French team Kawasaki SRC has won the 2012 Bol D’Or, first round of the Endurance World Championship (EWC).
Riders Julien Da Costa, Grégory Leblanc and Olivier Four took their Ninja ZX-10R top the top spot to clinch the first victory for Kawasaki at the event since it moved to the Magny Cours circuit, 12 years ago.
Intermittent rain and low temperatures made it all pretty difficult for the teams, with the Kawasaki guys claiming victory in front of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, whose riders Fabien Foret, Anthony Delahalle and Philippe Vincent completed the same amount of laps of the winners (781), but with a gap of 1 minute and 20 seconds.
Third place for the Monster Energy Yamaha team of Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani, which completed 776 laps.
The Bol D’Or turned out to be quite a disappointment for the Honda TT Legends team of John Mc Guinness, which clinched 6th place among the EWC teams with 747 laps but closed 9th in the race overall behind the top three teams of the Superstock class (which registered yet another win for Kawasaki, with riders Debise, Delegue and Holub taking the ZX-10R of the 3D Endurance Moto Center team to the top spot).
When their Fireblade was in 5th position, Cameron Donald lost the front end on the back straight and suffered a high speed crash.
In line with EWC rules, the uninjured Australian pushed the Honda CBR1000RR back to the pits, where the team set to work repairing the extensive damage.
However, the accident forced the team to lose quite some time, jeopardizing the final result.
Classification and comments right after the jump.
View the full 2012 Bol D’Or photo galleryResults 24H of Bol d’Or 2012WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS RESULTS1.
SRC KAWASAKI / Da Costa – Leblanc – Four / KAWASAKI / 781 / 24:00:23.
5312.
S.
E.
R.
T.
/ Philippe – Delhalle – Foret / SUZUKI / 781 / 24:02:04.
5863.
MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA / Jerman – Martin – Giabbani / YAMAHA / 776 / 24:00:23.
7754.
YAMAHA – GMT 94 – MICHELIN / Checa – Foray – Lagrive / YAMAHA / 776 / 24:01:19.
0395.
YAMALUBE FOLCH / Ribalta Bosh – Dos Santos – Tizon / YAMAHA / 765 / 24:00:31.
9836.
HONDA TT LEGENDS / Donald – McGuinness – Andrews / HONDA / 747 / 24:01:59.
1437.
18 SAPEURS POMPIERS / Molinier – Prulihere – Briere / BMW / 736 / 24:00:31.
4598.
DUNLOP MOTORS EVENTS / Charpin – Maccio – Wolf / SUZUKI / 730 / 24:00:28.
4319.
TEAM R2CL / Capela – Dumain – Cheron / SUZUKI / 727 / 24:01:23.
77610.
SH TECHNOLOGIE-SCRUBS / Pouhair – Teramoto – Demarey / BMW / 722 / 24:01:29.
03911.
NATIONAL MOTOS / Monge – Bocquet – Masson / HONDA / 704 / 24:00:32.
75912.
SPACE MOTO / Nouvellon – Deneque – Gallerand / SUZUKI / 700 / 24:02:23.
18813.
LEMAN RACING / Villarroya – Monnot – Vinet / BMW / 675 / 24:01:39.
33214.
MAX ET YANN RACING TEAM / Thepaut – Cury – Laniel / SUZUKI / 668 / 24:00:27.
25115.
FLEMBBO DIJAMANT SERBIA / Bosio – Cersosimo – Dehaye / KAWASAKI / 648 / 24:02:20.
427WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS POSITIONS1 Team SRC Kawasaki – 402 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team – 33 pts3 Monster Energy Yamaha YART – 28 pts4 Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube – 24 pts5 Yamalube Folch Endurance – 21 pts6 Honda TT Legends – 19 pts7 Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers – 17 pts8 Team Dunlop Motors Events – 15 pts9 Team R2CL – 13 pts10 SH Technologie Scrubs – 11 pts11 National Motos – 10 pts12 Space Moto – 9 pts13 Leman Racing 8 pts14 Max et Yann Racing Team 7 pts15 Team Flembbo Djimiant Serbia 6 ptsSUPERSTOCK CLASS RESULTS1.
