SRC Kawasaki victorious at Le Mans 24 hours For the second time in a row, SRC Kawasaki wins the 34th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 4th round of the 2011 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship with Julien da Costa, Grégory Leblanc and Olivier Four. Unlike last year, the official Kawasaki team gave its best until the very last lap. Some said the SERT was weakening with its new team of riders, Anthony Delhalle, Daisaku Sakai and Baptiste Guittet, as Vincent Philippe was injured. Despite this mishap, the team, now even more determined and thanks to the unique race strategy applied by SERT team manager Dominique Méliand – called “the Chef” by the whole paddock – once again paid. The two official teams faced some minor technical issues which could not give any advantage to either. Towards the very end of the race, SERT focused to secure the second place, essential to score many points for the 2011 Qtel FIM Endurance World title, to be decided in the next round in Qatar. Monster Yamaha YART took a well-deserved podium with a third place. The Austrian Yamaha of Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Loris Baz did a fantastic comeback during the night, after Loris Baz crashed at the beginning of the race and the team was sent to the bottom of the time sheet. Kawasaki Bolliger Team Switzerland (Horst Saiger, Roman Stamm and Jérôme Tangre) and Honda TT Legends (John McGuinness, Keith Amor and Cameron Donald) also ran a great race. From the early hours of the race, they positioned themselves just behind the leaders and respectively scored a final fourth and fifth place. As an Endurance newcomer, the official British team definitely proved that they now were in the circle of the world’s best endurance teams. Yamaha of YMES Folch Endurance finished 6 ahead of race favourite BMW Motorrad France 99. Starting from pole position, the official BMW led after four hours of racing, but had to around 4 am they experienced electronic and clutch cable problems which led to lengthy pit box interventions. In the end BMW Motorrad France 99 finished 17 laps behind the winner with 9 points behind the SERT in the provisional world championship standings. Manufacturers and tyre suppliers share the podium: Kawasaki with Pirelli, Suzuki with Dunlop and Yamaha with Michelin. In the Superstock class, Suzuki clinched victory with Team Motors Events Bodyguard AMT, ahead of the Kawasaki of Maccio Racing. The Suzuki Junior Team LMS finished third, after having encountered some gear change troubles. With 35 points ahead of Atomic Motosport, Team Motors Events Bodyguard AMT takes the 2011 FIM World Cup Superstock. The beginning of the race was quite dramatic with several crashes. The first of them involved the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone, crashing during the lap 4 with David Checa. In his turn, Matthieu Lagrive fell two more times due a faulty throttle and dirty track conditions. Yamaha 94, too damaged to carry on, gave up just after 10 pm. BMW of Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers, in 13th position, abandoned around midnight following problems with the front forks and serious overheating issues. Just before 7 am, Honda National Motos disappeared from the time sheet after a crash, and so did the Bihr Metiss. In the Superstock class, the Yamaha DG Sport retired from the race at 10:30 pm after their engine broke down. Next and last round of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship is scheduled in Qatar on November, 12th, for the 8 Hours of Doha. They said: Gilles Staffler, happy SRC Kawasaki team manager – “I have an extraordinary team of riders and some great mechanics. They all did an awesome job!” Dominique Méliand, SERT team manager – “We are a bit disappointed because we only enter a race to win it. But however we did a fantastic race so far and scored great points for the championship” Anthony Delhalle, SERT rider – “That was a physical and demanding race. They all started very fast and the pace remained very high. We are a bit bitter not to win, but the positive thing is we are now back in the lead for the championship” Loris Baz, newcomer on the Monster Yamaha YART – “I’ve learnt a lot. In Endurance, you have to make it with the other two riders. We lost because of me, the occasion to fight for victory but we did great lap times during the night. It was physically and mentally challenging”. Overall Race Results: 1. SRC KAWASAKI (DA COSTA Julien/LEBLANC Gregory/FOUR Olivier), KAWASAKI ZX-10R, EWC, 24:00:39.331, 834 laps 2. S.E.R.T. (DELHALLE Anthony/SAKAI Daisaku/GUITTET Baptiste), SUZUKI GSX-R1000, EWC, -1 laps 3. MONSTER YAMAHA YART (JERMAN Igor/MARTIN Steve/BAZ Loris), YAMAHA YZF-R1, EWC, -8 laps 4. BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND (SAIGER Horst/STAMM Roman/TANGRE Jérome), KAWASAKI ZX-10R, EWC, -11 laps 5. HONDA TT LEGENDS (McGUINNESS John/AMOR Keith/DONALD Cameron), HONDA CBR1000RR, EWC, -15 laps 6. YMES FOLCH