12 Hours of Portimao
FIM Endurance World Championship
Autodromo Internacional Algarve, Portimao, Portugal
June 11, 2016
Overall Race Results:
1. GMT94 Yamaha (David Checa/Niccolo Canepa/Lucas Mahias), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, 393 laps, Total Race Time 12:00:00.856, Best Lap Time 1:46.541
2. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent Philippe/Anthony Delhalle/Etienne Masson), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, -0.081 second, 1:46.618
3. Honda Endurance Racing (Julien Da Costa/Sebastien Gimbert/Freddy Foray), Hon CBR1000RR SP, Superbike, -4 laps, 1:47.862
4. YART Yamaha Official EWC Team (Broc Parkes/Marvin Fritz/Ivan Silva), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, -6 laps, 1:46.630
5. Team April Moto Motors Events (Gregg Black/Gregory Fastre/Alex Cudlin), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, -6 laps, 106.910 seconds, 1:47.214
6. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing (Julien Enjolras/Dylan Buisson/Hugo Clere), Kaw ZX-10R, Superstock, -8 laps, 1:48.255
7. Voelpker NRT48 by Shubert Motors (Bastien Mackels/Dominik Vincon/Stefan Kerschbaumer), BMW S1000RR, Superstock, -8 laps, 29.596 seconds, 1:47.990
8. Junior Team LMS Suzuki (Baptiste Guittet/Romain Maitre/Robin Camus), Suz GSX-R1000, Superstock, -8 laps, 42.913 seconds, 1:47.716
9. Team 3ART Yam’Avenue (Louis Bulle/Alex Plancassagne/Lukas Trautmann), Yam YZF-R1, Superstock, -10 laps, 1:47.557
10. Lukoil BMW Motorrad CSEU (Lukas Pesek/Roland Resch/Martin Choy), BMW S1000RR, Superbike, -11 laps, 1:47.837
12. F.C.C. TSR Honda (Kazuma Watanabe/PJ Jacobsen/Damian Cudlin), Hon CBR1000RR SP, Superbike, -12 laps, 5.313 seconds, 1:46.694
14. Team Bolliger Switzerland (Roman Stamm/Michael Savary/Gianluca Vizziello), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, -15 laps, 1:47.915
21. Parkalgar Racing Team (Miguel Oliveira/Miguel Praia/Matthieu Lussiana), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, -41 laps, 1:46.067
24. SRC Kawasaki (Gregory Leblanc/Matthieu Lagrive/Fabien Foret), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, -170 laps, 1:46.234
More, from a press release issued by Eurosport Events:
HISTORIC 0.081s GP-STYLE FINISH AT EWC’S PORTIMÃO 12H!
It’s an absolute first in Endurance! After the 12-hour race, GMT94 Yamaha scraped past Suzuki Endurance Racing Team with a mere 0.081s lead. Honda Endurance Racing took third place on the podium
Hard to find adjectives to describe it! Thrilling, mind-blowing, emotionally charged, stressful: the final half-hour of the 12 Horas de Portimão turned the usual trends of Endurance upside down. David Checa for GMT94 Yamaha and Etienne Masson for Suzuki Endurance Racing Team gave us a MotoGP-style finish after a 12-hour battle. The fight between Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and GMT94 Yamaha started in the first hour. The Suzuki #1 and Yamaha #94 alternately led throughout the race between refuelling stops. Behind the two duellists, Honda Endurance Racing doggedly chased a podium place after having a tough time of it in practice and starting from 11th place on the grid. The only squad barring their way, YART Yamaha Official EWC Team, were slowed down towards the end by an exhaust problem and finished 4th, two laps from the Honda.
Team April Moto Motors Events finished 5th but, most importantly, is topping the provisional FIM EWC standings after Portimão. This private team managed by Hervé Moineau is ahead of Team Kawasaki SRC, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and F.C.C. TSR Honda. GMT94 Yamaha has entered the rankings in 5th place, with 45 points.