3D ENDURANCE MOTOCENTER / Debise – Delegue – Holub / KAWASAKI / 750 / 24:01:41.
5942.
Penz13-Kraftwerk-Herpigny / Buisson – Fastre – Vallcaneras / BMW / 749 / 24:01:40.
1973.
STARTEAM 67 / Lucas – Hardt – Diguet / SUZUKI / 748 / 24:01:28.
7754.
DGSPORT HEROCK / Van Keymeulen – Cudlin – Vizziello / YAMAHA / 741 / 24:02:01.
3345.
ATOMIC MOTOSPORT / Muteau – Jond / SUZUKI / 737 / 24:01:16.
3626.
RACING TEAM SARAZIN / Gerouah – Kokes – Bernon / KAWASAKI / 735 / 24:01:59.
6497.
LOUIT MOTO 33 / Baz – Guarnoni – Chevaux / KAWASAKI / 732 / 24:00:51.
8848.
MOTO AIN RACING TEAM / Haquin – Mizera – Varesco / YAMAHA / 718 / 24:00:24.
0259.
MCS RACING – IPONE / Devoyon – Belluci – Saseta / SUZUKI / 711 / 24:01:45.
28310.
APRILIA LE MANS 2 ROUES / Boue – Parisse – Le Royer / APRILIA / 690 / 24:00:43.
260Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki SRC): “It’s my second victory here at the Bol d’Or, but maybe the most difficult one.
I’m really tired now, but it’s a really good feeling to share this victory with the team.
”Grégory Leblanc (Kawasaki SRC): “It’s a really great moment in my career.
Last year we were on the second spot of the podium and to be on the top stage today is a really sweet feeling.
I’m sure we will be having a big party tonight to celebrate this victory!”Olivier Four (Kawasaki SRC): “Under dry conditions I was lacking a little bit of race, but when I saw that the weather conditions turned to be very tricky I understood that it would be a perfect race for me.
I’m really pleased to share my third victory in the Bol d’Or race with the Kawasaki SRC team.
”Gilles Stafler (Team Manager Kawasaki SRC): “We fought with an incredible pace during most of the race, despite the really poor conditions.
I would like to thank all the team for this fantastic result, not only the riders, because today it’s the victory of the whole team.
Of course Julien Da Costa, Grégory Leblanc and Olivier Four have done an incredible job.
It was a really tough race and we were ready for the difficult conditions, but I think that the biggest contributor to our success has been that we didn’t make any mystake during the race.
”John McGuinness (Honda TT Legend): “Not the result we came for but it was one of our strongest rides yet.
We were holding fifth and looking good in very difficult conditions.
It was a gruelling race with temperatures as low as 2 or 3 degrees through the night.
I got caught up in some of the bad weather and had to pit for tyres changes which meant I then had to do double stints with 50 or 60 laps at a time and that is hard work.
After Cameron slipping off at probably 150mph and the bike cart wheeling its way though the gravel, luckily Cam was alright and the team did amazing job at getting the bike back out there.
We wanted to be a bit further up but at least we’ve picked up some world championship points.
”Cameron Donald (Honda TT Legend): “After starting and finishing Le Mans last year I got to start and finish the Bol d’Or, which is really special.
It was an absolute ordeal of a race.
Everyone had their moments to shine and it was a big teem effort, but unfortunately we just didn’t quite come up with the goods.
It was a little bit of bad luck and me skidding up the road didn’t help, but just to finish another 24-hour is a massive achievement.
”Simon Andrews (Honda TT Legend): “It feels good to finish my first 24-hour race.
Ten months ago I was lying in a hospital and my first race back I’ve completed a 24-hour so I feel triumphant and I’m pretty happy.
We were quick and we were safe, I did everything to the best of my ability and I’m going home with a smile on my face.
”Neil Tuxworth (team Manager Honda TT Legends): “I think the best we could have expected was fifth in that race.
We couldn’t have come any higher at the pace we were going at.
We still finished sixth overall in the EWC race which is good considering we lost time doing repairs after Cameron’s crash.
It’s certainly been the most difficult endurance race that we’ve done and the one with the most problems.
We’re going to analyse everything that has happened, figure out where the issues lie and continue from there.
Hopefully we can have a better race the next time out.
”
