24 Heures Motos – Update at 12 noon: the YART is on its way to its first victory! –

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Update at 12 p.m.: the YART rolls out towards its first victory !

24 Heures Motos - Update at 12 noon: the YART is on its way to its first victory! -

While the latest twists and turns continue to punctuate the last hours of this 32nd edition of the Le Mans 24Hours Moto, the Yamaha n ° 7 of the YART is slowly heading towards its first success at Le Mans !

Shortly after 8:00 am, the Honda Michelin PRT stops – yes, again! – and the blue-yellow motorbike is now in 25th place. On leaving, it falls – yes, again … – just before nine o’clock at Chemin aux Bœufs and is relegated to 27th position: tired of all its adventures, the Bibendum will "deflate" definitively at 9.40 am.

Meanwhile, it’s a big fight for the Superstocks! The Suzuki n ° 95 of QERT leads the dance and is in 5th position overall, ahead of the Suzuki n ° 72 of the Junior Team LMS and the Suzuki n ° 50 who play cross chasing six laps behind.

At 9:30 am, Honda n ° 111 – driven by Mathieu Lagrive – approached the n ° 1 Suzuki of SERT, two laps away, while Yamaha n ° 7 of YART remained firmly established at the head of the race..

Hard blow for the Firemen: the n ° 18 falls and must return to the pits. Boosted by the return of the Suzuki n ° 1 and Kawasaki n ° 111, the Yamaha of the YART gives a boost and consolidates its first place. Fourth, the Suzuki RT Racing has partially caught up and is only five laps behind the Honda n ° 111, currently in expert hands! – by Sebastien Charpentier.

In the Superstock category, the QERT is the brightest representative and is in fifth place overall, despite a nice slide around 10am. Suzuki # 95 precedes Kawasaki from Gilles Stafler and GSX-R # 72 from LMS.

About twenty minutes before 11 am, the Yamaha of the YART begins its 600th revolution of this 32nd edition of the 24Heures Moto du Mans! The undisputed leader since the first appearance of rain, the 2008 YZF R1 sharpened by Christian Giglio has since been running like clockwork and has managed to maintain the fierce attempts to come back from the Suzuki of SERT and Honda France.

Mandy Kainz, team manager of Yamaha n ° 7 confides in Site a few hours before the finish: "we are still in the Top 3 or 5 during our participations in previous years", he announces to the motorcycle newspaper of the net."and, without particular problems, we must even rely more on the final podium", legitimizes the team manager of the machine in the lead since the 68th lap.

"When the Team makes the trip, it is with the intention of winning", he continues, without hiding that the main real objective of the participation of YART in the 24 Heures Moto du Mans is to"score big points for the world championship", adds Mandy Kainz, who is aiming for the world title after an excellent season in 2008 at SERT aspi.

Grateful, the man also confesses "happy to honor in this way our French tire supplier Michelin, in his own country".

Always so swift, Bernard Rigoni’s crew meanwhile maintained a frantic pace to nibble the delay that separates them from Dominique Meliand’s men. The only driver to run regularly under two minutes per lap, Sebastien Charpentier skillfully combines his speed driver reflexes with his experience in Endurance – in 2000, the Charente-native won the 24 Hours of Le Mans riding a Honda VTR – to organize a festival. fast laps in the rain !

SERT in turmoil again

Barry Veneman suffered a big loss of grip at the Connexion, during his 607th lap. After a long slide, the 32-year-old Dutchman managed to quickly get back on his GSX-R K9 and bring it back to the expert hands of the SERT mechanics. This incredible turnaround naturally benefits the Honda France team, which quickly takes over the few laps that separated it from the Dominique Meliand riders. !

At 11:14, the Honda n ° 111 – driven by Steve Plater – thus passed in second position after all the same nine laps of the steadfast Yamaha of the YART. Six minutes after its pit stop, the No. 1 Suzuki is back in the race in the hands of Guillaume Dietrich. This seems to gauge the behavior of his motorcycle during the first turns: illico, a square at the exit of a right provides information effectively. !

Surprised, the double champion of France Superbike made his first lap in slow motion, visibly not very confident with his GSX-R. Gradually, the 26-year-old tricolor manages to overcome his apprehensions and to turn in 2’03. Insufficient, to hope to come back to the leading men who turn between three and four seconds faster…

Aware that everything can be decided as long as the flag is not waved, the winner of the 2008 edition nevertheless maintains his pace, certainly hoping for a misstep from the leaders. But Guillaume must also guard against a possible return of the Suzuki n ° 69 which is only four laps away or the official Kawasaki n ° 11 which however points to more than twelve laps from the SERT..

Less than three hours from the end of this 32nd clock tower – undoubtedly among the wettest editions of recent years! -, the YART has an eight-lap lead over the No. 111 Honda and nearly ten laps over the SERT Suzuki. Fourth, the Suzuki of the Franco-Italian RT Racing Team, well ahead of the Kawasaki n ° 11 of Gilles Stafler.

First in the Superstock category, the QERT (Qatar Endurance Racing Team) GSX-R makes a final effort to try to fill the two laps between its riders and the official Kawasaki.

"Our job is to represent the Federation of Qatar as well as possible and to keep our title, the Superstock World Cup obtained in 2008.", specifies a member – discreet! – of the Qatari team.

Another blow for Gilles Stafler’s team: Frederic Moreira is seen stopped at the edge of the track! Hopefully for the Greens that this unfortunate incident is not again due to a concern for fuel consumption. In the meantime, his unfortunate pilot is forced to bring the bike back to the stand with the stroller … from the furthest end of the Bugatti! Stay tuned for our live arrival report !

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