— 2013 World Endurance Championship Bol d’Or
After winning at the wire in 2012, SRC Kawasaki triumphs again at the Bol d’Or with a 9-lap lead over Monster Energy Yamaha YART and 11 laps clear of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT). Riding the official Kawasaki, Gregory Leblanc, Loris Baz and Jérémy Guarnoni put together a perfectly crafted but exhausting race. The tricky conditions with intermittent showers on Saturday afternoon reshuffled the leading pack. To hold on to the lead, SRC Kawasaki put up a hard fight against the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team early in the race as well as with the Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube, which just missed the podium after being hit by electronic woes at the end of the race. But Kudos goes to David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive who battled it out with the Kawasaki at the front for nearly 20 hours.
By taking pole position and going on to win, the SRC Kawasaki handed in a flawless card at Magny-Cours. However, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team seemed an unlikely candidate for the podium after crashes by Anthony Delhalle and Vincent Philippe as a result of bad tyre choices early on in the race. But Dominique Méliand’s crew, who were lying back in 30th four hours into the race, showed their guts and determination. Lap after lap, they came up the field and, helped at the end by the misfortunes that befell Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube, a relieved Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Julien Da Costa hauled themselves on to the third step of the podium, saving vital points for Suzuki in the overall standings.
Monster Energy Yamaha YART was in the leading pack from start to finish. Igor Jerman, Broc Parkes and Sheridan Morais did not put a foot wrong but were unable to take the race to the Kawasaki. The Austrian Yamaha ran a prudent race after putting together its final crew at the last moment, and Sheridan Morais, who stepped in to replace an injured Josh Waters, had his first ride on the Yamaha at Magny Cours. So three makers were on the podium, paired with three different tyre manufacturers: Kawasaki-Pirelli in first, followed by Yamaha-Michelin and Suzuki-Dunlop.
BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent fell by the wayside when Sébastien Gimbert, Sylvain Barrier and Karl Muggeridge had to throw in the towel at dusk. Two early crashes had left the motorcycle too damaged to go on. Honda TT Legends fell behind the leading pack with engine trouble on Sunday morning, leaving the top Honda spot for National Motos. Slowed down by a crash, Gregory Junod, Michael Rutter and Olivier Four finished in 8th after holding on to a place in the top 5. Team R2CL, who moved up the field as the race went on, were able to take 7th at the finish with avec Guillaume Dietrich, Gwen Giabbani and Dylan Buisson.
In the race for the FIM Endurance World Cup, Junior Team Suzuki LMS chalked up another win. Baptiste Guittet, Etienne Masson and Nans Chevaux finished a respectable 5th and 1st in Superstock just behind the top teams. This category saw a close-run fight with Penz13.com Franks Autowelt Racing Team (BMW) finishing just behind Junior Team Suzuki. Team Motors Events April Moto (Suzuki) came in 3rd in Superstock ahead of the Suzukis of Starteam Pam Racing and AM Moto Racing Compétition, kept off the podium as a result of a crash.
The next leg of the FIM Endurance World Championship will be the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan on 28 July.
RESULTS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
Pos / Team / Riders / Bike / Time / Laps / Gap
1 / SRC KAWASAKI / LEBLANC -BAZ-GUARNONI / KAWASAKI ZX10R / 24:00:20.917 / 808 / –
2 / MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA – YART / JERMAN-PARKES-MORAIS / YAMAHA R1 / 24:00:20.946 / 799 / 9 Tr.
3 / SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM / PHILIPPE-DELHALLE-DA COSTA / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:37.733 / 797 / 11 Tr.
4 / YAMAHA France – GMT 94 – MICHELIN YAMAHA / CHECA-FORAY-LAGRIVE / YAMAHA R1 / 24:01:52.005 / 793 / 15 Tr.
5 / TEAM R2CL / GIABBANI-DIETRICH-BUISSON / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:00:21.252 / 785 / 23 Tr.
6 / NATIONAL MOTOS / JUNOD-RUTTER-FOUR / HONDA CBR-RR1000 / 24:01:08.775 / 784 / 24 Tr.
7 / MACO RACING TEAM / BOUAN-CUMMINS-ROCCOLI / YAMAHA R1 / 24:01:54.464 / 769 / 39 Tr.
8 / RAC 41 YAM’AVENUE IPONE / CHARPIN-PRAUD-DEPOORTE / YAMAHA R1 / 24:01:55.819 / 767 / 41 Tr.
