The Yoshimura Suzuki and Suzuki Endurance Racing Team have both posted strong performances in the opening practice and qualifying sessions for Sunday's 35th-Anniversary Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance World Championship third round in Japan.

Yoshimura Suzuki's Josh Waters topped the third timed practice group earlier today aboard the team's GSX-R1000 with a time of 2'08.838 - the third fastest lap of the three sessions - while World Endurance Championship-leading SERT's Vincent Philippe set third fastest time, despite a small crash, in the first group with a time of 2'09.321.

In Timed Practice 1, Yoshimura Suzuki's Nobuatsu Aoki posted fifth position with a 2'09.436 lap and team-mate Leon Camier recorded 2'10.392 in Timed Practice 2. SERT's Yukio Kagayama was third in TP3 with 2'09.634 while team-mate Anthony Delhalle lapped at 2'10.841 in his qualifying session.

The overall fastest time of 2'08.352 was set by Monster Yamaha YART's Katsuyuki Nakasuga who is teamed with British Superbike Championship riders Tommy Hill and Noriyuki Haga. Second fastest on 2'08.680 is Musashi RT Harc-Pro Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Following a night practice for the 66-entered teams there will be a further practice session tomorrow morning followed by a Top-10 trial and Top-10 Shootout final from 15.30 onwards for the top 10 riders to determine the starting positions for Sunday's race, which gets underway at 11.30 local time.

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