The Yamaha factory team, consisting of Jack Miller, Katsuyuki Nakasuga, and Andrea Locatelli, finished fifth in Friday's qualifying rounds for the Suzuka 8 Hours race, behind HRC. HRC, with its trio of Jonathan Rea, Somkiat Chantra, and Takumi Takahashi, was the fastest team in qualifying, leaving behind the R1 riders who finished second last year by 0.458 seconds.<\/p>\n
According to the qualifying format of the Suzuka 8 Hours, the average of the fastest laps of each team's two fastest riders determines Saturday's Top 10 Trial standings. At Yamaha, Locatelli recorded the fastest lap at 2 minutes 4.971 seconds, while Miller finished in 2 minutes 5.422 seconds and Nakasuga in 2 minutes 5.984 seconds. The average of Locatelli and Miller's laps placed the team in fifth place. Miller, the only full-time MotoGP rider on the field \u2013 Johann Zarco is out this year due to injury \u2013 finished third and fifth in the qualifying sessions.<\/p>\n
Miller openly expressed his disappointment after qualifying: \u201cQualifying didn\u2019t go as I expected. I felt good doing the free practice this morning on used tires, but I couldn\u2019t maintain that in qualifying. The track surface is different from last year and doesn\u2019t seem to match our baseline setup. We need to find out exactly why. I\u2019ll be able to go out on track in the Top 10 Trial, but I\u2019m not happy with today\u2019s fifth place. I\u2019ll continue looking for where the speed is hidden in night practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locatelli painted a similar picture: \u201cI did my best, but it wasn\u2019t enough. The fact that I didn\u2019t get a good overall feeling might be related to the track being re-asphalted. It feels quite different from last year, so we need to make some adjustments for the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nakasuga, who was part of Yamaha's team during their last Suzuka victory in 2018, said: \u2019I feel we had good team chemistry, but it was a bit frustrating not being able to translate that into results. My single lap time wasn't good enough, but our average lap time was good and our teamwork was solid. I think the race will be different.\u201c<\/p>\n
Friday night's practice session was more favorable for Yamaha. Nakasuga finished eighth in the Blue group, Miller took first place in the Yellow group, and Locatelli set the fastest lap in the Red group, securing first place in both his group and the entire session. It was noted that the rain, which interrupted free practice sessions earlier in the week, continued to pose a threat over the weekend.<\/p>\n