9 / TEAM BOLLIGER SWITZERLAND #8 / SAIGER-LUIS MITA-WILDISEN / KAWASAKI ZX10R / 24:01:09.984 / 766 / 42 Tr.
10 / FMA ASSURANCES / BLACK-KERKHOVEN-FISSETTE / HONDA CBR-RR1000 / 24:01:34.602 / 748 / 60 Tr.
11 / TEAM SPACE MOTO 37 / NOUVELLON-DENEQUE-ROCHE / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:27.731 / 745 / 63 Tr.
12 / SPE SAMURAI / TERAMOTO-FUJISHIMA-PICCOLO / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:00:49.520 / 734 / 74 Tr.
13 / TEAM DUNLOP MOTORS EVENTS / CHOLVIN-RICHERT-PUTIN / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:18.064 / 702 / 106 Tr.
14 / FLEMBBO – LEADER TEAM / DEMAREY-PROSENIK-ORTIZ / KAWASAKI ZX10R / 24:01:05.502 / 620 / 188 Tr.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS POSITIONS TO DATE:
1 SRC KAWASAKI 40
2 MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA – YART 33
3 SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM 28
4 YAMAHA France – GMT 94 – MICHELIN YAMAHA 24
5 TEAM R2CL 21
6 NATIONAL MOTOS 19
7 MACO RACING TEAM 17
8 RAC 41 YAM’AVENUE IPONE 15
9 TEAM BOLLIGER SWITZERLAND #8 13
10 FMA ASSURANCES 11
11 TEAM SPACE MOTO 37 10
12 SPE SAMURAI 9
13 TEAM DUNLOP MOTORS EVENTS 8
14 FLEMBBO – LEADER TEAM 7
RESULTS WORLD SUPERSTOCK CLASS
Pos / Team / Riders / Bike / Time / Laps / Gap
1 / JUNIOR TEAM LMS SUZUKI / GUITTET-MASSON-CHEVAUX / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:00:25.033 / 788 / –
2 / PENZ13.COM FRANKS AUTOWELT RACING / VALLCANERA-PRIDMORE-MERCER / BMW S1000 / 24:01:36.127 / 788 / 1:11.0…
3 / TEAM MOTORS EVENTS APRIL MOTO / FASTRE-LUCAS-SAVARY / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:32.569 / 783 / 5 Tr.
4 / STARTEAM PAM-RACING / PRULHIERE-MAURIN-LONGEARET / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:38.507 / 782 / 6 Tr.
5 / AM MOTO RACING COMPETITION / LOISEAU-MAITRE-HARDT / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:34.074 / 779 / 9 Tr.
6 / ATOMIC MOTOSPORT / TANGRE-JOND-CAMUS / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:55.393 / 775 / 13 Tr.
7 / YAMAHA VILTAÏS EXPERIENCE / BARDET-BESNARD-BERTHOME / YAMAHA R1 / 24:00:24.109 / 769 / 19 Tr.
8 / RACING TEAM SARAZIN / GUEROUAH-KOKES-MAJOR / KAWASAKI ZX10R / 24:02:08.954 / 756 / 32 Tr.
9 / NO LIMITS MOTOR TEAM / CASAS-BOSCOSCUR-ROSSO / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:00:28.665 / 752 / 36 Tr.
10 / TEAM LOUIT MOTO 33 / MARINO-SAVADORI-JONCHIERE / KAWASAKI ZX10R / 24:01:36.846 / 750 / 38 Tr.
11 / AZ MOTOS / MEZARD-BOUE-DUPUY / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:33.506 / 743 / 45 Tr.
12 / 3D ENDURANCE MOTO CENTER / SALCHAUD-EGEA-HOLUB / KAWASAKI ZX10R / 24:00:43.568 / 737 / 51 Tr.
13 / TEAM 2CP RACING D’ND / GELAS- DESCOURS-PETITJEAN / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:00:47.977 / 730 / 58 Tr.
14 / ACR 74 / HUGUENIN-VIAL-GRIPPI / SUZUKI GSXR1000 / 24:01:01.967 / 729 / 59 Tr.
15 / DL MOTO RACING / MORIN-THUILLIER-SAIVE / KAWASAKI ZX10R / 24:00:38.727 / 728 / 60 Tr.