ENDURANCE (RIBALTA BOSCH Daniel/VALLCANERAS FLORES Pedro Luis/LUIS Jose Manuel), YAMAHA YZF-R1, EWC, -17 laps 7. BMW MOTORRAD France 99 (GIMBERT Sebastien/NIGON Erwan/CUDLIN Damian), BMW S1000RR, EWC, -17 laps, 74.758 seconds 8. MOTORS EVENTS BODYGUARD AMT (BOCQUET Vincent/GRARRE William/GINES Mathieu), SUZUKI GSX-R1000, SST, -21 laps 9. MACCIO RACING (MAURIN Axel/RICHIER Lionel/MOREIRA Frederic), KAWASAKI ZX-10R, SST, -23 laps 10. TRT 27 CITY BIKE (HEDELIN Camille/VARESCO Mickael/HOUSSIN Vincent), SUZUKI GSX-R1000, EWC, -24 laps 18. MACO RACING TEAM (PRIDMORE Jason/JUNOD Gregory/BLACK Gregg), YAMAHA YZF-R1, EWC, -39 laps More, from a press release issued by Honda TT Legends: Fifth place finish for the Honda TT Legends at Le Mans 24-hour The Honda TT Legends completed the legendary Le Mans 24-hour today after a demanding race that saw John McGuinness, Cameron Donald and Keith Amor complete 819 laps of the French circuit to secure a fifth place finish for the team. The event was the penultimate round of the 2011 Endurance World Championship and sees the Honda TT Legends climb to xx in the overall standings. The race began at 3pm on Saturday with Australian rider Cameron Donald taking part in the running start for the Honda TT Legends, who had qualified in tenth position. An impressive first stint placed the team in fifth a position that they held on to for the majority of the race, only slipping back to sixth for brief periods during the first half. Slick pit stops and efficient fuelling saw the night section of the race pass smoothly with no major issues for the team, which was running a Combined ABS-equipped Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade the first time the system has been used at World championship level. As the sun rose, the team was still running comfortably in fifth but by 10am it had come under attack from sixth place contenders Ymes Folch Endurance, just one lap behind. This prompted a quick change of strategy with the team’s fastest rider, Cameron Donald, swapping stints with Keith Amor in an attempt to widen the gap. The tactic paid off and as Donald, McGuinness and Amor battled heroically through extreme fatigue, they were able to keep Ymes Folch at bay and held onto fifth until the chequered flag. Cameron Donald completed the final stint and the Honda TT Legends team completed its second 24-hour event of the 2011 Endurance World Championship season. Neil Tuxworth We seem to be good at the 24-hour races! This will have moved us up in the World championship, which is fantastic. Of course, the major thing for us is we took the risk of running the Combined ABS system for the first time on a World-level race bike and we are over the moon that we had no problems with it. The riders were very happy and while we’ll obviously keep developing the system to perfect it, for this first time everything has certainly gone very well. Overall, it’s been a pretty trouble-free race. John McGuinness We’ve finished the two biggest races of the EWC season the Bol d’Or and the Le Mans 24-hour. Le Mans is steeped in history, it’s a massive event and I am proud to be able to say that we have finished it. There are 20-odd people in the team and everyone has played a big part to get us to finish fifth here and score some points for the World championship. I must have done about 300 laps and never really put a foot wrong, I just tried to do my best and keep out of trouble. For saying it’s the first time the ABS has been run in a World championship, I’d say we’ve done a pretty good job. Cameron Donald It’s all a little bit surreal at the moment. Riding that cool down lap was pretty emotional. Le Mans is a bit like the TT was to me nine or ten years ago, it’s something that I’d only ever dreamt of doing. Not only did I get to start the race, I got to finish the race and as a team we finished fifth, so I’m thrilled. I’m still pinching myself a little bit. I want to say a massive thanks to the team for the opportunity and to everyone behind-the-scenes because the amount of work that went into finishing this race was unbelievable. I am glad it’s over though! Keith Amor I don’t know whether it’s elation or relief! It’s been a tough week, especially for me as I’ve struggled to be honest. I need to say a big thank you to Cameron and John has they have carried me to a certain extent. The team has done a great job. To finish fifth here on the new ABS bike is a testament to the whole team and the hard work they put in. 24 hours is a long time to race. I’m feeling emotional but I’m smiling. