GSR Kawasaki Wins 24 Hours Of Le Mans FIM Endurance World Championship Race
The GSR Kawasaki of Julien da Costa, Olivier Four and Grégory Leblanc won the first round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship, with an eleven laps gap over the Yamaha Austria Racing Team of Gwen Giabbani, Igor Jerman and Steve Plater. No one could deprive the official Kawasaki to put once again their name on the walls of one of the main world endurance race. The previous victory of Kawasaki at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was in 1999.
The last hours of race were difficult for Yamaha Austria Racing Team, who was affected by some overheating problems since the middle of the night and had to come back for pit stops more often than not. However, the 2009 Qtel FIM Endurance World Champion managed to keep the RAC 41 City Bike of Gregory Junod, Greg Black and Olivier Depoorter four laps behind. This is a well-deserved podium for the Suzuki, who did a faultless race and took advantage of the problems affecting their challengers.
Next on the podium is the Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone of David Checa, Gregorio Lavilla and Kenny Foray did finally a better race than expected. They were short of time to develop the bike and carry on more tyre development with Bridgestone, and the Yamaha GMT 94 was never seen in the front of the race. “We could not race for victory”, said GMT 94 team-manager Christophe Guyot, “but we are very happy to cross the finish line as we did not finish the previous two editions”.
The Suzuki RT Moto Virus of Frédéric Jond, Eric Mizera and William Grare took a fantastic fifth place ahead of the Kawasaki Bolliger Team Switzerland of Horst Saiger, Roman Stamm and Frédéric Chabosseau. The Swiss Kawasaki team was expecting a spot onto the podium but they had to give away their third place as a clutch problem occurred around 11 am.
After a rather quiet night, the morning was full of surprises. The Honda National Motos, who was, long before the Kawasaki Bolliger, in third position, had to deal with many technical problems, a crash that damaged the engine, and on top of that, some fire took place on the bike during a pit stop.
Same story for the Suzuki Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers, in fourth place before some transmission problem and a broken engine case stopped their race.
The BMW Michelin of Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Bertrand Stey retired around 11 am. In fifth place after three hours of race, the bike was delayed by a faulty water hose and then from some very strong electrics problems.
The Honda Michelin Power Research Team also gave up before midnight, as their engine broke down. In the top 10 in the first set of laps, the Honda Michelin PRT lost contact from the early race as Josep Monge crashed and some front brake problems occurred.
The Suzuki AM Moto Racing also retired in the beginning of the night. The Suzuki 110 was well placed in the top 10 from the beginning of the race. Same disappointment for the RMT 21 and Folch Endurance. The German Honda (frame damaged after a crash) and the Spanish Yamaha (mechanical problem) left the race at the same time.
1 / GSR - KAWASAKI / DA COSTA J - FOUR O - LEBLANC G / KAWASAKI /24:00:47.253 / 828
2 / YAMAHA AUSTRIA R.T. / JERMAN I - MARTIN ST - GIABBANI G / YAMAHA / 24:02:22.100 /817 / 11 T
3 / RAC41 - CITY BIKE / JUNOD G - BLACK G - DEPOORTER O / SUZUKI /24:00:52.743 / 813 / 15 T
4 / YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 IPONE / CHECA D - LAVILLA G - FORAY K / YAMAHA /24:01:17.063 / 808 / 20 T
5 / R.T. MOTOVIRUS RACING / JOND F - MIZERA E - GRARRE W / SUZUKI /24:01:10.368 / 803 / 25 T
6 / BOLLIGER TEAM / SAIGER H - STAMM F - CHABOSSEAU F / KAWASAKI /24:02:21.683 / 802 / 26 T
7 / INFINI POWER BIKE TROYES / DUPUIS E - HOLUB F - HIERNAUX K / KAWASAKI /24:00:55.661 / 793 / 35 T
8 / BMP ELF 99 RACING TEAM / DAEMEN W - CUDLIN D - LAGRIVE M / HONDA / 24:01:59.630 /780 / 48 T
9 / MOTOBOX KREMER / SCHERRER M - GAZIELLO F - PAAVILAINEN T / SUZUKI / 24:00:57.085/ 775 / 53 T
10 / TEAM FLEMBBO / JARDIN T - GUYOT T - BARBANCON X / YAMAHA /24:01:05.513 / 773 / 55 T
11 / TEAM FMA ASSURANCES / KIPP M - ROUICHI F - BOULANGE G / HONDA /24:01:32.713 / 754 / 74 T
12 / TEAM ALFS / MONTANO T - BARTON J - GODFREY M / KAWASAKI /24:01:28.057 / 747 / 81 T
13 / TEAM 18 SAPEURS-POMPIERS / MOLINIER ST - BRIERE D - TANGRE J / SUZUKI /24:01:10.860 / 698 / 130 T
14 / NATIONAL MOTOS HONDA / JONCHIERE E - SCARNATO S - BARRIER S / HONDA /24:01:02.291 / 669 / 159 T
15 / TRACK TEAM ZONE ROUGE / CUYPERS PH - VAN DEN BROECK W - LE GRELLE F / YAMAHA / 24:02:05.466 / 661 / 167 T
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/art ... icle=40144
2010 24h of Lemans
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