Suzuki Endurance Racing Team takes Bol d’Or pole position ahead of Team SRC Kawasaki and BMW Motorrad France 99 Smiling faces are back in the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team’s box, as their first rider, Vincent Philippe, put the hammer down. He is the only rider to clock below the 1’40 limit (1’39.740). That gave to the official Suzuki and current world champion the opportunity to start the Bol d’Or from the pole position. From now on, the starting grid is determined by the average lap time of each team’s three riders. With Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray and Anthony Delhalle, the SERT took the pole position in 1’40.589, ahead of Julien da Costa, who signed the best individual lap yesterday, Gregory Leblanc and Olivier Four for the Team SRC Kawasaki (1’40.713). The BMW Motorrad France 99 of Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Damian Cudlin is very close in third place (1’40.800). The Monster YART Yamaha (1’41.191) is not very far from this leading trio, with Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani. They’ll start the race from fourth position ahead of the other official R1, the Yamaha France Racing GMT 94 Ipone of David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive (1’41.499). The French Yamaha could have done a little bit better but Matthieu Lagrive suffered a small crash, yet consequencefree. The 94 will start from fifth place but remains a serious contender for victory, since the performance gap with the leading machine is still marginal. In sixth place, the National Motos Honda confirms a good pace with Emeric Jonchière, Lucas de Carolis and Etienne Masson. The machine entered by a Parisian bike dealer offers itself the satisfaction to outperform the official Honda TT Legends of Steve Plater, John McGuiness and Keith Amor on the grid. The Yamaha of Maco Racing Team and the BMW of Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers are also in the top 10, just ahead of the first Superstock motorcycle, the Junior Team Suzuki LMS. In this Superstock class, the Suzuki AM Moto Racing Compétition and Team Motor Events Bodyguard AMT, as well as the BMW of Van Zon Boenig Motorsportschool Penz13 are also very close. The start of the Bol d’Or will be given tomorrow Saturday at 3 pm for two rounds of a clock! FIM Endurance World Championship Bol d’Or 24-Hour Magny-Cours, France April 15, 2011 Final Qualifying Session Results (average of each team’s riders’ best times): 1. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent Philippe/Freddy Foray/Daisaku Sakai), Suz GSX-R1000, 1:40.589 2. Team SRC Kawasaki (Julien Da Costa/Gregor Leblanc/Olivier Four), Kaw ZX-10R, 1:40.713 3. BMW Motorrad France 99 (Sebastien Gimbert/Damian Cudlin/Erwan Nigon), BMW S1000RR, 1:40.800 4. Monster Yamaha YART (Igor Jerman/Steve Martin/Gwen Giabbani), Yam YZF-R1, 1:41.191 5. Yamaha France GMT 94 IPONE (David Checa/Kenny Foray/Matthieu Lagrive), Yam YZF-R1, 1:41.499 6. National Motos (Emeric Jonchiere/Lucas De Carolis/Etienne Masson), Hon CBR1000RR, 1:42.548 7. Honda TT Legends (Steve Plater/John McGuinness/Keith Amor), Hon CBR1000RR, 1:42.879 8. Maco Racing Team (Jason Pridmore/Gregory Junod/Gregg Black), Yam YZF-R1, 1:42.957 9. Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers (Thomas Metro/Stephane Molinier/David Briere), BMW S1000RR, 1:42.974 10. Junior Team Suzuki LMS (Baptiste Guittet/Julien Enjolras/Loic Napoleone), Suz GSX-R1000, 1:43.070 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team will start tomorrow’s opening round of the Qtel 2011 World Endurance Championship at Magny Cours in France from Pole Position after team rider Vincent Philippe set the only sub 1:40 minute lap on the team’s GSX-R1000 in today’s final qualifying. Reigning World Champions SERT, who this year aims for its 11th WEC title, dominated from the start of qualifying and Philippe’s lap of 1:39.740 put the team at the front with an average time of 1:40.589. Four riders are entered for SERT: Alongside Philippe is Freddy Foray, Daisaku Sakai and newcomer Anthony Delhalle, but Team Manager Dominique Meliand will make his final three-rider choice before tomorrow’s 75th running of the Bol d’Or, which gets underway at 3pm local time. Also in contention for honours in the Superstock class is the Junior Team Suzuki LMS who finished 10th overall and top in class with a time of 1:42.973. More, from a press release issued by Honda TT Legends: Honda TT Legends secure seventh on the Bol d’Or grid The Honda TT Legends team will start the Bol d’Or from seventh on the grid after the second qualifying session at Magny-Cours in France this afternoon. Road racing experts John McGuinness, Steve Plater and Keith Amor took to the track one-by-one in an attempt to set the fastest times possible in a field of over 50 teams. The best lap time from each rider across the two qualifying sessions is used to calculate a final average time for the team, which in turn determines the grid position. Plater managed to shave three quarters of a second off yesterday’s result to help secure a 1:42.879 average for the Honda TT Legends enough to jump one place in the standings for a seventh place start in tomorrow’s 24-hour race. For real-time updates follow @HondaTTLegends on Twitter John McGuinness It doesn’t matter so much if you’re fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh in this game but it’s nice to be in the top ten that’s for sure. Qualifying has not been without its problems but hopefully we can put that behind us now and we can have a smooth race. The main objective for us as a new team is to finish the race and if we can keep up the pace we’re at for 24 hours we might even place in the top ten, which would be the icing on the cake. Steve Plater Grid position is not too important for the Honda TT Legends team but it is good for the whole team that we have achieved seventh. There is a lot of hard work ahead for the crew this afternoon, preparing for the race and getting everything in order. We do want to be competitive but the overall aim is to get through the race without too many unplanned pit stops, stick to our systems and finish. Keith Amor A grid position anywhere in the top 15 would have been good so we are pleased with seventh, although its not the most important thing for the team. Steve was quick today and I think he was the one who boosted the times for us. We tried a few different things with the set up ready for the race and I’m looking forward to it. It feels like we have a long wait ahead now! Neil Tuxworth, team manager Bearing in mind that we are still at an early development stage, the systems we have in place are working well and a seventh place start is not bad at all. I am pleased with the rider line-up particularly Keith who has again worked hard to close the gap between himself, Steve and John. It is now the time to focus on the mechanical side of the team and the Fireblade. We’ll use the valuable preparation time left before the race to iron out any remaining issues and gain confidence in all the different components required to complete the race. It should be interesting, that’s for sure.