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad France: TEAM BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE 99 KEEP TITLE HOPES ALIVE AT LE MANS Team BMW Motorrad France 99 were unable to capitalise on their pole position start in the 24 Heures Moto at Le Mans, despite leading the race until shortly before the halfway point. Technical problems in the second half of the race saw the #99 BMW S1000RR drop as low as 11th place, before a spirited fight back by Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Damian Cudlin was rewarded with seventh position at the chequered flag. Cudlin got a good start from pole position, avoiding trouble early on in his stint before forcing his way through the field to hand over the BMW S1000RR and second place at the first pit stop. Gimbert and Nigon maintained station during their first stints, as reigning champions SERT tried to force them into a mistake by upping the pace. Gimbert, who was crowned as French Superbike Champion just one week ago, took the race lead during his second stint, a position he and his teammates held until the eleventh hour of the race. A change of brakes at the pit stop initially dropped the #99 BMW S1000RR back to second place, but Nigon found himself rejoining the race down in 11th position just two hours later, after Gimbert was forced to pit twice with technical problems. The three Team BMW Motorrad France 99 riders then staged a spirited comeback in the latter stages of the race, overcoming more time lost to a broken clutch cable, to eventually finish seventh and claim 13 vital championship points. Having led the championship by six-points coming into Le Mans, Team BMW Motorrad France 99 will now head to the final round of the series in Qatar trailing SERT by nine points. With 30 points available to the winner of the 8 Hours of Doha, the championship is still far from over. Erwan Nigon: “I leave here satisfied that I gave it my all this weekend. I pushed and fought as hard as I possibly could every time I threw a leg over the bike. But the result didn’t come, which is a little disappointing. Once again the S1000RR proved a good package this weekend. The bike is fast but it’s not physically demanding to ride, which is important in a 24-hour race like Le Mans. Michelin also played a big part, as always, with the tyres offering consistent grip and a good feeling throughout the race. Unfortunately we couldn’t capitalise on this, after losing time to a few minor technical issues late in the race. Now we go to the final round with a nine-point disadvantage compared to SERT, but the championship is certainly not finished. This is not the end.” Sébastien Gimbert: “I pushed as hard as is possible here at Le Mans, as did my two teammates, but we lost out on the result we were expecting only because of some small technical issues with the bike. We were leading fairly comfortably early on, although we did had some intermittent problems with the traction control that made things a little difficult. But worse was to come. Just before the halfway point I had to pit twice with an electrical and then an electronics problem and that dropped us back to 11th. That’s when we really had to start attacking. It could prove to have been good practice though, as the championship is still there for the taking, but only if we go full attack the moment we arrive in Doha.” Damian Cudlin: “To finish seventh here today, with the potential we showed before the race, is frustrating for everyone. We couldn’t have come here with a better package and the fact that we were able to control the race for almost 12 hours shows that quite clearly. Everyone was working really well, with the riders backing each other up, but then we hit the problems. What was really tough was that we were attacking harder in seventh than we had been when we were leading, but without the reward. But the championship is far from over. We’re only nine points adrift of SERT and the pressure is now on them. We’ve got nothing to lose, so we’ll definitely be heading to Doha looking for a fight!” Berthold Hauser: Department Manager Motor Sport and HP Products – BMW Motorrad “Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Kawasaki on a well deserved win today. After a race that proved to be unbelievably competitive, I also want to say a big thank you to all four riders and to the whole team for their hard work and dedication. They did us proud this weekend. Yes, we had some problems in the race, which were quickly rectified by a team that is still on a steep learning curve compared to their more experienced rivals. Even so, we head for the final round in Doha still in contention for the championship, which is an incredible achievement for such a young team. I am proud to be a part of this team, which this weekend has shown quite clearly that it is a force to be reckoned with in the Endurance World Championship.” The 8 Hours of Doha, the final round of the 2011 Endurance World Championship, takes place on 12th November. More, from a press release issued by John McGuinness’ publicist: McGuinness takes superb 5th at Le Mans 24-Hour World Endurance Morecambe’s John McGuinness scored a superb 5th place at the Le Mans 24-Hour World Endurance Championship event at the weekend, riding once again for the Honda TT Legends team. Riding with team-mates Cameron Donald and Keith Amor, the trio started the race in tenth place and ran in fifth for the