24 Heures Motos – 24H Moto du Mans: BMW gives up, Kawa takes the lead again –

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24H Moto du Mans: BMW retires, Kawa takes the lead

24 Heures Motos - 24H Moto du Mans: BMW gives up, Kawa takes the lead again -

The Kawasaki SRC n ° 11 finally took advantage of the night – and the abandonment of the BMW n ° 99, then in the lead! – to take back the controls of the 24H Moto 2013: Gilles Stafler’s men (Gregory Leblanc, Fabien Foret and Nicolas Salchaud) are ahead of the Suzuki # 2 of Team R2CL (Guy Martin, Dylan Buisson and Gwen Giabbani) by 7 laps and the Yamaha n ° 94 of the GMT …

The Kawasaki SRC n ° 11 finally took advantage of the night – and the abandonment of the BMW n ° 99, then in the lead! – to take back the controls of the 24H Moto 2013: Gilles Stafler’s men (Gregory Leblanc, Fabien Foret and Nicolas Salchaud) beat the Suzuki n ° 2 of Team R2CL (Guy Martin, Dylan Buisson and Gwen Giabbani) by 7 laps and the Yamaha n ° 94 of the GMT (David Checa, Kenny Foray and Mathieu Lagrive), one lap later.

New retirement for the BMW n ° 99

While it had passed the halfway mark in the lead, the BMW n ° 99 had returned to the pits for an unexpected stop: Josh Waters is worried by the noise of the exhaust. The mechanics are busy and the bike sets off again a few minutes later, then comes back with a new gearbox problem….

After the mechanics intervened, she took the track again in 9th position but returned shortly after, still the victim of a gearbox problem. The mechanics try to solve it for 30 minutes, leaving the towers to line up for the benefit of the other competitors, and it is finally the abandonment….

"Joy, sadness, surprises and disappointments"

After its white results in and in – only the had allowed it to score points by finishing second -, the S1000RR n ° 99 BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent is playing decidedly bad luck in the world championship…

"Endurance is a sport full of twists and turns where joy and sadness, surprises and disappointments mix", notes – once again – the BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent in the wee hours of the morning: "congratulations to the drivers for their perfect race and to the mechanics of the BMW Motorrad France team for giving everything! "

"Our eyes are now on the other S 1000 RRs entered in the Superstock category", continues the n ° 99 team: "the Volkper Team Schubert Motors (BMW n ° 48, Editor’s note) is currently in 17th position, while the Esperanza teams (BMW n ° 12, Editor’s note) and RS Speedbikes Racing (BMW n ° 56 in the Open category, Editor’s note) are competing for 22nd place ".

"Work hard so as not to encounter the same problem in the future"

"It’s a shame that it ends like this because the team and the other drivers have worked very hard since the start of the weekend," confirms Sylvain Barrier … "We had a good race and followed our table walking, not too fast and not too slowly, so leaving in these conditions is really frustrating. Now we have to get back to work, even harder than this weekend, so that we are sure not to encounter the same problem in the future".

Same sadness for Josh Waters, "extremely disappointed to have kept two laps ahead during what everyone considers the most difficult part of the night, to finish the race on a mechanical problem … You can see on the timesheets that we kept in mind, all that to make this problem happen. The team did a good job and I would like to thank them for giving me this opportunity. It’s hard to to end like that, that’s for sure, but it’s the race "…

Finally Sebastien Gimbert, very experienced, also tries to relativize but we feel that the disappointment is great: "No matter how long you have led for 24 hours, only your position at the time of the checkered flag counts. This weekend we had a fast bike, fast tires and three fast and reliable riders, supported by a strong team. We didn’t fall, we made no mistakes, but we are still out of the race because of the mechanics. hard for everyone, the team, my teammates and myself, but it’s the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it’s a difficult race ".

Abandonment of Yamaha n ° 7 from YART and Honda n ° 20 from FMA Assurances

Abandonment also during the night for the Yamaha n ° 7 of the YART, victim of an engine problem. The Austrian team were playing for the world championship title and fighting at the forefront with the No.11 Kawasaki before the problems with the No.99 BMW.

On the Honda side, the No.55 National Moto retained its 5th place 10 laps behind the leaders while that of the Honda Network for the League against Cancer (No.51) was 19th scratch and 11th Superstock. The CBR n ° 20 of the FMA Assurances team unfortunately had to give up due to a clutch problem, after starting 6th on the grid and playing for several hours at the forefront..

"A clutch problem got the better of the good prospect which was announced for the n ° 20", regrets the team: "we are all disappointed but also very proud of the work accomplished and the performances achieved in this race. all for your support! "

Only 35 motorcycles remain on the track but during this time in Superstock, the n ° 50 of Motors Event continues its very good race at the head of the category (5th scratch) in front of the Suzuki n ° 72 of the Junior Team LMS (8th) and the Kawasaki Louit Moto n ° 33 (10th).

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