Tight group in the Superstock class
Hats off to Tati Team Beaujolais Racing, 6th overall and top Superstock: they ran a flawless race. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing is ahead of Völpker NRT48 Schubert Motors (which now tops the FIM Superstock World Cup), Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki and Team 3Art Yam’Avenue – all three got to the finish in a tight group, in 6th to 9th place.
A rough ride for the favourites
A series of misfortunes befell the leaders in the early stages of the race. F.C.C. TSR Honda were let down by a clutch problem and finished 12th. Team Kawasaki SRC started from pole but were forced to withdraw because of fuel consumption issues and an overheating engine. Likewise, the Portuguese Parkalgar team featuring Miguel Oliveira retired after several crashes.
This extraordinary race has turned the FIM EWC championship standings on their head. A private team is in top place, and Lucas Mahias, GMT94 Yamaha’s new recruit, leads the rider standings.
The next FIM EWC championship race is scheduled for 31 July: the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan.
What they say
David Checa, GMT94 Yamaha rider
“I chose to take risks at the end of the race, and they paid off.”
Etienne Masson, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team’s last-stint rider
“We’ve partly achieved our objective – scoring big points – but we didn’t win. It bothers me that we got so close but didn’t win.”
Freddy Foray, Honda Endurance Racing rider
“We had a tough week. This third place is good for the team, but we’ve still got work to do, because we’re here to win.”
Julien Enjolras, Tati Team Beaujolais Racing rider
“It wasn’t an easy win, but we didn’t make any mistakes and we were able to manage our race without too much effort.”
More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing:
Great comeback and podium for the Honda Endurance Racing team at Portimão
Portimão
Autodromo do Algarve, Portugal
The Honda Endurance Racing team has claimed a third-place finish at the end of a spectacular Endurance World Championship race at Portimão’s Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal. Freddy Foray, Sébastien Gimbert and Julien Da Costa managed to complete a total of 389 laps of the Portuguese circuit over the twelve hours of the race, before making their way onto the podium for the first time this year.
Freddy Foray had a great start to the race and was fourth at turn one, before eventually dropping back again. He then handed the Honda CBR1000RR SP over to Sébastien Gimbert before it was Julien Da Costa’s time to hit the track to end the first rotation of rider stints.
The team was able to make up several places during the first six hours and, as the encounter reached its halfway point, the great effort by all three riders helped in consolidating fifth place. The team then was promoted to fourth in the following hour after a technical problem experienced by fellow Honda team F.C.C. TSR: the Japanese squad eventually finished with a credible 12th, after re-joining the race in 21st place.
With the help of the efficiency provided by Motul fuel and the way the bike made its Dunlop tyres last, all three riders were able to stay longer out on track than most of their rivals, and to keep a consistently quick pace for the whole duration of the encounter.
As the race reached its 8-hour mark, seven points were awarded to the Honda squad for running in fourth place. Then in the middle of the tenth hour, the team was able to make up another spot. From then on, Foray, Gimbert and Da Costa brilliantly managed their margin to claim a well deserved podium finish, which completed a really strong comeback after the difficulties encountered on track during the previous days.
The third and penultimate event of the season, the iconic Suzuka 8 Hours, is scheduled to take place on July 28–31.
Freddy Foray 111
This is an awesome result for us. After yesterday’s qualifying we were not expecting such a comeback, but we fought hard and believed in our chances for a good finish. The team has done a fantastic job and that’s a great boost for all of us to do even better for the next race. We know we still have some work to do in order to bridge the gap to the front-runners to fight for a win. But for now, we will take this podium with both hands and look forward to Suzuka.
Sébastien Gimbert 111
It was an incredible race. Freddy, Julien and myself have given our all for the entirety of the race and I think we did a great job. This podium makes up for the difficulties we had before today; we kept our focus on the final goal and worked all together like the very best teams do. The guys were simply perfect and I cannot thank them enough. I’m really happy and now we need to keep working this way to make another step forward.
