Top 10 qualifying canned by rain, #21 Yamaha takes Suzuka 8 Hours pole

The top 10 qualifying shootout for the Suzuka 8 Hours has been cancelled due to heavy rain which sees defending champions #21 Yamaha Factory Racing Team handed pole position on provisional times.

With Suzuka hit by a typhoon throughout Saturday, both the final practice session and top 10 qualifying trial have been canned given the unsafe track conditions with heavy rain soaking the iconic Japanese circuit.

It means starting positions for the top 10, as well as the full grid, have been decided by the provisional qualifying times, with the #21 Yamaha Factory Racing Team of Alex Lowes, Michael van der Mark and Katsuyuki Nakasuga taking pole position with an advantage of just 0.014s.

The #10 Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H squad of Leon Haslam, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea will line up in second place after just missing out ahead of the #33 Red Bull Honda trio of Takumi Takahashi, Ryuichi Kiyonari and Stefan Bradl.

The #634 MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO Honda outfit of Xavi Fores, Dominique Aegerter and Ryo Mizuno take fourth position ahead of factory Suzuki effort #12 Yoshimura Suzuki Motul Racing of Sylvain Guintoli, Yukio Kagayama and Kazuki Watanabe.

Leading full-time Endurance World Championship contenders #7 YART Yamaha will start from sixth place with Broc Parkes, Marvin Fritz and Niccolo Canepa ahead of rivals #1 FCC TSR Honda France with Josh Hook, Freddy Foray and Mike Di Meglio.

The #090 au Teluru SAG RT Honda squad of Kosuke Akiyoshi, Tetsuta Nagashima and Taiga Hada line up an impressive eighth place with the #95 S-Pulse Dream Racing IAI Suzuki of Tommy Bridewell and Bradley Ray in ninth and the #19 KYB Moriwaki Racing Honda of Yuki Takahashi, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Troy Herfoss in 10th place.

The 2019 Suzuka 8 Hours gets underway on Sunday at 11:30 local time, after a 45-minute warm-up, with racing ending in darkness at 19:30. The race marks the final round of the 2018-2019 Endurance World Championship.