Bol d’Or – Bol d’Or 2014: statements from drivers and team managers –

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Bol d’Or 2014: statements from drivers and team managers

Bol d'Or - Bol d'Or 2014: statements from drivers and team managers -

Find the main statements of the drivers and team managers at the end of the Bol d’Or 2014, the last one at Magny-Cours before its return to Le Castellet in 2015, won for the third time in a row by the Kawasaki SRC n ° 11 at the hands of Gregory Leblanc, Nicolas Salchaud and Mathieu Lagrive injured.

Find the main statements of the drivers and team managers at the end of the Bol d’Or 2014, the last one at Magny-Cours before its, won for the by the Kawasaki SRC n ° 11 in the hands of Gregory Leblanc, Nicolas Salchaud and Mathieu Lagrive injured.

Gilles Stafler, SRC Kawasaki team manager (winner)

"The week had started badly. With the package of Fabien Foret Tuesday (retained for the, Editor’s note) and the fall of Matthieu then (during the, Editor’s note), I will not have bet on our victory. The most beautiful is our victory Over 24 hours, it’s our first victory in the race. But this one was the hardest. There was the luck factor in the choice of tires and the support of a very sophisticated technical staff. The bike is easy and very reliable. Mathieu Lagrive was a real warrior. If he hadn’t been released from the hospital, I really don’t know I would have done. Everything ends well ".

Gregory Leblanc, Kawasaki SRC rider n ° 11 : "I was expecting a difficult race with the weather. We had a great pace. In the dry, we would have recovered very quickly but I had a problem with grip in the rain. I fell without really knowing why. I lost the back. When we were 32nd it was hard to believe in victory. Mathieu, in a relay with a broken vertebra, climbed up to 14th place. I don’t think I would have it. not done … After that, I did not see the relays pass by. It was the hardest race that I won ".

Mathieu Lagrive, Kawasaki SRC rider n ° 11 : "I have the third dorsal vertebra fractured … I wanted to leave the hospital on Thursday to get back on the motorcycle, against medical advice since I also had a head trauma which requires 24 hours of rest. knew that in the rain the driving would be less demanding. I did my first stint in the rain, we got out of the way with Kenny Foray, it was nice. Gilles (Stafler, the team manager, Editor’s note) was waiting for that the rain fell for me to start again. But it did not come, so I told him that I was going back. I kept the lap times during this stint, but the body did not hold. was not reasonable for me and for others to continue ".

Nicolas Salchaud, Kawasaki SRC rider n ° 11 : "The team integrates me very well. It’s a joy to work with this team, with good results in addition. Personally, it was going well to overtake the stints, I was able to manage the fatigue. We had worked well. for that upstream ".

MNC Analysis. Gilles Stafler’s Greens come back from afar … Despite Lagrive’s injury (head trauma and fracture of the third spinal vertebra!), The absence of Foret, a start in 16th position and a fall that relegated them to 32nd position from the first hour of the race, they were able to withstand the trying weather conditions while taking advantage of the abandonment of a large part of the competitors, including the Suzuki n ° 1 and the Honda n ° 111 when they seemed untouchable. leading the race.

The Kawasaki SRC n ° 11 – which still does not participate in the entire World Endurance Championship – thus signs a superb third consecutive victory at the Bol d’Or, its 7th victory in a row over the 24-hour races French after having won in quick succession the,, and and the, and  !

Christophe Guyot, team manager of GMT 94 (2nd)

"For us, this second place is worth a victory! Even if we consider that we are survivors, all the boys who are on this podium can be very proud of what they have achieved. For 24 hours, the pilots achieved Incredible performance in terrible conditions. Our Yamaha R1 proved to be fast and reliable. Boosted by our Michelin tires, we took the lead at 3am before losing it to finally finish in second. The grayness, the cold, the wind, the sun, the night, and again the rain made the race trying and hard for the pilots, as for the teams. All the favorites got trapped ".

David Checa, GMT 94 driver : "We had too hard tires at the start. It was a bad choice and we couldn’t keep pace with the first two. We faced terrible weather conditions! We gave everything, like the technical team who did the refueling and the interventions. I really believed in the victory, but I’m happy with this podium ".

Mathieu Gines, GMT 94 driver : "We all want to win … I had to prove myself. I’m sure we got off to a good start. You should know that in 24-hour races, you can never predict anything".

Kenny Foray, GMT 94 driver : “Unfortunately I made a mistake. I regret it. I would like to thank the mechanics who were able to restore the bike in 12 minutes when it was in bad shape after several rolls over and many broken parts . I owe this podium to them and to my teammates, of course ".