Julien Da Costa 111
If you told me we would have been on the podium today, I would have not believed you! Joking aside, it hasn’t been an easy week and there’s nothing better than a podium to turn things around. Our race was nearly perfect and the team has done everything in the best possible way, from pit-stops to strategy and set-up work. The bike worked really well and, yeah, it’s good to enjoy this feeling again. There are still two races left in the series and our goal is to do even better.
Jonny Twelvetrees
Assistant team manager
What a crazy race! Yesterday we made some changes to the bike and we were optimistic that these were going to pay off during the race. After the warm up the guys were more positive, so we came into today with a realistic hope that things could have gone better than in qualifying, even though we could test the new set-up just for a limited amount of laps. The riders rode a superb race and settled into a good rhythm. They pushed really hard and, when they came back to the pits, they gave great feedback about tyre selection. Their pace was consistent throughout the whole race and that helped us pushing our way forwards. Obviously, a little bit of luck was on our side but this is part of endurance racing, where anything can happen. The team worked flawlessly and this is a good reward for all of us.
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
SUZUKI PODIUMS IN THRILLING PORTIMAO ENDURANCE
Jun 12th, 2016
Defending World Endurance Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team missed the top-step of the podium by just 800ths-of-a-second in possibly the most exciting World Endurance Championship race in the series’ history today at Portimão at the Autodromo International do Algarve.
After 12 hours and 393 laps of intense and thrilling action, SERT’s youngest team rider, 27-year-old Etienne Masson, crossed the line on the GSX-R1000 neck-and-neck with race winner David Checa after being given the final race stint with just over 30 minutes to go.
Masson and long standing team riders Vincent Philippe (38) and Anthony Delhalle (34) all rode consistently-fast on the tough and bumpy 4.592km circuit with a calculated race strategy by Team Manager Dominique Méliand, that saw them come in for 12 pit-stops; one less than eventual winners GMT94 Yamaha. However, some of the fastest laps were set in the closing stages, in the dark, as Masson put the Yoshimura-powered GSX-R1000 into the low 1:47s.
From the start, SERT was always in the leading group. After starting from sixth position, the lead changed throughout and after early leaders SRC Kawasaki retired with a technical issue, it became a two-horse race between SERT and GMT94. When SERT pitted, GMT took the lead and vice-versa as less than 30 seconds separated them during most of the race.
But the action really hotted-up in the final hours as the gap came down between the leading pair; first it was Philippe versus Checa and when Philippe pitted with 33 minutes to go, handing over to Masson in a ‘splash and dash’ quick fuel top-up, the gap was down to under 12 seconds. It was then Masson versus Checa as GMT took the lead, but when the Yamaha pitted for a similar quick-refill and rear tyre change, Checa stayed to finish the stint and exited pit lane just 3.7 seconds behind the SERT Suzuki, that regained the lead at that very moment.
The final laps will be remembered as possibly one of the closest and most-exciting battles in Endurance World Championship history as the pair swapped the lead several times, dodged back-markers and crossed the line virtually neck and neck.
SERT Team Manager Méliand was ever-gracious in defeat after witnessing such a spectacle. He said: “We did everything we possibly could to win. I am disappointed not to win, of course, but we have to congratulate GMT94 today; and at the end of the day, the race was great!”
Other Suzuki teams were also prolific in Portugal:
Team April Moto Motors Events raced back from having to change the fuel tank on its GSX-R1000 to claim fifth position overall; team riders Gregg Black, Gregory Fastre and Alex Cudlin recording 387 laps and with this result taking the series lead. And in the Superstock class, Junior Team LMS Suzuki riders Baptiste Guittet, Romain Maitre and Robin Camus finished third in class and eighth overall.
The third and penultimate round of the Endurance World Championship will be held at Suzuka International Circuit in Japan on July 31st with the final round a month later at Oschersleben in Germany.