Shinichi Itoh and Takeshi Tsujimura have taken provisional pole position for the Suzuka 8 Hours after Honda sneaked ahead of Suzuki in qualifying for the endurance event.
Although the FCC TSR Honda 2 is not one of the more fancied factory-backed efforts from the Japanese giants, Itoh and Tsujimura were one of only two bikes to slip below the 2min 08secs barrier.
That was enough to put them ahead of the Denso Yoshimura Suzuki of Daisaki Sakai, who will be partnered with British Superbike rider Atsushi Watanabe this weekend. The pair had been top for some time before the FCC pairing slipped ahead.
Although the second Yoshimura Suzuki was just behind in third and the best of the Yamaha's from Yamaha Racing was fourth, Honda otherwise dominated proceedings, filling positions five down to 12.
The factory assisted DREAM machines were fifth and sixth best, with the World Superbike pairing of
Ryuichi Kiyonari and
Carlos Checa just ahead of Johnny Rea and Yukio Takahashi. Meanwhile, Cal Crutchlow was seventh best on the Moriwaki Honda, just one place ahead of BSB team-mate Leon Haslam.
The ‘Special Stage' for the top ten teams will take place tomorrow.