SUPERSTOCK CLASS POSITIONS TO DATE:
1 JUNIOR TEAM LMS SUZUKI 40
2 PENZ13.COM FRANKS AUTOWELT RACING 33
3 TEAM MOTORS EVENTS APRIL MOTO 28
4 STARTEAM PAM-RACING 24
5 AM MOTO RACING COMPETITION 21
6 ATOMIC MOTOSPORT 19
7 YAMAHA VILTAÏS EXPERIENCE 17
8 RACING TEAM SARAZIN 15
9 NO LIMITS MOTOR TEAM 13
10 TEAM LOUIT MOTO 33 11
11 AZ MOTOS 10
12 3D ENDURANCE MOTO CENTER 9
13 TEAM 2CP RACING D’ND 8
14 ACR 74 7
15 DL MOTO RACING 6
— Team Kawasaki SRC Report
Team Kawasaki SRC won the 77th running of the Bol d’Or motorcycle endurance race at Magny-Cours over the weekend of 20/21 April.
The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R number 11 machine headed the race from start to finish and set a new race record with 808 laps completed.
The team Kawasaki SRC machine took an early grasp of the race when, in practice, Grégory Leblanc set the best lap overall putting his Ninja, shared with Kawasaki World Superbike star Loris Baz and debutant tider, Jeremy Guarnoni, on pole position.
Ahead of the chasing pack from the opening hour – and using Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyres throughout – the three riders made a super-human effort to secure the top step of the podium in the world famous race that is equally gruelling for man and machine.
Leblanc proved that qualifying was no chance happening by being consistently the fastest rider on track and setting the top lap individual time with a terrific 1’40’’663 circulation. As emphatic as this was, it was matched by a winning margin that saw the team a whole nine laps ahead as they crossed the finishing line.
At the end of the race, Gilles Stafler of the SRC team was full of praise for such a historic success.
Gilles Stafler : “I’m really delighted tonight because we made the perfect race. The riders did a fantastic job and showed that they were young yet professional. The team didn’t make any mistakes during the race and pitstop and this new distance record shows how strong we were.”
Grégory Leblanc : “A second win in a row it’s just fantastic. We made the perfect race an it’s a great pleasure to share this victory with the team Kawasaki SRC and with Loris and Jeremy of course. Tonight i’m sore but finally it’s a sweet feeling”.
Jeremy Guarnoni : What can I say ? It’s just fantastic. For my first time in a factory team I climb on the top spot. For sure it may have been predictaed but racing it’s not always easy. I’m really proud of what we achieved and, at the end, I can say that we took the victory that we deserved.
Loris Baz on loan from the Kawasaki World Superbike team said:
“The Bol was amazing. We knew we had a really good bike and a really good team. Even in road racing it is impossible to say that for sure you will win but in a 24-hour race it is even more impossible, because anything can happen.
We made a good start and we were in front from the beginning. Really soon all the other favourite teams started having problems; it ended up as three teams fighting for the win. Racing at night was hard, when you have to keep pushing and concentrating at the same time. That is why I like Endurance racing. At one time you have to push really hard, then take more care, then push again. There is a lot of thinking involved.
There was a lot of media attention because this is a really big race. We are the youngest ever team to win the Bol d’Or. Endurance is something special because anything can happen it is really a team race. There are a lot of emotions when you win because you are fighting and working all through the 24 hours, so you have to make a lot of good things happen.”
— Yamaha Report
The Monster Energy Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) kicked off their 2013 Endurance World Championship Challenge in style yesterday with a hard fought second place finish at the season opening Bol d’Or race at the Circuit de Nevers in Magny Cours. YART weren’t the only Yamaha YZF-R1 in contention for honours with the Yamaha France GMT94 team’s David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive battling for first position for nearly 20 hours and looking like favourites until a small issue cost valuable time, leaving them to eventually settle for fourth just off the podium.
Podium winners YART arrived in France with only Broc Parkes and Igor Jerman after third man Josh Waters was ruled out with injuries sustained from a crash in last week’s British Superbike round at Thruxton. With limited time to find a replacement rider Sheridan Morais was flown in from South Africa, arriving on Thursday having missed the first free practice sessions and having never ridden the Yamaha before. Despite the late arrival the team were able to qualify ninth on the grid for the race. With perfect performances from all three riders and also from the Yamaha R1 they were a constant threat form the start and have put themselves into 2013 Endurance World Championship title contention with 100 points.
