Source: Supplied.

Preliminary practice for the 39th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours got underway in Japan on Thursday, as the defending champion Yamaha Factory Racing team clocked the best lap during pair of sessions.

Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Pol Espargaro and Alex Lowes led the way yesterday with a 2m08.194s lap, leading Takumi Takahashi, Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden at 2m08.829s on board the Musashi RT Harc-Pro’s Honda.

Takuya Tsuda, Josh Brookes and Noriyuki Haga posted a lap time of 2m08.933s for Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance, while Kawasaki Team Green’s Akira Yanagawa, Kazuki Watanabe and Leon Haslam posted a 2m08.989s in fourth.

F.C.C. TSR Honda was the quickest of the teams in the running for the 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship title, as Kazuma Watanabe and Patrick Jacobsen (Dominique Aegerter will join them for qualifying) set a 2m09.135s.

Broc Parkes’ YART Yamaha Official EWC Team were right behind with a lap time of 2m09.683s, while next in the pecking order were GMT94 Yamaha, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, Team SRC Kawasaki and Honda Endurance Racing Team.