Bol d’Or – Suzuki wins the Bol d’Or and takes the lead of the 2019-2020 World Endurance Championship –

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Suzuki wins the Bol d’Or and takes the lead of the 2019/2020 World Endurance Championship

Bol d'Or - Suzuki wins the Bol d'Or and takes the lead of the 2019-2020 World Endurance Championship -

Taking advantage of the simultaneous abandonment of the official Honda n ° 5, Yamaha n ° 7 and Kawasaki n ° 1, the SERT Suzuki n ° 2 won at the Bol d’Or after a race shortened to less than 13 hours because of particularly dangerous weather conditions.

The rain, the wind and the lack of drainage on the Paul Ricard circuit gave a strange face to the 83rd Bol d’Or 2019, first round of the 2019/2020 FIM EWC Motorcycle Endurance World Championship…

  • MNC special file :
  • MNC special file : Everything you need to know about the Bol d’Or
  • Full results :

From Saturday afternoon, the race had been neutralized several times by the safety car, until the race management decided shortly before 6 p.m. to interrupt the race altogether because of. The second start was only given on Sunday at 6 a.m., but on three of the main favorites (see below).

Mini bowl, maxi points

Author of a "second race" without fault, Vincent Philippe, Etienne Masson and Gregg Black quickly took the lead to keep the competition at bay. The SERT crew thus offers a nice welcome gift to Damien Saulnier, their new team manager who succeeds Dominique Meliand.

Bol d'Or - Suzuki wins the Bol d'Or and takes the lead of the 2019-2020 World Endurance Championship -

The astonishing Polish Yamaha n ° 77 of the Wojcik Racing Team (Gino Rea, Christoffer Bergman and Axel Maurin) finished second in front of the BMW n ° 6 of the ERC team (Mathieu Ginès, Julien da Costa and Louis Rossi), which tops the BMW official n ° 37 (Ilya Mikhalchik, Julian Puffe and Kenny Foray) off the podium less than eight minutes from the finish … before a final rebound for non-compliance !

Update 7:30 p.m .: modified classification !

Following the technical checks carried out on arrival, the ERC Endurance team, which came third, was downgraded for "non-compliance with the capacity of its fuel tank": the German team therefore gave up its place on the podium to its colleague no. 37 of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, making their debut appearance in FIM EWC.

Despite its shorter duration, the 2019 Bol d’Or officially counts as a 24-hour race, which allows teams on their wheels to take the corresponding points..

In Superstock, the Yamaha n ° 96 of Moto Ain (Roberto Rolfo, Robin Mulhauser and Hugo Clere), 7th scratch, wins in front of the n ° 24 of BMRT 3D Maxxess Nevers 10th (Anthony Loiseau, Jonathan Hardt and Julien Pilot) and Suzuki # 50 from Motors Events 13th (James Westmoreland, Johan Nigon and Adrien Ganfornina).

Three favorites on the mat

"You can imagine the disappointment in the box", loose Gilles Stafler, team manager of the Kawasaki SRC, the reigning world champion at the time of his retirement: "it is a fact of racing which thus puts an end to our hopes and that is very hard after such an eventful race "…

Bol d'Or - Suzuki wins the Bol d'Or and takes the lead of the 2019-2020 World Endurance Championship -

"I’m sorry and I would like to sincerely apologize to the drivers and their team," said FCC TSR Honda France team director Masakazu Fuji, whose engine failure of CBR n ° 5 resulted in the Fall of Yamaha n ° 7 and Kawasaki n ° 1: "back to the pit, I judged that we could not resume the race. I really want to find the cause and think about the solutions".

"I was scared like never before"

After my "big fall on the oil of our competitors (Mike di Meglio on Honda n ° 5, Editor’s note), I am very happy that Erwan (Nigon on Kawasaki n ° 1, Editor’s note) is doing well!", Breathes Loris Baz qui on the Austrian Yamaha n ° 7 .

"I was scared like never before when my bike hit it at full speed and when both then burned!", Continues the, who feels "a lot of disappointment and sadness, because we were leading the race with an excellent rhythm and great sensations "…

"We came very close to the drama", notes for his part Jeremy Guarnoni on the Kawasaki n ° 1: "when I saw Loris Baz’s motorcycle crash into ours with Erwan Nigon stuck in the middle of the motorcycles in flames, it was gives me shivers"…

"I hope new rules will be put in place"

"The race management took the right decision to take out the safety car, but unfortunately it is still too late because five motorcycles fell before his intervention," said the reigning world champion: "I hope that for the next races new rules will be put in place regarding the installation of the safety car after an engine failure. A pilots’ commission could be set up, as in Grand Prix, to be able to discuss with the members of the commission of security".

See you tomorrow on MNC for the full debriefing of this 83rd edition upset by the elements, with statements from pilots and team managers: stay connected !

Provisional calendar of the 2019/2020 EWC World Endurance Championship

  1. (24 h): September 21/22, 2019 – Le Castellet, France
  2. : December 14, 2019 – Malaysia (*)
  3. : April 18/19, 2020 – Le Mans, France
  4. : June 6, 2020 – Germany (*)
  5. : July 19, 2020 – Japan 

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