They now prepare for their next outing in Japan for the 8Hrs of Suzuka on 28th July with riders Broc Parkes, Igor Jerman and Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
“It’s been a really tough race, we didn’t know what to expect this weekend with Josh out and Sheridan drafted in at the last minute,” commented Broc Parkes. “The team was faultless; we didn’t have one thing go wrong. I’m dog-tired now, at 5am I was in a world of hurt! I had really good pace in the second part of the race and both the boys stepped up their pace as well. Suzuki was catching a little bit but we kept covering the gap. Second place is awesome, its really positive for our first race and the also the Championship. We’re looking forward to the future; bring on Suzuka!”
“All the best came at the end! The weekend started horribly, we were told on Monday that Josh was unable to race,” said YART Owner Mandy Kainz. “We planned to come without a spare rider and treat the Bol d’Or as practice time. There were no riders available who are good but with no contract. Then finally we found Sheridan but he was back at his home in South Africa. He left Wednesday night and arrived Thursday afternoon and missed first free practice! I have to say the riders’ performance was incredible, especially Broc. They did not make a single mistake in 24hrs and showed real patience when it rained and was 5 degrees. The Yamaha R1 ran so well also with not a single issue, we didn’t lose so much as a screw all weekend. Finally we finished 799 laps and in second place. Over 3500km we kept all the power for the last hours with our fastest race lap being our 660th, this says a lot. It’s been a perfect start to the season, now we concentrate on Suzuka with Broc, Josh and Katsuyuki.”
“Endurance can be like this,” said GMT94 rider David Checa. “There is no shame to be the fourth. We had the potential to win and that’s the most important. Our Yamaha R1 worked really well and my team also. I am looking forward now to going to Suzuka. ”
“It was a nice battle with the SRC Kawasaki Team”, commented GMT94 Team Manager Christophe Guyot. “There were 63 seconds between us with five hours left to race. I can imagine the disappointment of everyone who follows us, the riders, and everyone working to help us win like Yamaha, Michelin and all our partners. We had never experienced this problem with the R1 before. That’s why took us some time to troubleshoot it before we could replace the failed sensor. On the positive side, we were competitive both on the track and in the pits, and we scored valuable championship points.”
— GMT 94 Report
After battling the number 11 Kawasaki for the race lead for over 19 hours, the 94 Yamaha was forced to pit in at 10 AM during Kenny Foray’s stint. A camshaft sensor failure cost us our 10 and 14-lap lead over third and fourth place, respectively. We were fortunately unable to reclaim a podium position after the repair.
Christophe Guyot: “It was a nice battle with the 11 team. 63 seconds between us with five hours left to race. I can imagine the disappointment of everyone who follows us, the riders, and everyone working to help us win like Yamaha, Michelin and all our partners. We had never experienced this problem with the R1 before. That’s why took us some time to troubleshoot it before we could replace the failed sensor. On the positive side, we were competitive both on the track and in the pits, and we scored valuable championship points.”
David Checa: “That’s also endurance racing. We don’t have to be embarrassed by a fourth place finish. We were capable of winning, and that’s the most important thing. Our Yamaha R1 is working great. Everything was perfect, and so was the team. I am looking forward to Suzuka.”
Kenny Foray: “My initial reaction is disappointment. The race was difficult because of the weather conditions on Saturday with the drizzle. However, I was very comfortable on the bike and gave it my best along with my teammates. The whole team did a fantastic job and the tires were great. It’s really unfortunate that bad luck spoiled the end of the race for us.”
Matthieu Lagrive: “We were stopped during our rise to the front of a race that we were capable of winning. It’s a pity, but we have to accept it like all possible outcomes from competition.”
— BMW Report
BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport had a busy weekend. The legendary 24-hour “Bol d’ Or” race at Magny-Cours (FRA) ended with a combination of joy and disappointment for the specialists from Munich.
The 77th edition of the renowned “Bol d’Or” marked the season opener of the 2013 FIM Endurance World Championship. In the top league of the series, the Superbike class, BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent aimed to start its title campaign with a top result and accordingly a decent points haul. The #99 BMW S 1000 RR was ridden by Sébastien Gimbert, Sylvain Barrier (both FRA) and Karl Muggeridge (AUS), the replacement for team regular Damian Cudlin (AUS), who was on duty in the IDM. But the trio was unable to finish the tough 24-hour test, as the team was forced to retire after a crash in the sixth hour of the race left the RR too damaged to continue.
