2002 Bol d'Or - Magny Cours

2002 Bol d'Or - Magny Cours - Sep 15/16
Weather, dull - intermittent rain; temperature, 18'; track conditions, slippery; crowd, 66,000

The Honda Elf team mounted a magnificent fight back from adversity to claim victory in the Superbike category of the 65th running of the Bol d'Or, and second place overall, after leading for the opening three and a half hours of the 24 Hour race.

Team riders William Costes, Sebastien Gimbert and Fabien Foret, rode a fast controlled race pace round the 4.182km Magny Cours circuit, close to Nevers, to climb back from their lowly 22nd place, after four hours of racing.

The race was won by the Suzuki Castrol team, racing in the new Superproduction category for 1000cc capacity machines. The team of Christian Lavielle, Brian Morrison and Laurent Brian, clinching the Superproduction Endurance World Cup in the process.

Third place in the race went to the Phase One Suzuki (Superproduction) team who had to fight off the close attentions of Free Bike Performance Yamaha. The duel decided in the last 15 minutes when the Yamaha pitted for a rider change.

From the start Morrison and the Suzuki Castrol grabbed the lead chased by fellow Superproduction Suzuki teams of Warwick Nowland on the Zongshen A bike and Sebastien Scarnato on the GMT94. William Costes and the Honda Elf VTR1000SP-1 were closing fast and, once he caught them, swept passed into the lead. Once in front Costes eased away fro the larger capacity Superproduction machines.

At the first stop for fuel tyres and a change of rider the Honda led from Suzuki Castrol with Zongshen A third.

Honda Elf appeared to have the race under control, until 6.35. when the Foret came into the pits with a clutch problem. The clutch was changed but Costes pitted again after a lap, for more clutch adjustments.

When they got back into the race the team were in 22nd place, some eight laps down on the Suzuki Castrol machine. From that point on it was a case of grinding out a result over the next 20 hours.

By the eighth hour some hard riding and slick pit work in tricky track conditions, had carried them to ninth place. Four hours later, at the halfway stage, they were seventh and closing. Three Superbikes, and the Zongshen A bike, between them and the two leading Suzuki's.

But at midnight the Honda made an unscheduled stop to change an exhaust pipe and clutch lever. The stop lasted five minutes and they lost three place, and they had to begin the chase anew.

At the same time GMT94 took the lead from Suzuki Castrol which they were to hold through the night. They held the lead until 7.45 when they ran out of fuel. A cracked weld on the tank the reason.

On 17 hours Suzuki Castrol were back in the lead, two laps clear of second placed Yamaha France team and the GMT94 trio back up to third. Honda Elf were now fourth but still eight laps down on the leader. The Yamaha France machine the only Superbike left in the race ahead of them.

They GMT94 squad had held the lead until 7.45 when they ran out of fuel. A cracked weld on the tank the reason.

When the morning gloom had cleared the Yamaha began to run into problems. At 9.30 an electrical fault cost them two minutes in the pit. A too fast pit exit cost them a stop and go penalty. That was followed by a crash which ended their hopes of a Superbike Class win.

The episode cost them five minutes and gifted the Honda the lead in the Superbike category, and second place overall. They were on the same lap as the battle for third place between the Free Bike Yamaha and the Phase One Suzuki who had fought their way the field, despite a fuel injector problem.

From that point on the top places did not change, despite rain brining out the pace car with just 90 minutes to go. Suzuki Castrol took the flag eight laps clear of the Honda who finished 45 seconds ahead of Phase One Suzuki.

Free Bike Performance Yamaha, who had kept the crowd of 66,000 entertained during their battle with Phase One, finished third to end their season on a high note.

Yamaha France held on to fifth place, albeit 16 laps down on the winners.

Newly crowned Endurance World Champions Wim Motors Honda were never able to show their title winning form. The VTR1000SP-1 was plagued by injector problems and retired before the halfway stage, never higher than 14th place in the race.

William Costes - "Very happy but at the same time disappointed with second place as we came here to win. Two races, two second places. The bike was very good, good chassis and very fast but unfortunately the clutch let us down."

Sebastien Gimbert - "Very happy with the fact we could come back from 22nd to second. However, I came here to win. Maybe if we had had a couple more races it would have been easier to iron out the teething problems, The team worked very ell and also very hard."

Fabien Foret - "I didn't come here for second place. Everything was very good until the clutch problem which left us too much to do to come back and win. We need more testing time to iron out these little problems. Both Le Mans and the Bol d'Or to me because I am French. However, World Supersport is my priority and it is difficult to combine the two series. I have a weeks break before Imola, not like after Le Mans when I had to fly to Phillip Island."

Race results:
1. Christian Lavielle F, Brian Morrison GB, Laurent Brian F, Suzuki 799 laps
2. William Costes F, Fabien Foret F, Sebastien Gimbert F, Honda Elf 791
3. Igor Jerman SL, Olivier Ulmann F, James Ellison GB, Suzuki 791
4. Matthiieu Lagrieve F, Bertrand Sibileau F, Cyril Fernadez F, Yamaha 790
5. Jean Marc Delatang F, Mark Willis AUS, Thierry Paillot F, Yamaha 783
6. Frederic Jond F, Olivier Four F, P Lerat Vanstaen F, Suzuki 779
7. Christian Haquin F, Michel Amalric F, J F Le Glatin F, Kawasaki 779
8. Thomas Hinntereiter A, Bruno Bonhuil F, Roger Bennett GB, Suzuki 778
9. Sebastien Scarnato F, Arnaud v d Bossche F, Frederic Protat F, Suzuki 775
10. Gwen Giabani F, Christophe Roche F, Franck Gebelin F, Kawasaki 768
11. Stephane Mertens B, W Nowland AUS, C Fernandez E, Suzuki 765
12. Stephane Neff F, Robert Di Foggia F, Franck Tauziede F, Honda 763
13. Tobias Nystrom CH, Frederic Gaillard F, Laurent Dubus F, Suzuki 760
14. Claude Aish Jaggi CH, Dave Rollier CH, Head Carrard H, Suzuki 756
15. Bruce Rulfo F, Nicola Jauneau F, Sylvain Waldmeier F, Yamaha 754
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