MNC Analysis. Officially, the GMT 94 Yamaha Racing Michelin occupies the second place in the World Endurance Championship with 50 points behind the Kawasaki n ° 11 SRC (55). But Gilles Stafler’s Greens do not play the entire championship, GMT is virtually in the lead ahead of the No. 8 Kawasaki Bolliger (37 points) and the No. 50 Suzuki of Team Motors Events (35 points).

The goal of Christophe Guyot, who is world endurance champion after his, therefore remains more accessible than ever after this first French event. ! 

Damien Saulnier, team manager of the Junior Team (3rd scratch and 1st Superstock)

"Nothing was easy to manage … For the mechanics (the students of the Lycee Le Mans Sud, Editor’s note), it was their first big outing. They had been well briefed on the weather and the drivers drove well. The euphoria rose among the mechanics when we went up the classification, but I told them that everything could still break the figure! I am really happy with this podium. I also salute the work of the race director and the marshals of track in very difficult conditions ".

Baptiste Guittet, driver of Suzuki n ° 72 of the Junior Team : "The race was very difficult with complicated weather conditions. Gregg Black had two good falls but we did not give up and we did everything to get back up. Everyone worked well. On the way up, we saw that we could hang the podium on the scratch. It’s just happiness, the icing on the cake! "

Gregg Black, Junior Team Suzuki # 72 rider : "I got off to a good start and then I fell on my head, I broke my teeth and I opened the arch … I left … and I fell back! Afterwards, in the dry, we drove well ".

Etienne Masson, Suzuki n ° 72 pilot of the Junior Team : "The hardest thing to manage was the choice of tires. For the refueling, the mechanics were at the top. We made the right decisions at the right times. We never made tire mistakes and it paid off. . The objective was to win in Superstock: it’s done, with the podium in addition! When we saw that we could get the scratch podium, we did not get excited. The most stressed was Damien Saulnier, our team manager! The hardest thing to manage is the choice of tires. We do not have a quick dismantling and we must salute the team of students of the Lycee Le Mans Sud. They did a great job for their first race! "

MNC Analysis. The team of Damien Saulnier, SERT’s "little brother" engaged in Superstock, once again illustrated its excellent ability to manage endurance races, whatever the conditions and the twists of fate. Despite the crashes, the riders Baptiste Guittet, Gregg Black and Etienne Masson managed to win among the best teams in the world, with the invaluable help of the students in motorcycle mechanics from the Lycee Le Mans Sud. They win the category and even offer themselves the luxury of finishing on the third step of the scratch podium. !

Hanspeter Bolliger, manager of Team Bolliger Switzerland

"After a thrilling race, we were able to finish this Bol d’Or in 4th place overall and on the third step of the EWC podium. The last hours were the toughest, with particularly trying weather conditions, but thanks to the performance of our super drivers we were able to get back in the last 20 minutes and finish on the final podium. What a start to the season! "

Horst Saiger, No. 8 Kawasaki rider of the Bolliger Team : "We drove very hard at the end of the race. The secret is the Pirelli tires which allowed us to be in a very high pace!"

Daniel Sutter, rider of the # 8 Kawasaki of the Bolliger Team : "At the end, I’m on the track and I don’t have the classification … When I come back to the pits, I am told that I can come back to fourth if I stay in the same rhythm. I said OK and I managed to get back to the pilot who was in front! "

MNC Analysis. The pilots of the Swiss team, permanently entered in the endurance world championship, indeed gave everything in the last minutes of the race to get back on the Suzuki n ° 50 of Team Motors Events and climb on the EWC podium in 4th scratch place.

Herve Moineau, team manager of Team Motors Events

"We have everything to learn! When we think that we are in competition with factory teams which, for some, have been there for more than 30 years like the SERT, we have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of this very beautiful 5th place, and even 4th in our category. This is also our best result here! This Bol d’Or was very demanding and trying and I think it puts us in a good dynamic for the rest of the season. is really in our goal which is the World Top 5 at the end of the year, while playing the podium in all the races of this championship, like this weekend at the Bol d’Or ".

MNC Analysis. After having distinguished itself in the Superstock category, the Motors Events team has made a good entry into the "big leagues", the EWC category, finishing at the foot of the podium in front of some of the greatest teams in the world. Herve Moineau, himself a quadruple endurance world champion (1980, 1983, 1987 and 1988), can legitimately be proud of his troops !