Gimbert and Barrier worked hard in the first quarter of the race to make up time lost to a minor crash for Barrier during his first relay. The French duo were running in third and starting to close the gap to the leaders as the race passed the five-hour mark. Former World Supersport Champion Muggeridge took over from Barrier for his first relay aboard the #99 RR, but encountered a brake problem at the end of the ultra-fast Golf straight and ran straight on at Adelaide. The Australian had no option but to lay the bike down before hitting the tyre wall.
Despite suffering such a high-speed crash, Muggeridge ran with the bike all the way back to the pits. Gimbert took to the track once the crash damage had been repaired, but was forced to return to the pit box after experiencing problems on his first lap. Following further inspection of the bike by the team’s technical staff, the decision was made to withdraw from the race on safety grounds.
“We’re not sure what caused the problem for Karl, but he couldn’t have picked a worse place to crash”, declared Team Principal, Michael Bartholemy. “You’re coming off the fastest part of the track and braking heavily for the slowest corner and I can’t imagine what it’s like to suddenly encounter a brake problem there. It was a big crash and one that Karl was lucky to walk away from. The mechanics did their best to get the bike back out, but it was damaged to the point where safety was an issue, so we had no option but to withdraw. I don’t want to talk about bad luck; if you want to be world champions you must make your own luck and be competitive at every circuit. We need to learn from this.”
Despite this setback, BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport had reason to celebrate at Magny-Cours. In the Superstock class of the Endurance World Championship, partner squad Penz13.com Franks Autowelt Racing Team secured a second place on the podium. The German squad of Team Principal Rico Penzkofer also got sixth overall with Pedro Vallcaneras (ESP), Jason Pridmore (USA) and Steve Mercer (GBR) aboard the Superstock version of the RR. The trio started 17th and fought their way to the top. With only a few hours to go, they took the lead in the Superstock class, but a stop-and-go penalty for overtaking under Safety Car conditions dropped them back to second. So in the last hour, the team decided to play it safe, not to take too many risks and to bring home this second place on the podium.
“Of course it would have been nice to win this race, but we still have to be satisfied with our performance,” said Penzkofer. “We did the 24 hours once again without any problems and our BMW S 1000 RR ran perfectly. Also our new Dunlop tyres were great. Furthermore, it’s not bad to be second after 24 hours of racing! That’s something special!”.
— Honda TT Legends Report
The Honda TT Legends team was forced to retire 18-hours in to the 2013 Bol d’Or 24-hour, breaking its seven-race stint of successful finishes in Endurance World Championship events. The disappointment also marks the first time that the team has had to withdraw from a 24-hour race.
John McGuinness started the race for the Honda TT Legends and the first few hours saw him, Simon Andrews and Michael Dunlop put in an impressive performance that took them from 28th to third place. As evening fell on the Magny Cours circuit in France, light rain caused a few incidents for other teams, but the Honda TT Legends settled into a steady fourth place, where they remained through the night until daybreak.
Just after 8am, Dunlop made an unexpected pit stop and the Honda TT Legends crew set to work, eventually identifying and fixing a problem with the heat exchanger. McGuinness re-joined the race in 13th place but unfortunately the irreparable damage to the engine had already been done and it subsequently overheated. He was forced to dismount and push the bike back to the pits on the first lap and the team retired from the race.
The EWC will continue with the Suzuka 8-hour in Japan on 28 July.
Neil Tuxworth – “This is a very disappointing end for the team after all the hard work and effort everyone has put in. It’s unfortunate but we had a problem with the heat exchanger which caused the engine to overheat and fail towards the end of the race. It’s our first incomplete event in seven races and our first ever retirement from a 24 hour race, but it happens to everyone at some point and the main thing is that everyone is ok. We haven’t had any injuries to anybody and although there was some leakage from the bike, it doesn’t look like it caused problems to anybody else as the safety car came out very quickly. Like I say, very disappointing for everyone but we have to move on and look forward to the road races coming up in the next few months.”
John McGuinness – “We’re just gutted not to have finished. The lads have done so much work on the bike – new electronics, traction control – all sorts of bits and pieces that they’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours on. We’ve had a fantastic run of results up to now with seven races completed and we were looking good in the race. We were top five again and chipping away, but unfortunately we had a problem 18 hours in. I’m just speechless really, just gutted, but we’ll try and take the positives out of it. We were running a lot closer to some of our rivals so we can take that to the next round.”
