24 Heures Motos – Whiplash penalizes Suzuki n ° 1 but starts the race again! –

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Whiplash penalizes Suzuki n ° 1 but revives the race !

24 Heures Motos - Whiplash penalizes Suzuki n ° 1 but starts the race again! -

Without any real competition after the abandonment of the other favorites, the two Suzuki of SERT are heading serenely to the tenth victory for the Hamamatsu firm. Unless the rain, fatigue or a rabbit come and redistribute the cards ? Update at 4 o’clock.

3:30 am: the whiplash…

At 3:30 am, Julien da Costa riding the Suzuki n ° 1 crashed at the Esses Bleus in an accident involving the unlucky Honda n ° 92 at the hands of Guillaume Marcolini: the safety car neutralized the race … which was especially revived. !

The circumstances – and especially the consequences of the accident for Guillaume – are still unclear, but according to the marshals it could be a rabbit who would have had the bad idea to cross the track. All the machines are idling behind the safety car, taking care not to soil the tires on the oil stains on the track: the race management even temporarily decides to divert the machines through the loophole..

At 3:45 am, Julien da Costa returns the Suzuki n ° 1 to the stroller under the anxious gaze of Dominique Meliand, relieved that his pilot is safe and sound. Suzuki n ° 1 comes out of its pit at 4:15 am and sets off again in the hands of Vincent Philippe !

After midnight, the race for third place starts again: the Yamaha n ° 99 of the Acropolis team recovers it at the expense of the n ° 3 Yamaha of Phase One, but for how long ?

For 20 minutes exactly: at 00:25, Yamaha n ° 3 doubles and takes its place on the virtual podium! Frequent changes that actually change with each refueling.

But after a final handover of power, it seems that on a regular basis, the stops will no longer be enough for n ° 3 to manage to permanently catch up with n ° 99.

Meanwhile, the two SERT Suzuki’s run with metronome regularity in 1’41.00 for the leader on the # 1 Suzuki and around 1’42.00 for the # 2 Suzuki. The two SERT machines seem to be managing their lead, evolving two seconds from their fastest lap in the race. It is true that with almost seven seconds ahead, Dominique Meliand’s men would be wrong to take any risks !

At 00:40, the Suzuki n ° 20 de Sarthe Avenir snatched second place in the Superstock category from the Honda n ° 63 Education RT.

At 00:50, the Suzuki n ° 72 Junior Team turned the fastest and consolidated its fine sixth place. This Superstock preparation machine signs the second scratch time behind the SERT Suzuki n ° 2 !

At 1:00 am, the BMW n ° 17 which led the Open category is immobilized in its pits … At the same time, it starts to rain on the Le Mans circuit. And the first drops ironically fall soon after the end of the concert of the group "The last drop" !

A big depression seems to arrive above the Bugatti circuit, which leads the organizers to present the "change of grip" flag to all the competitors still in the running: will the vagaries of the weather upset the order in the lead of the race ?

At 1:20 am, a fall occurred at the Dunlop curve: however not serious for the Yamaha n ° 9 which immediately returned to the pits to measure the extent of the damage.

At 01:30, the abandonment of BMW n ° 17 was announced thirty minutes after its pit stop! The Metiss has also been immobilized for several minutes. It is in second place in its category – behind the only BMW still in the running – and 29th overall..

The Metiss set off again at 1:40 am in the same position, as the No. 72 Suzuki of the Junior Team LMS took fifth place just nine laps behind its "big sister" of the SERT, which completed its 364th lap….

Twist at 2:05 am: Yamaha n ° 3 is showing serious signs of engine overheating! The machine is reported "smoking"by the track marshals, but the Phase One team rider, after a lap almost in slow motion, decides that the mechanics will hold up and gets back to the race !

Definitely very lively, the Suzuki of the Junior Team took fourth place thanks to flattering lap times: n ° 72 signed a cannon clock in 1’41.687, 0.6 seconds faster than the lead machine, but above all three seconds faster than the Yamaha Acropolis in third position !

Back on track for the DERT Ducati after several hours of immobilization due to mechanical breakdown (see our): a great sporting spirit on the part of the team, knowing that the Italian machine is 162 laps behind the SERT n ° 1 !

Again a mechanical problem for the Bihr Metiss n ° 45: the Suzuki motorized motorcycle returns to its stand, visibly suffering from problems with the rear axle: the team manager will announce shortly before 2:30 am the change of the l rear shock, relegating the Metiss to 31st place.

2:30 a.m .: great fight for the Superstock podium! The # 63 Honda takes the advantage over the Suzuki of the Sarthe Avenir team for third place in the category, behind the # 72 of the Junior Team and the # 95 of the Qatar Endurance Racing Team.

Still in the race, the second BMW (n ° 71) is classified in an honorable 14th place overall, first in the Open category ahead of the Kawasaki n ° 666 Diablo, the Suzuki No-Limits n ° 44 and the Yamaha n ° 4 of the team Ymes Folch Endurance which literally plunged in the standings.

Return of the rain at 2:38 am: not wary enough (or slightly asleep?), Two riders go wrong: the Honda n ° 92, last representative of the National Motorcycles Team, and the CBR n ° 56 of the Select Machines Honda team Dream.

Fortunately, the riders got out without damage and the two Honda’s can take on the Bugatti again..

2:45: fall of Suzuki n ° 27 of team Bazar 2 La Becane, which sets off again without wasting time.

The halfway point is emerging, with the 400th loop made by Suzuki n ° 1 which seems unbreakable, whatever the weather conditions..

3:00 am: with two laps ahead of Suzuki n ° 2, the leading machine tackles the exact pendulum half turn at the head of this 31st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Moto by setting the best lap time in 1 ‘ 43,688.

Losing a place, the Kawasaki n ° 8 prolongs a pit stop: after checking, it turns out that the machine of the Bolliger Switzerland team has a problem with front lighting and therefore cannot resume the track !

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