Source: Supplied.

The Yamaha Factory Racing Team picked up in Japan exactly where they left off last year, dominating every single session to secure provisional pole ahead of Saturday’s top 10 shootout for the 2016 Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours.

The combination of All Japan Superbike star Katsuyuki Nakasuga, MotoGP’s Pol Espargaro and WorldSBK’s Alex Lowes proved unstoppable today with all three consistently keeping the pressure on.

Nakasuga sent a strong message of the team’s intentions in the morning’s qualifying, wasting no time in delivering a 2m06.908s to set the pace in the rider one session. The rider two session saw a similar performance from Espargaro, repeating his teammate’s performance with an immediate flying lap of 2m07.333s to secure the top spot. Lowes’ first qualifying proved unfortunate for the Brit as he crashed out on his first flying lap.

The second round of qualifying brought more of the same pace, Nakasuga again topping his heat with a 2m08.177s lap. Espargaro was quick to lay down a similar pace, taking second in his stint with a 2m08.321s lap. Determined to make up for his morning error, Lowes was on fire in his second qualifying attack, smashing under the 2m08s mark with a 2m07.713s for the fastest lap of the afternoon.

in the Top 10 Trial, we’ll be seeing Musashi RT Harc-Pro, who reduced their fastest lap time to 2m07.026s thanks to Takumi Takahashi and Team Green Kawasaki, with Leon Haslam once again the fastest rider, lapping 2m07.563s.

YART Yamaha Official EWC Team has picked up a superb fourth place with Broc Parkes posting a 2m08.239s lap, slipping ahead of Josh Brookes’ Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance and F.C.C. TSR Honda. Toho Racing Honda, Team Kagayama and Josh Waters’ Moto Map Supply and Team JP DogFightRacing Australia of Mark Aitchison round out the top 10.