24 Heures Motos – Pressure is building at Le Mans –

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The pressure is mounting at Le Mans

24 Heures Motos - Pressure is building at Le Mans -

Will the 2005 GSX-R allow the SERT to counter the repeated assaults of the GMT R1? Unless the ZX-10, now in practice, allows Kawasaki to play spoilers? The forces present at the start of the 28th 24 Hours, Saturday at 3 p.m….

"Our ambitions are clear", warns the boss of Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT), real Jack Bauer of world endurance:"win the World Endurance Championship, win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and win the Bol d’Or".

As a tactician, Dominique Meliand knows however that the objective will not be so easy to achieve this weekend. "The competition will be there, even more pressing this year", recognizes the pope of endurance:"great fights in perspective, guaranteed spectacle for spectators and stress on the menu for managers !"

On the one hand, the flagship Suzuki team has to reckon with the forfeiture of two of its drivers who crashed while testing new tires during practice. "This is the black point", explains Dominique Meliand:"technically, we have done very good tests. Unfortunately, two of our pilots fell. For Vincent Philippe and Stephane Duterne, it is a package that fills us with sadness"… The two SERT GSX-Rs will therefore be entrusted to Keiichi Kitagawa, Stephane Chambon and Mathieu Lagrive (n ° 1) and to Guillaume Dietrich, Olivier Four and Craig Coxhell (n ° 2), with Pierrot Lerat Van-Staen as a substitute pilot.

On the other hand, Christophe Guyot, Suzuki’s main challenger with the Yamaha R1 at GMT 94, also believes that after his title of world champion last year, "2005 would be the ideal year to win Le Mans".

"We all had the impression during the pre-24 Hours practice that the race had already started", confides the team manager of Ivry-sur-Seine who called on his usual trio of 2004 world champions to take the n ° 94 (David Checa, William Costes and Sebastien Gimbert)."We feel really well armed and we clearly show our ambition to win! Nevertheless, we are clear-headed: in the past we have seen successful tests followed by a failed race or the reverse … But we know this year, with the experience we have acquired on the Yamaha, the progress of Pirelli, the homogeneity of the pilots, the exceptional motivation and the competence of the whole team, that we have all the assets on our side".

The designated SERT Challenger, however, the GMT will also have to resist the onslaught of increasingly sharper competition. The Kawasaki Fuchs ART team, in particular, will officially defend the Kawa colors with the ZX-10R n ° 11 in the hands of Julien Da Costa, Mauro Sanchini and Christophe Cogan, with Patrick Piot as a replacement driver..

Now well established, the ZX-10 released in 2004 has already demonstrated its capabilities by finishing on the third step of the podium at the Bol d’Or 2004 (read). This year, the objective is just as clear as for SERT and GMT: "we are firmly determined to play the "win" and to reclaim the conquering pride which had made the famous "Greens" the kings of motorcycle endurance during the 1990s: victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1992, 1993 , 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999 and six motorcycle endurance world champion titles over the same period!)", proudly reminds the importer.

On the Honda side, the two National Moto CBR 1000s (Ludovic Holon, Sebastien Scarnato and Philippe Dobe on n ° 5 and Phillipe Donischal, Bruno Bonhuil and Gwen Giabbani on n ° 6) will once again try to make their voices heard among the stars. endurance.

But it will also be necessary to count with the Junior Team Suzuki Le Mans Sud (Stocksport), the Yamaha n ° 41 of the Deletang team, the n ° 38 of Endurance Moto 38 and the n ° 67 of the 3A Racing Team of Magalï Langlois, Fabienne Migout and Emmanuel Lentaigne, the red GSX-R of Team 18 with the four firefighters Guillaume Pialoux, Guillaume Grelaud, Stephane Molinier and Olivier Guionnet, prepared in the workshops of the School of Performance in Nogaro, etc..

