Bol d’Or – Report at Le Castellet: the Bol d’Or 2015 seen from the inside –

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Report from Le Castellet: the Bol d’Or 2015 seen from the inside

Bol d'Or - Report at Le Castellet: the Bol d'Or 2015 seen from the inside -

The return of the legendary Bol d’Or at Le Castellet was marked by a superb race with twists and turns, a deserved victory for the Kawasaki n ° 11 of the SRC and the 2015 EWC world title for the Suzuki 1000 GSX-R n ° 30 of the SERT. Report.

The return of the legendary Bol d’Or at Le Castellet was marked by a superb race with twists and turns, a deserved victory for the No. 11 SRC Kawasaki and the 2015 EWC world title for the No. 30 SERT Suzuki 1000 GSX-R. Report.

The Bol d’Or 2015 on MNC

  • Report in the heart of Le Castellet

Like 74,000 spectators, the Provençal sun had responded to honor the return of the Bol d’Or to the Paul Ricard circuit in Castellet (83).

Kawasaki wins its fourth consecutive Bol d’Or victory at the end of a difficult race, while Suzuki takes its fourteenth world crown with the SERT at the end of a race with many twists, which gave this 79th edition a particularly flavor. exciting.

As for the last edition of the 24 Hours of Barcelona, ​​the Journal moto du Net experienced this Bol d’Or 2015 from the inside, thanks to the friendly CC Motos Racing Endurance team, present at Le Castellet for the first time () with his Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 43.

Before the race, after qualifying, the top teams were all confident and motivated for victory. A state of mind conducive to great fights !

Gilles Stafler, team manager of the SRC Kawasaki team (ZX-10R n ° 11), confides his objectives to Site after the pole position obtained by his pilots: "after our failures at Suzuka and Oschersleben, our only objective here is to win the race to forget these failures. We can no longer play the title, I have nothing more to calculate so the instructions are clear: thoroughly! "

For his part, Dominique Meliand, the boss of SERT, is more measured: "here we are at the foot of the tower", he confesses. "Given the times obtained by our competitors yesterday in qualifying, we will ride differently, the times will not be the same, it will be a long and difficult event but our main objective is still to win the race".

At GMT94, team manager Christophe Guyot is "happy to be there, everything is on top and in addition with the sun". He too has a very clear objective: "we want to win the race!", He blurted out, smiling..

An eventful first round !

The start is given after the passage of two aerobatic planes of the Air Force above the straight line of the pits, honoring this 79th Bol d’Or and its large audience..

From the start, the n ° 111 Honda CBR 1000 RR of Team Honda Racing took the lead in the hands of Freddy Foray but was quickly passed by the n ° 72 Suzuki 1000 GSX-R of Junior Team Le Mans Sud, who took the lead. of the first round.

Seats are expensive and all the competition is neck and neck, but at the last corner before completing the first lap, the GMT94 Yamaha R1, then driven by David Checa, is hit, slips and falls, just like the Kawasaki. ZX-10R n ° 113 of the Barneoud team. Staying on the other side of the track, David waits to be able to cross to retrieve his machine and returns to the pit pushing the R1 which does not restart, while the BMW S 1000 RR n ° 13 returns to the pits and leaves immediately.

Then it was the turn of the Honda CBR 1000 RR n ° 55 of National Motos, driven by Louis Bulle, to return to the pit for a problem of power cuts. He only set off again after about thirty minutes of stopping, in last position 13 laps behind the leader following the replacement of the Honda alternator..

Less than a quarter of an hour after the start, the Yamaha R1 n ° 94 from GMT sets off again after having replaced the fairing and wheels. A little bitter but still motivated, Christophe Guyot still wants to believe it: "everything is still possible, we are still in the race!" he announces to Site.

A little more realistic, Eric De Seynes admits that "when I saw David fall, I immediately thought of Dominique Meliand because the points are added every eight hours. We had counted on the first 8 and 16 hours to return to the SERT, but there it is dead ", loose the big boss of Yamaha Motor Europe, a little disappointed but who is counting on a fantastic comeback from the GMT94 riders for a possible place of honor. There are then more than 23 hours of racing…

Behind the leading trio are respectively placed the Yamaha R1 n ° 7 of the Monster Energy Yamaha YART team driven by Broc Parkes and the Suzuki 1000 GSX-R n ° 72 of the Junior Team led by Gregg Black.

It beats hard…

Things are changing very quickly and it is now the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 11 of the SRC which leads the dance in the hands of Gregory Leblanc.

