KAWASAKI'S team of Hitoyasu Izutsu and Burnley's Neil Hodgson will start from third on the pole in Sunday's Sprite Suzuka 8 hours race in Japan.
Last year's race winners Shinichi Itoh and Tohru Ukawa after the Honda pair set the fastest time in Saturday's one-lap special stages.
Hodgson and Izutsu clocked 2m 10.479s, just 0.3 behind the front two for the endurance race which is expected to run in very hot and humid conditions.
Noriyuki Haga and Simon Crafar will start in second place when the 70 riders line up for the 11.30am start.
Each team of two riders will have at least seven pit stops during Sunday's race when the well-practised pit crews fill a 24-litre tank with fuel, change both wheels and change rider in 10 seconds.
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