Team Road Runner Win Sunday Ride Classic
Motobel Moto Guzzi Second, Godier Genoud Kawasaki Third
Top Six Teams on Same Lap after Four Hours
The Sunday Ride Classic opening round of the European Endurance Legend Cup classic endurance racing series has been won by Team Road Runner on their Nikko Bakker framed Suzuki GSX1100. Riders Henk van der Mark and Dirk Brand completed 96 laps of the Circuit Paul Ricard during the four hour race. They were also the first ‘Legend’ team across the line.
Second place went to the Motobel Moto Guzzi of Christophe Charles-Artigues and Samuele Sardi who finished on the same lap as Road Runner. Motobel was the first ‘Classic’ team to finish. Third place overall was taken by the Kawasaki Z1000J of Team Godier Genoud, with riders Bruno Langlois, Christian Hacquin and Nicholas de Dieuleveult also finishing on the same lap as the leaders.
The top ‘Superbike’ finisher was Phase One Endurance (riders Peter Linden, Hugh Brasher and Graeme Gowland) who finished in fourth place overall and claimed the fastest lap of the race with a time of 2:22.994 on lap 94 of 96. Phase One’s result is pending a decision from Race Direction.
Top Superstock finisher was the Suzuki Madrid Endurance GSX-R750 of Juis Illescan Zarzuelo and Alejandro Cantaljo Torrent who finished in 16th place overall. 26 teams finished the race out of 33 starters.
Close Race
The top six teams all finished on the same lap in the incredibly closely fought race, with the podium positions not settled until the closing laps. Notable non-finishers included pole position holders and race favourites Team Force (Gregory Fastre, Stephane Mertens, Bruno Le Bihan) who crashed their Harris Suzuki after just 35 laps and while holding a comfortable first place.
The race began after dark – a very rare occurrence in endurance racing – and teams were faced with low track and ambient temperatures but the race was free from serious incidents. Teams from eight nations including France, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and New Zealand took part, riding bikes from five different manufacturers; Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha and Moto Guzzi.
Timesheets from the Sunday Ride Classic are available here: http://afcmicro.com/2018/ENDU/SRC/result.htm
Next Round
The next round of the series is the Endurance Legends 4 hour race at Donington Park on 12/13 May
For further information please contact Endurance Legends:
Office: +44 (0)1983 529932
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.endurancelegends.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EnduranceLegends/
EUROPEAN ENDURANCE LEGEND CUP 2018
Round 1: 24/25 March – Sunday Ride Classic, Le Castellet, France www.sundayrideclassic.com
Round 2: 12/13 May – Endurance Legends, Donington Park, UK www.endurancelegends.com
Round 3: 7/8 June – Speedweek, Oschersleben, Germany www.classic-endurance-cup.eu
Round 4: TBC
Web: www.eelc.eu
Email: [email protected]