The fight is played out at all levels, as much for the first place between the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 11 of the SRC, the Suzuki 1000 GSX-R n ° 30 of the SERT and the Honda CBR 1000 RR n ° 111 of the Honda Racing Team. than in Superstock where the Yamaha R1 n ° 333 of the Viltaïs Experiences team, second in the category behind the Suzuki n ° 72, whips as much as possible and is in sixth position overall after the first hour of the race.

The twists and turns continue: the n ° 11 SRC Kawasaki ZX-10R is surprised by a lack of gasoline following a bad consumption calculation and returns to the pit prematurely. The adventure makes him lose four places…

Shortly before 5 p.m., Sebastien Gimbert, then at the controls of the official Honda n ° 111, overtook Etienne Masson on the handlebars of the SERT Suzuki n ° 30 and took the lead of the race! The GMT94 Yamaha climbed back to 41st place…

In Stocksport, the battle is tough: the Kawasaki ZX-10R of Team Traqueur Louit Motos is now in second position in the category (7th overall), ahead of the Yamaha R1 n ° 333 of the Yamaha Viltais Experience (8th overall).

As you might expect, it is therefore a general fierce battle taking place on the Provencal circuit..

After the third hour of the race, the Kawasaki n ° 8 of Team Bolliger goes heavily to fault at the hands of Nicolas Salchaux and will have to resign himself to retirement due to major damage to the bike: rupture of the frame and the swingarm..

"It makes no sense"

At 6:41 p.m., Gregg Black on the handlebars of the No. 72 Junior Team LMS Suzuki 1000 GSX-R crashed while going off the track at the Bendor turn. "This is to understand nothing", says Damien Saulnier, team manager, to Site: "the ignition rotor blocked at times on the housing, thus blocking the wheel jerkily. Gregg is not for nothing in this fall, it was this technical incident that caused him to fall ". Suzuki 72 will withdraw soon after.

The safety cars then neutralize the race for ten minutes, and it starts again.

Provencal night

Night falls on the Paul Ricard circuit and the leaders engage in a crossover between the Suzuki 1000 GSX-R n ° 30 from SERT, Honda CBR 1000 RR from Honda Racing, Kawasaki n ° 11 from Kawasaki SRC and the Yamaha R1 from Team Monster Energy Yamaha Yart, while the Yamaha R1 # 94 from GMT94 gradually climbs back up and is now in 12th place !

On the side of the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 43 of CC Motos Racing, despite a small problem with the Dunlop KR rear tire which caused them to lose a few seconds during a stint due to an abnormal degradation, their classification progressed and they pointed to the 35th place.

At 9:00 p.m., the Suzuki n ° 30 of SERT retains control in front of the Honda n ° 111.

Shortly after 9:00 p.m., another neutralization by the safety cars following the fall of the Kawasaki ZX-10R of the Flembbo Leader Team at the entrance to the Mistral straight line. Janez Prozenic is unharmed but his motorcycle is embedded under the barriers … Once the protections have been put in place by the marshals, the race resumes at 9:27 p.m..

The gap between the first two places increases: the Suzuki 1000 GSX-R n ° 30 of SERT in the hands of Anthony Delhalle is now more than a minute behind the Honda CBR 1000 RR driven by Julien da Costa.

Mathieu Ginès, at the controls of the Yamaha R1 of the GMT94, climbed back to 6th place !

At 10:25 p.m., the n ° 55 Honda CBR 1000 RR from National Motos had to retire due to a gearbox problem while the n ° 57 Kawasaki ZX-10R from DL Moto Racing piloted by Adrien Doux fell and had to return to the pits with the stroller…

Falls and various breakages will mark this Provençal night … The Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 21 of the 2CP Bourgogne Athletic is the victim of a violent fall: motorcycle cut in two, it is abandonment.

Four other retirements will follow with those of the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 99 of the Artec team, then of the Suzuki 1000 GSX-R numbers 63 and 67, respectively of the LMD63 APR Events and of the Star Pam Racing, then of the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 89 of PHI Endurance.

At around 2 a.m., the SERT Suzuki 1000 GSX-R n ° 30 then in the lead encountered rear wheel problems and had to return to the pit twice in a row! A replacement of the wheel axle solves the problem but it makes it lose the lead of the race: the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 11 of the SRC takes the leadership a few minutes at halfway, but loses it again a few laps later. following a chain break giving way to the Honda CBR 1000 RR n ° 111.

