YART Yamaha sit second at Suzuka test

Two days of testing saw Yamaha’s Official EWC Team second in the official Pre-Test standings ahead of August’s Suzuka 8-Hours.

A best effort of 2’06.662 around Japan’s iconic 5.8km figure-of-eight circuit, placed the YART squad - featuring Niccolò Canepa, Karel Hanika, and Marvin Fritz - second only to home heroes Honda.

The 43rd edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours, and third round of 2022’s FIM Endurance World Championship, sees the EWC return to Japan for the first time since 2019 due to the global Covid pandemic on the 5th-7th of August.

The YART Yamaha team wasted no time getting down to business at the iconic track when testing kicked off on Tuesday morning. Despite rain in the morning, the YART Yamaha R1 hit the ground running, and the team were immediately up to speed, building confidence in each session to end the first day in second overall with a 2’07.341 set during night practice.

Wednesday saw the more traditional hot and humid weather conditions expected for the race weekend, with two long 90-minute sessions providing the trio the perfect opportunity to work on their race pace. Fritz set the 2’06.662 - under the current Suzuka race lap record - during the final session, to end the test second on the combined timesheets.

“We had a great test!” Fritz enthused as the test concluded. “We were fast right from the start. The first session was wet, but in the dry second session, on the third lap we were already in the 2’08s, so we knew we had a good pace right from the beginning.

“We still have some stuff to work on with the bike, but we already have found a good base setup and our lap times show this. During the race week, we will also have our Crew Chief Andrew Pitt with us; he will certainly help us go even quicker.

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