Alex Lowes and the Factory Yamaha team ended the opening day of Suzuka Eight-Hours practice at the top of the timesheets and almost three quarters of a second ahead of the chasing pack, headed by Josh Brookes and Yoshimura Suzuki
The Yamaha squad, which also includes Pol Espargaro and Kats Nakasuga, claimed top spot with a 2’08.194 lap while Yoshimura were 0.739s behind and only a fraction ahead of Leon Haslam and the Factory Kawasaki outfit.
Nicky Hayden’s MuSASHi Honda squad were fourth and eight-tenths off the pace with PJ Jacobsen’s FCC TSR Honda team in fifth place, 1.3s off the pace but they are awaiting the arrival of Dominique Aegerter who was testing at the Red Bull Ring yesterday.
Team Kagayamaha, the fastest team using Dunlop tyres, were sixth with Gino Rea and the Toho HOnda team in seventh place. YART. SatuHati and Rosetta BMW completed the top ten.