At around 4 a.m., a hare ran down the track, chased by a turtleneck unicorn! Uh, no, I’m going back to the C.C Motos Racing 43 stand to rest a little and eat pancakes…

Just before sunrise, the Yamaha R1 n ° 333 of Team Yamaha Viltaïs Experiences, then in the first 20 places and third in Superstock, fell by doing several rolls….

The rider brought the bike back to the pit lane but became uncomfortable when he arrived. The mechanics repair the machine to allow it to continue the race.

"The fall was due to a rupture of the oil pressure sensor", explains to Site the team manager of the team, Yannick Lucot..

The day after…

In the first light of day, the n ° 66 Kawasaki ZX-10R of Racing Team Sarazin breaks its engine on the pit straight and spills all its oil at the pit exit…

Stewards and team mechanics then quickly get busy covering the oil with absorbent and sweeping, which partially blocks the race, neutralized for a few minutes by the safety cars.

At 7.20am, a hard blow for the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 43 of the C.C Motos Racing Endurance: Sergio Mangeroni was struck in the last corner before the pit straight. The two motorcycles are on the ground and n ° 43 remains blocked on the other side of the track, rear wheel blocked, tire jagged…

A service vehicle leaves to retrieve the machine and the driver, which wastes long minutes for the team which was then in 33rd position.

Once at the pits, the mechanics hasten to restore the bike to its original state. The crew of the Kawasaki ZX-10R n ° 43 lost a good forty minutes before returning to Pierre Lemos. These 40 minutes lost only lost him two places (about twenty laps) … Let’s go !

The official Honda # 111 is still in the lead with nearly a minute ahead of the # 11 Kawasaki SRC, one lap on the # 13 Motorrad France Team Penz BMW S1000RR and two laps on the # 13 Yamaha R1. 94 of the GMT94 which continues its fantastic ascent imperturbably.

The # 30 Suzuki 1000 GSX-R is in fifth position five laps behind the leader.

But ahead, the battle is fierce and the Kawasaki n ° 11 manages to return to the front of the race following an engine failure of the Honda CBR 1000 RR n ° 111 at the end of the morning..

BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13’s BMW S 1000 RR # 13 occupies second position two laps from the lead machine … and GMT94 Yamaha R1 # 94 now occupies third place !

On the Superstocks side, the n ° 33 Kawasaki ZX-10R of Team Traqueur Louit Moto 33 which still led the category with its 6th scratch place after mid-race last night, is passed by its n ° 4 colleague of Tati Beaujolais Racing who takes the lead in the category by taking sixth place overall. Kawasaki n ° 33 goes seventh.

Nice performance of the Metiss n ° 45 of the JLC Moto team: first Open, it is in 18th place overall after the 17th hour of the race. Bad plan on the other hand for the Yamaha n ° 7 of the YART which falls and gives up !

At this time of the race, there are already about fifteen withdrawals.

Around 11 o’clock, the SRC Kawasaki is still in the lead but it is now followed by the Yamaha 94, which is only two laps behind! The SERT Suzuki n ° 30 is in third position, still three laps ahead…

Less than an hour from the finish of this 79th Bol d’Or, things are hot at Yamaha: while the lap times of the No. 11 Kawasaki oscillate between 2’01 and 2’02 (best time in the race : 1’58.979), the GMT94 Yamaha which is only less than one lap behind the leader now obtains better lap times by a few tenths (best race time: 1’59.552)…

"There are less than thirty laps left, even if we drove a second faster than them on each lap there would still be a shortage," Eric de Seynes told MNC, playing it safe. For his part, Christophe Guyot remains combative and launches: "we will not let go, otherwise we would stall in 2’05!"

The SERT’s Suzuki plays it safe and locks in its third place, world title in its pocket four laps later…

The checkered flag of this 79th edition of the Bol d’Or is lowered in front of the SRC Kawasaki ZX-10R which wins the race for the fourth consecutive time. Second place for Yamaha R1 from GMT94 and Suzuki 1000 GSX-R from SERT finished third, 2015 world endurance champion.

In Superstock, it is the Kawasaki ZX-10R of Tati Beaujolais Racing which offers the victory, at the foot of the podium of the general classification. The second place and the Superstock world title goes to the Kawasaki ZX-10R of Traqueur Louit Moto 33, while the third step of the podium is for the BMW S 1000 RR of the Volpker NRT48 Penz13.

As for our little guys from C.C Moto Racing, they finished their first Bol d’Or in 30th place overall !

Marcus HIMSELF

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