The Honda Racing Endurance World Championship squad will start the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours from eighth on a grid of 70 teams, having been the only permanent EWC outfit to qualify for today’s Top 10 Trial.

The nail-biting Superpole-style qualifier took place in the blistering afternoon heat with the two quickest riders from each of the top ten teams taking to the track one at a time for a flying lap. Julien Da Costa was up first for Honda Racing, putting in a very respectable time of 2’09.891. Sebastien Gimbert followed this up with a lap of 2’09.224 to place the team eighth overall come the end of the session.

Yoshimura Suzuki secured pole position after breaking the existing outright lap record. Pata Honda World Superbike rider Jonathan Rea took his FCC TSR Honda team to third on the grid, while Pata Honda World Supersport rider Michael van der Mark’s lap placed his MuSashi RT Harc Pro squad fifth.



Neil Tuxworth – team manager

We’re pleased with eighth on the grid. Our aim was to qualify as the highest-placed permanent EWC team and within the top ten, which we’ve achieved, and in fact, we are the only EWC team inside the top ten. Now we have to turn our focus to the race tomorrow, which we know is never easy here. The heat and humidity are always a factor and the weather forecast is predicting heavy rain and maybe even thunderstorms so it could be an eventful day.

Sebastien Gimbert

I am happy with the results of qualifying and we are starting the race from a good position, but as we know, the starting place in endurance is less important and it’s what happens in the race that matters. Suzuka is a very difficult circuit and a very difficult race, but we are well prepared and I hope we can get a good result for the team and for Honda.

Julien Da Costa

I’m happy that we qualified inside the top ten and that we are the only EWC team to do that, but qualifying is the easy part, the hard part comes tomorrow. I am looking forward to it, but I know that with the weather and the forecast for rain, it might be a difficult race. Whatever happens, it will be an amazing atmosphere, so we will enjoy it and hopefully finish as one of the top teams.

Freddy Foray

I am really looking forward to the race because this will be my first Suzuka 8 Hours, but I have spoken to many riders who have told me how difficult it is. It is also forecast to rain tomorrow so that will make it even harder. We haven’t had any rain at all this week so it is not easy to be prepared for that, but we will do our best and we hope for a good result.


Championship standings

1 SRC Kawasaki 55 pts KAWASAKI
2 Yamaha France GMT94 Michelin 50 pts YAMAHA
3 Bolliger Team Switzerland 8 37 pts KAWASAKI
4 Team Motors Events April Moto 35 pts SUZUKI
5 National Motos 32 pts HONDA
6 Team R2CL 24 pts SUZUKI
7 Honda Racing 19 pts HONDA
8 TMC City Bike TRT 27 19 pts SUZUKI
9 Maco Racing Team 15 pts YAMAHA
10 Flembbo Leader Team 13 pts KAWASAKI
11 Team Space Moto 37 12 pts SUZUKI
12 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 10 pts SUZUKI
13 Team 18 Sapeurs-Pompiers 8 pts KAWASAKI
14 Motobox Kremer Racing by Shell Advance

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