The World Endurance Championship started this weekend on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans. The Sarthe welcomed the drivers with a wet weather. Of the 54 teams at the start (18 EWC – 34 SST – 2 EXP), only 34 were able to reach the checkered flag after 24 hours of racing. The start gave a foretaste of the race with two crashes: one at the start and the other at the first turn by the Suzuki n°12 of the Yoshimura SERT team. Mechanical problems, crashes and safety cars followed one another until Sunday afternoon. But after a frantic race, it is the Honda #1 that won the 24 hours motorcycle race.

Tati Team Beringer Racing

After a start in 9th position, the Tati Team realized a race on a very good rhythm without any mistake from the pilots and very good refuelling. Throughout the race, the bike was positioned between 4th and 6th place. It temporarily climbed to P3 but two interventions on the bike were too much for the podium and made it lose 3 places. The bike finished the race in 6th place being the 1st Kawasaki and the 2nd private team.

Motobox Kremer

After complicated qualifications, the Yamaha #65 took the start in 44th place. The pilots made an exceptional race by gaining places hour after hour. They finished the race in a very good 15th position overall and 11th in the EWC class.

Mana-au competition

For their first season in the EWC category, the Mana-au compétition team achieved a great performance. After a difficult qualifying session, the Yamaha started in 32nd place.  The consistent lap times of the riders and efficient pit stops allowed the bike to move up to 24th place. But after more than 10 hours of racing and 490 laps of the circuit, an engine failure destroyed any chance of finishing the race.

Team Bolliger

Despite the bad weather conditions during the qualifying session, the Kawasaki #8 finished in 17th place.  After 12 hours of racing and the many ups and downs of the race, the bike was in 11th place. After 18 hours of racing it dropped back to P13 and finally crossed the finish line in 11th place overall and 9th in the EWC class.

Team Players

Despite a good set-up of the bike, the #56 Kawasaki suffered from the weather conditions during the qualifying session and started the 24 Hours of Motorcycling in 49th position. After 12 hours of racing, the bike had moved up 20 places to P29. But a collision on Sunday morning at 517 laps made them lose precious minutes to finally finish the endurance in 34th position overall and 23rd in the SST category.

See you on June 17 and 18 on the SPA-Francorchamps circuit for the second meeting of the world endurance championship.