Jonas Folger and his Japanese team S-PULSE Dream Racing finished 15th overall in Friday’s qualifying sessions. As a result, they missed out a spot for prestigious «Top 10 Trail» on Saturday. Nevertheless, the 31-year-old is satisfied with his performance so far.
After a day of rest on Thursday, on which many administrative tasks had to be completed, the 2025 edition of the legendary eight-hour race in Suzuka featured a free practice session on Friday and qualifying practices later in the afternoon. In two timed sessions per group (blue, yellow, red), the ranking was determined based on the average time of the individual teams.
Jonas Folger finished in P14 in QP1 but improved by no less than seven tenths of a second in his second time attack later in the afternoon, which meant tenth place in his group with a respectable 2’07.033. The team around Folger and his Japanese team mates Hideyuki Ogata and Sodo Hamahara finished 15th overall.
During night practice, which took place on Friday evening from 18:30 to 19:30, Folger was unlucky when he tried to get his first laps in Suzuka at sunset under his belt. A large oil spoil after an engine failure was the cause. Folger and his team therefore only have a one-hour free practice session on Saturday afternoon to put the finishing touches to the long race on Sunday.
Jonas FOLGER (S-PULSE DREAM RACING, Suzuki GSX-R100R):
«I am really happy with my performance on Friday. To be honest, however, I am amazed about the speed of the riders from the top ten teams. Respect, that is really something amazing. My fastest lap time was 2´07.0. In this lap, however, I was close to my limit. But if you look at the lap times of the guys with more Suzuka experience and perhaps a slightly better set-up, which are almost two seconds faster than mine, then I have to say that is really strong. But it is nice to see and spurs you on. On the other hand, we gathered valuable information from the three sessions today and then racked our brains again to see how we can hopefully find another good half a second on Saturday. That would be ideal. Apart from that, I think we should actually be in a good shape in terms of race pace. Finally, I would like to mention that I am having an incredible amount of fun here. The track is really tricky. There are sections where up to five or six corners are linked together and the track is also very narrow. So you have to ride very precisely, but that is what makes it so appealing. I am already looking forward to the race on Sunday – my first one in endurance racing here in Suzuka, wow!»
Jonas FOLGER´s Profile:
Age: 31 (Date of birth 13 August 1993)
Occupation: Test rider in two-wheels racing
Residence: Mühldorf am Inn (Bavaria, Germany)
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 72 kg
Bike: Suzuki GSX-R1000R
Racing No: 95
#2025Suzuka8Hours: Overall Qualifying Ranking (Avg. Best Time)
1 Honda HRC (Takumi TAKAHASHI, Johann ZARCO) / Honda / 2´05.187
2 AutoRace Ube Racing Team (Naomichi URAMOTO, Loris BAZ, Davy TODD) / BMW / 2´05.346
3 YAMAHA RACING TEAM (Katsuyuki NAKSUGA, Jack MILLER, Andrea LOCATELLI) / Yamaha / 2´05.539
…
15 S-PULSE DREAM RACING (Hideyuki OGATA, Jonas FOLGER, Sodo HAMAHARA) / Suzuki / 2´07.102
#2025Suzuka8Hours: Time Schedule (CEST)
Friday 1 August: 01:30 - 03:30 Free Practice
Friday 1 August: 05:00 - 05:20 Official Qualifying Session 1 Rider BLUE
Friday 1 August: 05:35 - 05:55 Official Qualifying Session 1 Rider YELLOW
Friday 1 August: 06:10 - 06:30 Official Qualifying Session 1 Rider RED
Friday 1 August: 08:30 - 08:50 Official Qualifying Session 2 Rider BLUE
Friday 1 August: 09:05 - 09:25 Official Qualifying Session 2 Rider YELLOW
Friday 1 August: 09:40 - 10:00 Official Qualifying Session 2 Rider RED
Friday 1 August: 11:30 – 12:30 Night Practice
Saturday 2 August: 07:15 - 08:00 Free Practice
Saturday 2 August: 08:30 - 09:00 «Top 10 Trail»
Sunday 3 August: 01:30 - 02:15 Warm Up
Sunday 3 August: 03:40 Race Starting Procedure
Sunday 3 August: 04:30 - 12:30 Race
