24 Heures Motos – 3:00 p.m .: SRC Kawasaki scores its third straight victory at Le Mans! –

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3:00 p.m .: SRC Kawasaki scores its third straight victory at Le Mans !

24 Heures Motos - 3:00 p.m .: SRC Kawasaki scores its third straight victory at Le Mans! -

The Kawasaki n ° 11 has just signed its third victory in a row at the 24H Moto du Mans with one minute ahead of the Suzuki n ° 1, at the end of a race dominated by the Greens but bitterly fought, in particular with the SERT’s GSX-R which has not taken excessive risks in the last few hours, knowing that a second …

The Kawasaki n ° 11 has just signed its third victory in a row at the 24H Moto du Mans with one minute ahead of the Suzuki n ° 1, at the end of a race dominated by the Greens but bitterly fought, in particular with the SERT’s GSX-R which did not take excessive risks in the last hours, knowing that a second place ahead of the BMW n ° 99 and the Yamaha n ° 94 ensured it the title of world endurance champion in 2012.

So two hours from the finish, while Julien da Costa whipped the ZX-10R n ° 11 in 1’40.8, the Japanese rider Takuya Tsuda on the GSX-R 10000 n ° 1 was running like clockwork in 1’41.7, or even 1’42. "We expected a fight with the kawasaki, it did take place!", Commented Anthony Delhalle a little later, leaving the handlebars of Suzuki n ° 1 to Vincent Philippe for the last minutes of the race..

Priority to the world championship !

"The priority for Suzuki is the world championship", confirms Dominique Meliand 45 minutes from the finish, "but you know that we are greedy … So if this victory at the 24H of Le Mans was within our reach, we would have big enough arms to go and get it! "

At 12:38 the Yamaha n ° 7 of the YART, then in 6th position, suddenly stops at the edge of the track: Igor Jerman brings the motorcycle back to the stroller through the safety lanes and the motorcycle leaves at 1:00 pm in the hands of Gwen Giabbani.

Two hours from the finish, Damian Cudlin on the BMW n ° 99 3rd was in the rear wheel of Kenny Foray on the Yamaha n ° 94 fourth … The Australian rider, who was already one lap ahead of the R1, seemed ready to make short work of the French, who resisted a few laps before refueling and passing the baton to David Checa.

Sebastien Gimbert took back the handlebars of the n ° 99 at 1:00 p.m. for his last stint while the Suzuki n ° 211 Motors Events officially retired. At 13:50, Kenny Foray took the handlebars of Yamaha n ° 94 to try to climb on the third step of the podium instead of BMW n ° 99…

The radiator curse…

"The radiator costs us the victory, that’s for sure, but maybe also the podium", regretted Christophe Guyot an hour before the finish (read our). Especially since the Val-de-Marne team also had to deal with the recent operation on the elbow of Matt Lagrive: "it was very difficult and very painful for Matthieu who was very courageous, so David and Kenny realized every second relay ".

5 manufacturers in the Top 5

After a last fright for all the pilots 7 minutes from the end, due to the fall of the Honda n ° 109 of the Cognages team (Remy Echard, David Dumain and Emmanuel Thuillier) which spilled oil in Garave green, Le Mans therefore again escapes BMW.

But this is the first time that a European motorcycle has climbed the podium in Manceau, and we also find five different manufacturers in the top 5 with the Kawasaki n ° 11, the Suzuki n ° 1, the BMW n ° 99 , Yamaha n ° 94 and Honda n ° 77.

We also find this top 5 in a different order in the ranking of the 2012 World Endurance Championship, with the Suzuki n ° 1 of SERT in the lead ahead of the BMW BMW Motorrad France Thevent n ° 99, the Yamaha n ° 94 of the GMT, Honda # 77 TT Legends and SRC Kawasaki # 11.

Last minute: Suzuki n ° 67 is disqualified

The No. 67 Starteam Suzuki was ultimately disqualified for "non-compliance with technical regulations". The official Superstock podium of the 24H Moto du Mans 2012 is therefore as follows:

  1. Kawasaki n ° 33 Louit Moto 33
  2. BMW n ° 13 Penz13 Kraftwerk Herpigny Racing
  3. Yamaha n ° 333 Viltaïs

The Le Mans 2 Roues (Aprilia), MCS Racing Ipone (Suzuki) and 3A Courtage Team RPM (Kawasaki) teams were also disqualified for "non-compliance with technical regulations"..

Update of 11/27/2012. New rebound in Superstock: Starteam was finally reclassified by the FIM and therefore wins the category (read).

In Superstock, the Suzuki n ° 67 of Starteam (Claude Lucas, Jonathan Hardt and Kevin Longearet) crosses the finish line in 7th scratch stage ahead of the Kawasaki n ° 33 of Louit Moto (David Perret, Nicolas Salchaud and Nans Chevaux) 8th and the BMW n ° 13 of Penz13 Kraftwerk (Arie Vos, Pedro Vallcaneras and Jason Pridmore) 9th. The official classification will however be modified after the scrutineering (see opposite).

Finally in the Open, only two bikes out of the four starters crossed the checkered flag. The crew of the Ducati Panigale n ° 82 of Scuderia Zone Rouge, author of a superb race for their first participation, ranks 34th scratch and wins the category ahead of the Yamaha FZ1 n ° 113 which also achieves a good performance: Franck Tauziède, Cyril Carrillo and Mathieu Charpin have to take the Yamaha FZ1 roadster to the finish of these 24H Moto 2012.

"The hardest part is the wind in the helmet at the end of the straight line, it hurts the necks a lot … But otherwise it works as well as the sportswomen!", Explained Matthieu Charpin one hour before the finish…

THE MOTORCYCLE JOURNAL DU NET – Photos Julien PATALONE

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