Unlike last year (read), no live coverage on Moto-Net this year because of the prohibitive prices imposed by France Telecom: € 480 excluding VAT for the ADSL connection, we are in full swing! But never mind: we will find you here even from Monday with a full report !

You can also follow the race live on the three sites below, as well as on RMC (Saturday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon) or on Eurosport.

And while waiting for the start of hostilities on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., what better way to warm up than a tour of the Bugatti circuit commented by Keiichi Kitagawa himself on the site ?

  • Pit straight line
    Report: 5th. Speed: 242 km / h. "The motorcycle is constantly accelerating. Well behind the screen to limit the air intake and the handle turned fully, we seek the maximum speed"
  • Entrance to the Dunlop curve
    Report: 6th. Speed: 275 km / h. "It’s pretty impressive: we just passed 5th in the straight line and we passed 6th just at the entrance to the Dunlop curve, when we entered the bike into the bend. We get to around 275 km / h., This is the fastest part of the circuit"
  • Dunlop chicane
    Report: 2nd. Speed: 95 km / h. "After having downshifted from 6th in second, you sit the bike down quite gently, because you have the angle, but you have to brake hard enough because the chicane takes place in second at 95 km / h. In the left / right sequence of the chicane, you have to be vigilant especially at night, because you throw the bike quite quickly in the left and the tires are often 20 ° C cooler (few turns to the left). Then, we quickly rebalance the bike to the right, putting the machine back on charge as quickly as possible.".
  • Dunlop Gateway
    Report: 3rd. Speed: 190 km / h. "We restarted the bike quickly, without straying too far, to take the new left turn a little downhill, where we passed the third. There follows a series of fairly tight turns where you are constantly between 2nd and 3rd gear. At the exit, 3rd then 4th at 204 km / h to reach the Museum bend"
  • Museum turn
    Report: 2nd. Speed: 76 km / h. "We arrive at the entrance of the Museum at 205 km / h in 3rd. You have to position yourself well to enter braking in this left turn. We go into second at 76 km / h. It’s a slightly bumpy turn, with a slower entry than the exit that opens to the outside. You then have to straighten up and accelerate as soon as possible to take advantage of the straight line, where you go up to 4th at 222 km / h"
  • Green Garage turn
    Report: 2nd. Speed: 72 km / h. "Big braking! From 220 km / h in 4th gear, we go to 72 km / h in second. This turn is very important, you have to come out as cleanly as possible in order to accelerate very hard for the long straight line that follows. This is the second fastest part of the circuit. At the end of the straight line, we are in 6th at over 250 km / h"
  • The Oxen Path
    Report: 3rd. Speed: 105 km / h. "We arrive in 5th at around 225 km / h on a rather violent braking in a straight line and downhill to register the bike in this rather slow turn, which we pass in 3rd at 105 km / h. In this very short bend, you have to turn as quickly as possible and take care of the exit to take advantage of the long straight line that follows, where you arrive, to reach the Chemin aux Boeufs at 220 km / h"
  • The Blue Esses
    Report: 2nd. Speed: 96 km / h. "We arrive in 3rd at 195 km / h in this nice sequence of Esses Bleus. The right is quite high. With the support, we can return quite hard by falling the second to 96 km / h. We accelerate again to keep speed (125 km / h) on the left, which is a little more treacherous because it is on a slope on the exit. A fairly straightforward acceleration up to 170 km / h takes us to the connection"
  • The connection
    Report: 2nd. Speed: 81 km / h. "Short but fairly heavy braking makes it possible to attack the connection in 2nd at 81 km / h. In the dry, no problem. In the wet, the trajectory is reduced, because placing the wheels on the paint marks of the vibrators means a guaranteed fall. You have to straighten the bike out as quickly as possible to accelerate. This is particularly important here since we then enter the pit straight, the longest, where we go up all gears until the Dunlop curve."

In short, a splendid weekend in perspective, not to mention the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday in Estoril (read) !

Eric MICHEL – Photos DR and Lukasz SWIDEREK

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