Thursday was a bitter sweet day for the YART Yamaha team at the 8-Hours of Oschersleben, the final round of the 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship.
YART Yamaha was fastest during the opening practice and provisional qualifying on their YZF-R1. Broc Parkes’ lap of 1:26.279 during qualifying was the fastest overall lap of the day and when averaged with Marvin Fritz’s 1:26.365 YART Yamaha earned provisional pole position for Saturday’s race.
All of this, however, was overshadowed by a scary crash and injury suffered by YART Yamaha guest rider Bradley Smith.
According to YART Yamaha Team Manager Mandy Kainz, Smith collided with a slower rider during practice and crashed. Smith suffered a very bloody injury to his left leg which was initially thought to be a compound fracture of his femur. The full-time MotoGP rider as flown to a local hospital and, according to a post by Smith on his Twitter feed, further examination revealed no bone fractures and only a deep laceration to his left leg.
YART Yamaha has made no further announcements regarding Smith’s future or their plans, but a report appearing on the official MotoGP website states Smith will withdraw from the event at Oschersleben in hopes of regaining fitness for the next MotoGP race scheduled for September 2-4 at Silverstone.
YART is currently tied with SRC Kawasaki for second in the World Championship standings, eight points behind Team April Moto Motors Events
8 Hours of Oschersleben
FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC)
Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
Oschersleben, Germany
August 25, 2016
Day One Combined Qualifying Results (listed according to average of riders’ best lap times):
1. YART Yamaha (Broc Parkes 1:26.279/Marvin Fritz 1:26.365/Bradley Smith no time recorded in qualifying), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, 1:26.322
2. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent Philippe 1:26.942/Anthony Delhalle 1:27.541/Etienne Masson 1:27.385), Suz GSX-R1000, Superbike, 1:27.289
3. GMT94 Yamaha (David Checa 1:27.340/Niccolo Canepa 1:27.783/Lucas Mahias 1:27.572), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, 1:27.565
4. SRC Kawasaki (Gregory Leblanc 1:27.705/Matthieu Lagrive 1:28.052/Fabien Foret 1:28.934), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, 1:28.230
5. F.C.C. TSR Honda (PJ Jacobsen 1:27.713/Damian Cudlin 1:28.568/Kazuma Watanabe 1:28.511), Hon CBR1000RR, Superbike, 1:28.264
6. Voelpker NRT48 by Shubert-Motors (Bastien Mackels 1:27.603/Dominik Vincon 1:28.701/Stefan Kerschbaumer 1:28.705), BMW S1000RR, Superstock, 1:28.336
7. Team 3ART Yam-Avenue (Louis Bulle 1:28.739/Alex Plancassagne 1:29.197/Lukas Trautmann 1:27.288), Yam YZF-R1, Superstock, 1:28.408
8. Team Bolliger Switzerland (Roman Stamm 1:28.085/Michael Savary 1:29.281/Gianluca Vizziello 1:27.957), Kaw ZX-10R, Superbike, 1:28.441
9. Penz13.com – BMW Motorrad Team (Kenny Foray 1:27.693/Lukas Pesek 1:28.628/Matthieau Lussiana 1:29.088), BMW S1000RR, Superbike, 1:28.469
10. Yamaha Viltais Experience (Nicolas Salchaud 1:27.920/Axel Maurin 1:28.623/Olivier Depoorter 1:28.940), Yam YZF-R1, Superstock, 1:28.494
11. Honda Endurance Racing (Julien Da Costa 1:28.577/Sebastien Gimbert 1:28.687/Freddy Foray 1:28.617), Hon CBR1000RR SP, Superbike, 1:28.627
12. Junior Team LMS Suzuki (Baptiste Guittet 1:28.290/Romain Maitre 1:28.857/Robin Camus 1:28.867), Suz GSX-R1000, Superstock, 1:28.671
13. Maco Racing Team (Gregory Junod 1:28.709/Anthony Dos Santos 1:28.824/Marko Jerman 1:28.560), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, 1:28.697
14. Team April Moto Motors Events (Gregg Black 1:27.544/Gregory Fastre 1:30.489/Alex Cudlin 1:28.869), Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, 1:28.967
15. Ecurie Chrono Sport (Stephane Egea 1:28.852/Julien Pilot 1:29.176/Stephane Pagani 1:29.983), Kaw ZX-10R, Superstock, 1:29.337
16. GERT 56 HMT by rs speedbikes (Sascha Hommel 1:28.643/Didier Grams 1:29.881/Rico Lowe 1:29.786), BMW S1000RR, Superstock, 1:29.436
17. Lukoil BMW Motorrad CSEU (Fabrizio Lai 1:28.914/Julian Mayer 1:29.413/Roland Resch 1:30.463), BMW S1000RR, Superbike, 1:29.596
18. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing (Julien Enjolras 1:30.816/Dylan Buisson 1:29.396/Hugo Clere 1:28.847), Kaw ZX-10R, Superstock, 1:29.686
19. Starteam PAM-Racing (Kevin Longearet 1:29.292/Jonathan Hardt 1:29.609/Sebastien Gerard 1:30.424), Suz GSX-R1000, Superstock, 1:29.775
20. AM Moto Racing Competition (Jonathan Goetschy 1:30.354/Jimmy Maccio 1:29.812/Kevin Denis 1:29.355), Kaw ZX-10R, Superstock, 1:29.840
22. Team Rapid Transit (Sheridan Morais 1:27.176/Ivan Silva 1:27.965/Brandon Cretu 1:35.173), Yam YZF-R1, Superbike, 1:30.104