24 Heures Motos – Update at 5am: Le Mans continues its work to undermine the riders … –

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Update at 5am: Le Mans continues its work on the drivers…

24 Heures Motos - Update at 5am: Le Mans continues its work to undermine the riders ... -

To the fatigue accumulated by the courageous participants continues to be added the rain, a true justice of the peace of this 32nd Sarthois double clock tower. If the YART calmly continues to print its rhythm, behind the falls multiply. Story.

On a wet track, the festival of falls and turnarounds persist on the Bugatti track. The Suzuki n ° 18 of the Sapeurs-Pompiers thus resumes the race in 15th position after a prolonged stop at its pit..

The rain redoubled in intensity and no driver is now able to complete a lap in less than two minutes. It is with worried foreheads and dark circles that the 36 team managers of the motorcycles still in the race tackle the last loops before halfway….

An anxiety that rises a notch again in the box of the reigning world champion team: riding the Suzuki n ° 1, Vincent Philippe is no exception to a slight off the track at the Connexion which will cost a handful of seconds to Dominique Meliand’s men.

Shortly before the halfway point – at 2:53 am precisely! – Honda National Motos n ° 55 announces its final withdrawal from the event following a new exit from the track: a participation to forget for the men of Bernard Fourcadet.

3:00 am appears on the official clock of the event: the motivation of the first hours begins to weaken in some teams … and even within the Site team! Now insensitive to the effects of caffeine and energy drinks, your envoys on site since the start of the event, despite everything, continue the task with self-sacrifice! Yes, that’s also the magic of Endurance !

Abandon the – big – shovel

More seriously, the second half of the race started in a bad way with a crash of the n ° 63 in the Dunlop, while the Kawasaki n ° 116 and the Yamaha n ° 14 retired in their turn..

Hunting on the YART Yamaha, Matthieu Lagrive pulls out all the stops and puts the turbo back into contact with the leading men: the Mondial Supersport rider tries to fill the five laps separating him from Steve Martin with breathtaking lap times. !

The Honda France rider thus turns in less than two minutes on a wet track, sticking between two and six seconds per lap to his main rivals! Truly, the Honda-Michelin combination seems to work wonders in the wet, although the talent and aggressiveness of the Honda France riders are not to be minimized. !

In these selective conditions, the Dunlops equipping the Suzuki of the SERT and the Junior Team seem slightly behind: the n ° 1 and n ° 72 thus turn five seconds slower than the leading machine – the YART – equipped with Michelin and seven (!) seconds slower than the tightrope walker Matthieu Lagrive on the handlebars of the Honda CBR 1000 RR n ° 111 !

Following the fall of the Suzuki of the Junior Team, around 3.30 am, Suzuki n ° 69 returned to fifth position, a handful of seconds behind Kawasaki n ° 11 driven by Kenny Foray. Shortly after, the # 95 Suzuki of QERT takes first place in the Superstock category at the expense of the Suzuki # 72, still stopped at the pits..

The Yamaha of the Endurance 33 team in turn announced its final withdrawal from the race at 3.33am, while the n ° 72 took to the track again at 3.52am with the talented Louis Bulle at its handlebars. At the head of the race, the YART completes its 408th lap of the Sarthois circuit, further ahead of the Honda driven by a Matthieu Lagrive who nevertheless spares no effort to return to contact. !

William Costes made a mistake on the handlebars of the Honda n ° 63 which had returned to 17th place: the Michelin PRT machine continues to alternate the blows of brilliance with the blows of fate! The CBR 1000 RR re-badged in the colors of the Bibendum was soon followed by the Suzuki of the Junior Team, the victim of a second crash while trying to make up for the delay on the Suzuki n ° 95 of the Qatar Endurance Racing Team. Hard blow for Damien Saulnier’s team…

Finally, both the Fireblade and the Gex remain in the race, but both have lost precious time. Leading the way, the YART continues to set the tone for this 32nd edition of the 24H Heures Moto du Mans, ahead of the Honda n ° 111, the Suzuki n ° 1, the astonishing GSX-R n ° 69, the Kawasaki n ° 11 , the Suz ‘n ° 95 and n ° 72.

Six laps later follow the crew of the RAC41 – City Bike, the Suzuki No Limits n ° 44, the GSX-R n ° 50 and the n ° 27.

5:00 am … I have chills, I chatter my teeth and turn up the volume! The rain continues to fall on the Bugatti circuit and we cannot help but salute the courage and perseverance of the thirty or so drivers still in the running just ten hours from the finish of this grueling marathon..

The leadership of the YART is still not called into question, despite the efforts of the Honda France riders who have not given up during these last few hours raced in trying conditions! The SERT is four laps from the first manufacturer’s machine and its driver Guillaume Diectrich appears to be in great shape a few hours before dawn: the official Suzuki indeed manages to turn in the same lap times as the Honda which precedes him..

Like the two official motorcycles, the No. 69 Suzuki RT Racing continues to impress in fourth position ahead of Gilles Stafler’s No. 11 Kawasaki and the QERT Suzuki, the first machine in the Superstock classification. Stay connected !

Pilot’s secret…

How do the pilots do to reinvigorate themselves at such a late hour of the night … Energy drink, coffee, Trust in loop on their iPod? That nay !

Nicolas Grilli, rider of the No. 15 Yamaha of SH Technologie (24th overall and 12th Superstock at 5 o’clock), reveals his secret: "me to hold, I eat the Charpentier", he says to Site before translating:"Just now I was too good on the bike, I put Charpentier out by setting the third fastest time in the race, that gave me the sin !".

For his first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this friendly driver is quite comfortable in the wet. Rookie at Le Mans, he is not for all that a beginner: he rides in Promosport 1000 (5th in 2007, 17th in 2008) and has also proven himself at the Bol d’Or 2007, his only participation in 24 hours where he has finished 11th overall and 2nd Stocksport. Forza Nicolas !

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