Pol Espargarò gives pole in the Suzuka 8 hours to Yamaha, Stoner is 3rd
The Australian from Honda lapped three tenths behind the Spaniard's Yamaha
8 hours of Suzuka 2015 – The pole position of the 8 Suzuka 2015 Hours went to Yamaha. The fastest of the Tre Diapason team was Pol Espargarò, who set an amazing 2'06″000, a record lap of the circuit.
Casey Stoner (who hasn't run an official race since Valencia 2012) with the Honda CBR-RRW set the third best time with a time of 2'06"335 and was the fastest of his team, made up of Takumi Takahashi and Michael Vd Mark.
Yamaha wants to win again, they haven't done so since 1996 and doing so on the circuit owned by Honda would be a huge coup. To make the slight, Honda "hired" Pol Espargarò and Bradley Smith, who will form a trio with Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
However, the third time does not seem to worry Stoner who said: “Before the Superpole we had brake problems that we weren't expecting – said the Australian as reported by Gazzetta.it – But we came out of it brilliantly, the flying lap interested us not at all, we are aiming for the race. And we can do well, we have a couple of changes to make that could give us a little more push. What I did in MotoGP is of no interest here, I'm discovering a new world and I've found a very beautiful, relaxed environment, with lots of people (90 spectators expected, ed.) and passion. I wanted to have an experience like that.”
The poleman Pol Espargarò he said: “It was the first time I used the soft rubber and did the time alone, I closed my eyes and trusted. The race will be more complicated but we are strong and fast, I believe it."
The starting line-up of the 8 Suzuka 2015 Hours
01. Yamaha Factory (Nakasuga-Espargaro P.-Smith B.) 2'06”000
02. Kawasaki Green (Yanagawa-Yudhistira-Watanabe) 2'06”287
03. Honda Pro Harc (Takahashi-Vd Mark-Stoner) 2'06”335
04.Suzuki Yoshimura (Tsuda-Water-Lowes A.) 2'06”516
05. Suzuki Kagayama (Kagayama-Haga-Kiyonari) 2'07”990
06. Honda FCC TSR (Hook-Smith K.-Aegerter) 2'08”076
07. Honda Toho Moriwaki (Elias-Yamaguchi-Wilairot) 2'08”332
08. Kawasaki Eva Test (Deguchi-Izutsu-Nigon) 2'08”950
09. Honda Dream (Herfoss-O'Happelloran-Uramoto) 2'09”409
10. Suzuki MotoMap (Konno-Aoki N.-Ogata) 2'11”019.
if you want to always be updated on our news
Follow us here
MotoGP | Le Mans sets the attendance record, 297.471 spectators
MotoGP | Aspar Martinez: “If I were in Ducati I would take Marc Marquez”
MotoGP | Lorenzo on Marc Marquez: “A podium that smells of glory at Le Mans”
MotoGP | GP Le Mans Race, Espargarò: “It was an eventful race”
MotoGP | GP Le Mans Race, Vinales: “With this fifth place we just have to be happy”
MotoGP | GP Le Mans Race, Rins: “It was really hard for me”
MotoGP | GP Le Mans Race, Quartararo: “It's the first time I'm so happy after a race in which I crashed”
Congratulations to Yamaha, but from the starting line-up it's clear that they wanted to win this year.
Congratulations to Honda, they presented a Stoner in great shape, a shame about the breakdown, but great anyway for what he did in that part of the race. Even Kawasaki, with 3 Japanese, surprised in Qualifying, then in the race we'll see how they went.