Simon Andrews – “It had gone well up until that point. I did a good few stints at the beginning to get us up to fourth and I was happy enough with that. It’s a shame what’s happened for everyone because the guys have worked so hard. The chassis was working well and we had the quickest bike out there at some points, so it just would have been nice to reward everyone with a podium. We were third at one stage so to go from that position to coming away with no points at all is not fun, but that’s endurance racing. We can be happy with the hard work we’ve put in and the way we’ve worked together and we’ll look forward to the next round.”
Michael Dunlop – “It’s so disappointing for all the lads after all the hard work they’ve done. I really feel for them because it’s not just about us riders, it’s a massive team effort and they put so much into it. I just got my head down and got on with it, going with the flow really. It was going well up until that point, but we’ll go back and take a look at the bike and come back bigger and stronger next time.”
— BMW Motorrad France
BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent were forced to retire from the 77th edition of the Bol d’Or, after a crash in the sixth hour of the race left the #99 BMW S1000RR too damaged to continue.
Sébastien Gimbert and Sylvain Barrier worked hard in the first quarter of the race to make up time lost to a minor crash for Barrier during his first relay. The French duo were running in third and starting to close the gap to the leaders as the race passed the five-hour mark.
Karl Muggeridge took over from Sylvain Barrier for his first relay aboard the #99 BMW S1000RR, but encountered a brake problem at the end of the ultra-fast Golf straight and ran straight on at Adelaide. The Australian had no option but to lay the bike down before hitting the tyre wall.
Despite suffering such a high-speed crash, Muggeridge ran with the bike all the way back to the pits. Not the way the former World Supersport Champion was expecting to celebrate his 39th birthday today.
Gimbert took to the track once the crash damage had been repaired, but was forced to return to the pit box after experiencing problems on his first lap. Following further inspection of the bike by the team’s technical staff, the decision was made to withdraw from the race on safety grounds.
“This is the third time in as many years we’ve crashed out of the Bol d’Or and it gets harder to accept each time,” declared Team Principal, Michael Bartholemy. “I don’t want to talk about bad luck or bogey tracks; if you want to be World Champions you must make your own luck and be competitive at every circuit. We need to learn from this and make sure we don’t make it four from four next season.
“We’re not sure what caused the problem for Karl, but he couldn’t have picked a worse place to crash. You’re coming off the fastest part of the track and braking heavily for the slowest corner and I can’t imagine what it’s like to suddenly encounter a brake problem there. It was a big crash and one that Karl was lucky to walk away from. The mechanics did their best to get the bike back out, but it was damaged to the point where safety was an issue, so we had no option but to withdraw,” concluded Bartholemy.”
— SERT Report
Defending World Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team staged a heroic race from the back of the field to finish third in the opening round of the 2013 World Endurance Championship at Magny-Cours in France today.
Team riders Anthony Delhalle and Vincent Philippe both crashed the team’s GSX-R1000 less than four hours into the 77th Bol d’Or, with Philippe refusing to be stretchered into the ambulance so he could get the damaged machine back to the pits for repairs.
Early race leaders and pace-setters SERT plummeted down the leaderboard as the team technicians – who initially thought the race was over for them after watching TV footage of Philippe being stretched to the ambulance – frantically rebuilt the bike. New 2013 SERT rider Julien Da Costa eventually rejoined the race just inside the top 40 and started an amazing comeback through the field that saw the Le Mans, France-based team claim the final podium position on 797 laps, 11 adrift of race winners SRC Kawasaki and just two behind runners-up Monster Energy YART.
In a race that saw intermittent rain at the Nevers Circuit, necessitating a wide choice of Dunlop wets, intermediates and slick tyres, SERT settled into a fast pace through the night into Sunday morning, carving through the field and setting the second-fastest lap of the race – 1:40.722 – in the process. The only team to better this was the winners with a lap of 1:40.663; these were the only teams to get under 1:41.000.
Despite the two unscheduled pits stops for repairs, SERT ‘pitted’ 28 times and took a total of 32.349 minutes. In comparison SRC Kawasaki came in 26 times with a longer overall time of 35.852 minutes. Third-placed Monster Energy YART pitted 30 times with a time of 35.737 minutes.
