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2011
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LE MANS 2010
LE MANS 2010 - THE RACE First Kawasaki
victory at Le Mans since 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, which had a faultless race and took advantage of the problems affecting their challengers. This 33rd edition of Le Mans offers then a tri-color podium, as far as the manufacturers, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki, as well as the tyre suppliers, Pirelli, Michelin and Dunlop, are concerned. 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, a fire on the bike during a pit stop. They managed to get back on track for a last lap under the chequered flag, and finished the race in 31st position and 14th EWC. Same story for the Suzuki Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers, in fourth place before some transmission problem and a broken engine case stopped their race. In the Superstock class, the Suzuki of Qatar Endurance Racing Team took their first Le Mans class victory. Anthony Delhalle, Alex Cudlin and Rashid Al Mannai had to fight hard for that. The QERT took advantage of the fact that the Suzuki Motor Events of Vincent Bocquet, Emilien Humeau and Gérald Muteau, which was promised to a class victory, was then involved in a accident with another machine. The BMW Colexon of Florian Kresse, Marc Wildisen and Udo Reischman completes the Superstock podium. The pace was very high during
the first four hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The beginning was the race was
animated by Vincent Philippe on the SERT Suzuki, who made the holeshot, but they
were out of the race after two hours. Back on track at a slow pace after a
crash, Guillaume Dietrich could not be avoided by Victor Carrasco on the Yamaha
BK Maco Moto Racing Team. The two machines were completely The race was also disastrous for many bikes from the Superstock class. The Yamaha X-One, who were holding a solid third place, had to give up as the chain broke down and damaged the engine case. The Suzuki Endurance Moto 45 retired before 9 am as Alexandre Lagrive crashed. The Yamaha LTG 57 stopped the race at 7:30 pm, with a broken engine resulting from a leaking radiator. After facing serious brake problems, the BMW Penz13.com had to retire after Matti Seidel crashed Saturday evening. Same stories Saturday evening from Suzuki MCS Racing Ipone (broken engine) and the Suzuki No Limits (riders injured). The second round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship will take place on the 22nd of May in Spain, for the 8 Hours of Albacete. SUPERPOLE! The pressure was intense and the
suspense was very high this afternoon in Le Mans for the Superpole of the 24
Hours Moto. This pole position chase was run in three sessions. The first
session, opened to the In the second Superpole session,
opened to the sixteen fastest, it was Suzuki RT Moto Virus’ turn to be
eliminated as Frédéric Jond crashed. On the Honda National Motos, Sylvain
Barrier also crashed but, however, managed to get back on track and improved his
lap time in 1’39.646, which was enough to give him access to the Superpole third
session. Julien da Costa did the session’s best lap on his Kawasaki GSR in
1’38.271, ahead of Vincent Philippe on SERT Suzuki in 1’38.384 and Erwan Nigon
on the BMW Michelin in 1’38.176. The second session’s was really disappointed
for Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone with the tenth GSR Kawasaki on provisional pole position at Le Mans ahead of SERT and BMP Elf 99
Thanks to their very homogenous trio of riders, Julien da Costa, Olivier Four
and Grégory Leblanc, the Team GSR Kawasaki managed to score the provisional pole
position after the second qualification session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,
ahead of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team of Vincent Philippe, Guillaume
Dietrich and Freddy Foray. The two official machines are leading the private
Honda BMP Elf 99 of Matthieu Lagrive, Damian Cudlin and Werner Daemen. Mainly
composed by volunteers, the Team BMP Elf 99 is with no doubt a serious contender
for the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship title chase. Matthieu Within the same second, at the average time of the three riders, are the Honda National Motos of Sébastien Scarnato, Emeric Jonchière and Sylvain Barrier (third best lap time of the session) and the Honda Michelin Power Research Team of William Costes, Hugo Marchand and Josep Monge. Yamaha Austria Racing Team is quietly in ambush in sixth place, keeping their resources for the Superpole sessions this afternoon for the twenty fastest teams from the qualifications. The YART is ahead of the BMW Michelin (which had to recruit Bertrand Stey, previously at the Michelin PRT, to replace at the last minute Sébastien Charpentier who finally gave up from his participation for these 24 Hours of Le Mans), the Suzuki RAC 41 City Bike and the Suzuki of Junior Team LMS, first Superstock machine. The Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone is still working hard to make the best from their Bridgestone tyres. The R1 of David Checa, Gregorio Lavilla and Kenny Foray is in tenth place, just ahead of the best private BMW, the Superstock S 1000 RR from team Andalucia. In the Superstock class, the Aprilia Loïc Moto Racing signs the third best performance, with Patrick Piot, David Morillon and Cyril Brivet. The Superstock Suzuki of Qatar Endurance Racing Team was delayed as Anthony Delhalle crashed on an oil patch, is in 21st place. Dani Ribalta also crashed on the Yamaha BK Maco Moto Racing. With a broken forearm, the Spanish rider unfortunately won’t be on the starting grid. LE MANS 2nd TEST
Despite difficult weather conditions with a lot of rain and some really strong winds, most of the main teams registered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans opening round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship on 17 and 18 April were present this week for two days of testing on the Bugatti race track. The only, yet highly noticed, absence was from Team BMW Michelin, who could not put together on time all the race parts of their S 1000 RR. The team said that it would be on the starting grid according to the initial plan. All the other teams have been continuing with development and tyre testing. There is absolutely no doubt that the tyres will play a central role this season. Michelin, 2009 Qtel FIM Endurance World Champion and Le Mans winner last year with Yamaha Austria Racing Team, is also doing some development work with the Honda Michelin Power Racing Team. At YART, the team seems to be working fine and is focused on the very same objective: Le Mans victory and another world title in 2010. Pirelli shows the same confidence and will race at Le Mans with team GSR Kawasaki as well as the Kawasaki Bolliger Team Switzerland and the Suzuki RT Racing Team. But the strongest determination seems to be coming from Dunlop. As they had been given a lesson by Michelin last year on the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dunlop worked hard last winter to give their best tyres ever to their official team, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team.
