on used tyres all week, and our pace is really good. We know it will be tough, and fuel consumption will come into play as always, so we have to be ready for anything, but we will try our best as always. It is our third pole position of the year; we would have won at Le Mans if we hadn’t had an unlucky crash. We dominated the race at Spa, and now we want to carry on that form. We will focus on our own race and strategy and hope to secure the best result possible.”
Mandy Kainz
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team – Team Manager
“It has been a very strong week so far. We came here off the back of a perfect performance at Spa, and we wanted to continue in that way. So far, everything has gone according to plan. We dominated qualifying, and Marvin’s time in the Top Ten Trial was amazing. It was a shame Karel crashed, as he was going even faster, but that is the advantage of going last, as he could take a risk knowing we already had pole position in the bag. More importantly, we also secured five vital points, which means that we lead the championship standings. We are now fully focused on the race. For sure, it will not be easy, and in endurance, anything can happen, but the whole team has worked superbly to put us in the strongest position possible. Now we just need to focus on our race and try and secure the best result possible.”