majority of the 24 hours, going on to complete an amazing 819 laps of the French circuit in the 24 hours! Qualifying went well for the team with Donald particularly impressive around the 2.597-mile circuit and he took 4th in his group with John 11th and Amor 22nd. When the times were combined, the team found themselves in 10th spot overall with an overall lap of 1m40.283s. In the race itself, Donald completed the first stint and got the team up to 5th place, a position that both John and Amor were able to consolidate throughout the race. It was close between themselves and Team Bolliger and the Yves Molch Endurance squads but despite their relative lack of experience, John and his team-mates more than held their own and without any major problems, finished in an excellent fifth, just as they had done in the opening 24-hour race of the season back in April, the Bol d’Or. Speaking afterwards, a happy, but tired, John said: “That’s two fifth places now in the two biggest races of the World Endurance Championship and so we’ve got to be pleased with that. Both the Bol and Le Mans are huge, historical races and everyone’s played a huge part in getting us to the end. The week started well in practice and qualifying and although I was a bit disappointed with my final session, it turned out the wheel had spun on the rim and that was what causing the vibration I was feeling from the rear of the bike. Tenth gave us a good platform and the race itself was long and hard but we had no major issues amongst any of us so I just tried my best and kept out of trouble – I think I did around 300 laps so I’m going to sleep well tonight!” “It was unbelievable out there at times and so smoky – I think the fans were burning anything and everything they could lay their hands on – so it was a really brilliant atmosphere! We weren’t necessarily the fastest team out there but we were very consistent and able to turn some strong lap times whilst the boys in the pits did an awesome job with both the strategy and and the stops themselves. To have competed in the race was a huge honour and it’s definitely ticked a few boxes for me and the fact that we finished in a strong fifth place makes it even more special.” John now heads back to the short circuits and the Stars at Darley meeting at Darley Moor, Derbyshire with the event taking place next weekend, October 1-2. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has snatched back the lead in the 2011 World Endurance Championship after finishing second at the Le Mans 24-Hour Race in France today. Despite fielding a depleted team after SERT’s main contender Vincent Philippe broke his collarbone during testing on Tuesday – and team regular Freddy Foray was deemed unfit to ride by his doctor mid-week following his crash and subsequent head injury at a French Championship race at Magny Cours in July – Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 was piloted by Anthony Delhalle, Daisaku Sakai and 22-year-old WEC-class newcomer Baptiste Guittet; drafted in at the last minute from the Junior Team Suzuki LMS Superstock squad. In an exciting and drama-packed race that saw the lead change many times and many of the top teams’ crash over its 834 laps – and which finished at 3pm local time with the Suzuki one lap behind winners SRC Kawasaki – SERT’s GSX-R1000 performed faultlessly throughout. And with previous series leaders BMW Motorrad France 99 suffering some mechanical problems and finishing 17 laps adrift, SERT’s consistency and bike durability has put them nine points clear of BMW with just one round to run at Qatar on November 12th. From the off, it was clear that 10-times and reigning World Champions SERT had its focus on victory, despite qualifying in a lower-than-usual fifth position. First rider off, Anthony Delhalle, launched out of the sprint-across-the-track start to grab second place behind SRC Kawasaki’s Julien Da Costa, hounding him for the first several laps before taking the lead. From there on, it was a cat-and-mouse battle between Kawasaki, Suzuki, Monster Yamaha YART and BMW; who the led for many laps from the four-hour mark until an electrical problem resulted in a loss of 14 laps during the night. Despite losing their regular rider Guittet to the SERT squad, Suzuki’s Junior Team LMS riders Credric Tangre, Julien Enjolras and Loic Napoleone had opened up a lead in the Superstock class at the halfway stage; and despite a minor issue during the night, brought its GSX-R1000 Suzuki home in third position overall. Le Mans Provisional Results: 1 SRC Kawasaki (Kawasaki) 834 laps, 2 SERT (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – 1 lap, 3 Monster Yamaha YART (Yamaha) – 8, 4 Bolliger Team Switzerland (Kawasaki) – 11, 5 Honda TT Legends (Honda) – 15, 6 YMES Folch Endurance (Yamaha) – 17, 7 BMW Motorrad France 99 (BMW) – 17, 8 TRT 27 City Bike (Suzuki GSX-R1000) -14, 9 Maco Racing (Yamaha) – 39, 10 Team Dunlop Motors Events (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – 43.