Bridgestone remains an unknown component of the 2010 tyre equation. As a partner of the Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone, the Japanese tyre supplier is making its World Endurance debut. The team managed by Christophe Guyot started its development work from a blank page and is working twice as hard with the Bridgestone engineers to fill the gap with more experienced teams in Endurance. The first answers concerning the new 2010 Endurance hierarchy will come as soon as Thursday, 15 April, with the first free practice at Le Mans. A new race schedule will add more spice to the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship: the Superpole has a new format and will now be disputed in three distinctive sessions. The first session will be open to the twenty fastest teams after the qualifications; the second to the sixteenth fastest rider from Superpole 1; the last one to the eight fastest riders from Superpole 2. Only one rider per team can enter the Superpole and only one set of tyres is allowed for the three sessions of the Superpole. No doubt that the tyres will play a prominent role this season! LE MANS TEST TIMES MARCH 11th
Suzuki SERT : 1'38.9 Gwen Giabbani (Yamaha Austria / 2009 World Champion): "This was not ideal for us on Wednesday, but things went well on Thursday. We found a good setting at the end. It could be better. We need to progress." Dominique Meliand (SERT): "We had a good lap time, it is true, but what I'm most happy with is that we have achieved a good series of about twenty consecutive fast laps. Vincent Philippe has completed this series between 1'39.1 and 1'39.4. It's never good enough, but it is a good start to work. It puts everyone in trust." Christophe Guyot (Yamaha GMT): "It is true that we did not run very quickly, but we have done a good job and made many good things. Our tyres never arrived in time. We keep a good morale." Damien Saulnier (Junior Team Suzuki): "We had come to test last week. Luca de Carolis did 1'39 .8, Baptiste Guittet 1'40.3, Cedric Tangre (sick) 1'40 and David Niviere in 1'41.2. I'm happy. There was no fall or errors. It is a good start for the season." LE MANS PREVIEW STOP PRESS: SEBASTIEN CHARPENTIER replaces MATTHIEU LAGRIVE in the Daffix BMW Michelin Team.... All
the favourites were back on the Bugatti race track this week for two days of
testing, ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first round of the 2010 Qtel FIM
Endurance World Championship scheduled for Like
the SERT, Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone is back chasing the title. They closed a
deal with a new tyre supplier in the discipline: Bridgestone. Yamaha France GMT
94 has to schedule an intensive development As a newcomer with the permanent teams, but already known for some great endurance results (7th at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 4th at the 2009 Bol d’Or), the Suzuki RAC 41 City Bike was also at Le Mans to test their GSX-R. The bike claims an extra 10 hp from last year and the team is entering three new riders: Greg Junod, Greg Black and Olivier Depoorter.
Although they can lay claim for the 2010 title, the Kawasaki of Team GSR is a
strong contender for Le Bugatti race track. The work done on the suspensions and
the development carried last winter with Pirelli In the Superstock class, the Yamaha LTG 57 was practicing with its new team: Nicolas Jaulneau, Kevin Denis and Adrien Ganfornina will race the bike with the support of Michael Lalevée. However, in that class, the most closely watched team is with no doubt the Junior Team Suzuki LMS, with Lucas de Carolis, Cédric Tangre, Baptiste Guittet and David Nivière. However, the Junior Team won’t enter the whole championship and therefore can’t clinch the FIM Superstock World Cup. The next testing session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on 30 and 31 March.
17th & 18th
APRIL 2010: LE MANS ACCOMODATION There's a new place to stay at Le Mans for all race teams and fans - this just in from Pierre de Saint Rémy: "As we are starting a brand new hotel just beside Le Mans, we have been in contact by mail with you a few weeks ago and as promised the website is ready. In clicking on it below you are going to discover the fruit of our project. To complete our presentation, we have a park with two digital code gates, so that all the cars and trucks can be in security. It's also possible to set up mobile-homes, catering etc...Hoping that you could be interested in staying at home for the next Le Mans 24 Hours 2010 or whatever event , you can contact us at any time for further information." Martine et Pierre de Saint Rémy.
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