Michel Vaugelade, manager of the PlusRace team

"The baptism of fire was all the same hard for the students: the weather conditions were changeable throughout the race weekend and particularly trying for the whole paddock. We thus recorded on the field more than 40 falls out of the three first hours of the race. Our team of mechanic students was excellent: they were professional and their interventions all very good and thoughtful. We can only congratulate them and salute the high quality of the training that GARAC delivers! "

MNC Analysis. The Yvelines team participated in the Bol d’Or for the second consecutive year with, in partnership with Team 6ème Avenue, an interesting educational project linked to the national school of car, motorcycle and heavy goods vehicle trades ( GARAC) based in Argenteuil. On the model of the Junior Team with the Lycee Le Mans Sud, the GARAC Pro Bac students worked and prepared the bike all winter, to then be mechanics during the entire Bol d’Or week. Their n ° 19 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 finished 15th Superstock and 26th overall.

Honda Racing n ° 111 (retirement)

Julien da Costa, Honda Racing driver n ° 111 : "It’s endurance and it’s never easy, but giving up when there is so little time left and on such a minor problem is frustrating for the whole team … You have to look at what is positive : we were leading with a good lead and we could have won, so we just have to wait until next time ".

Freddy Foray, Honda Racing driver n ° 111 : "I heard a lot of riders talk about how they gave up in the last hours of the race and now I have my own story to tell my children. It’s very difficult because the team did a great job before and during the race. It’s hard to run a 24 hour race and everyone worked really well. All night long when my ribs were really aching, I was telling myself that I had to do it and we could win, but it’s the endurance. It’s the gearbox output pinion that broke, that derailed the chain, that destroyed the crankcase of our motorcycle … We are extremely disappointed but it’s the endurance, we have to accept it and continue to work as we did! I thank the whole team, we were unlucky here but we will see you next time! "

Sebastien Gimbert, Honda Racing driver n ° 111 : "I know better than anyone the feeling of leading the qualifiers, of being classified on pole and of leading the race to finally have to give up when the hardest part is done. It is very disappointing for the whole team who worked very hard. hard, but we have proven that we can lead the race and that we work well together, so we can succeed this year ".

MNC Analysis. The new Honda Racing endurance team, in the lead with less than 4 hours from the finish, can legitimately be disappointed after having achieved a faultless performance for its world endurance: top drivers, a pole position and a large domination. for a good part of the race…

Afterwards, the French drivers of the British team could reasonably believe in their chances of victory, in order to mark not only the spirits but also and above all precious points in the championship….

Unfortunately – but it is also their incomparable charm – endurance races always have their share of surprises until the checkered flag … and the new Honda CBR 1000 RR has verified it at its expense with the breakage of the gearbox output pinion, which came to stop this beautiful first official release…

Erwan Nigon, SERT Suzuki n ° 1 pilot (retired)

"I took a big crash at the exit of the Estoril corner, on re-acceleration I went up to the high side. I had lowered the pace a bit to secure, because we were in the lead with 5 laps ahead. Even now, I do not understand this fall … I returned through the safety lanes with the fairing barely holding and the flat tires, in particular. The technical team carried out a very quick intervention. Vincent Philippe left, We fell back to 3rd position. He had to return to the box only two laps later because of a deflating tire. He completed about 20 laps before falling too, he was then hit by another competitor. We had to give up. I hope he will recover soon ".

"I am disappointed that we were not able to achieve a good result. I rode in difficult conditions with wet tires in the dry, but I was as vigilant as possible, I did my best. every time I got on the bike. In terms of performance, if in qualifying we would have preferred to be faster, in the race we were indeed present. We even managed to get ahead of the race and dig the gap on our direct competitor (Honda Racing n ° 111, Editor’s note). We are now sure that we have an efficient package. In addition, and according to the new regulations, we score 10 points in the intermediate classification at 8 hours of race. Who knows, they may be decisive at the end of the season "…

MNC Analysis. SERT, 13 times endurance world champion, therefore had to abandon the first round of the 2014 championship after qualifying in third position … Thanks to the, Dominique Meliand’s team still pocketed the 10 points for "best animator of the race" in the score of the first eight hours of the Bol d’Or.

As Erwan Nigon underlines, these ten "small" points (compared to the 55 of the winner, but especially to the 50 of the GMT) are always good to take and could well be useful when making the final accounts for the title 2014, even if the GMT 94 also pocketed 8 points in the score of the first 8 hours, then 9 in that of the 16 hours of racing, without counting the 33 of the victory … For its part, the Honda Racing team n ° 111 was able to pocket 9 points in the first score, then 8 in the second before giving up.

Thus ended the last Bol d’Or on the Magny-Cours circuit, with a total of only 489 laps covered due to the rain (against 808 last year in the dry!), 85 accidents and 13 classified drivers..

See you on September 19 and 20, 2015 at Le Castellet for the, but until then stay connected: the next event of the 2014 World Endurance Championship will take place on July 27 in Japan with the !

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