24 Hours of Le Mans: Suzuki wins ahead of BMW and Yamaha / World Endurance Championship

Yoshimura SERT Motul has won the 47th edition of the 24 hours of Le Mans. For the Japanese manufacturer, it is the 15th victory in the long-distance race in the Sarthe and the second victory in the 24-hour race in a row, after the team of Damien Saulnier and Yohei Kato also reached the Bol d’Or. the world long distance final was won in September.

Gregg Black, Etienne Masson and Dan Linfoot won confidently on the long 4.1km course, although the start of the first EWC race of the season got off to a rocky start with a crash. On Sunday morning, after 16 hours of racing, the GSXR100 took the lead and didn’t let it go until the finish.

Werner Daemen’s BMW Motorrad World Endurance team crossed the finish line in second place. With two laps behind, Markus Reiterberger, Ilya Mikhalchik and ex-Suzuki driver Sylvain Guintoli were not strong enough against SERT. Dunlop tires may have had a disadvantage compared to Bridgestone tires from Suzuki and Yamaha, except at night. After third place last year at Le Mans, we have now improved and secured another podium finish.

Yamaha secures a podium position after 24 hours. The YART world champion team led for a long time, but had to slow down after Karel Hanika crashed on Sunday morning. Marvin Fritz, Niccolo Canepa and Hanika, who was no longer in R1 after his accident, started defending the championship with a good result in third place.

Behind Suzuki, BMW and Yamaha, two other manufacturers come to the finish line: the Kawasaki Webike Trickstar team (Leblanc, Gamarino, Ramos) and National Motos Honda (V. Suchet, S. Suchet, Raymond), so that five different brands make . inside the five best outfits Le Mans. National Motos also took the Superstock class win for 5th place overall.

After the disaster year of 2023, the World Endurance Championship season started well for Bolliger Switzerland. Kevin Bolliger’s team from Ruppoldsried took seventh place in the first class at the Circuit Bugatti. Nico Thöni, Pedro Nuno Romero Barbosa and Alex Toldeo Romero crossed the finish line on Sunday directly behind the Honda Tati team (Krummenacher, Clere, Perolari).

The Motobox Kremer Racing team landed in tenth place overall (EWC 8th place) in the 25th anniversary at Le Mans. The German team crossed the finish line with three German drivers, Dominik Vincon, Daniel Rubin and Marco Fetz, 33 laps behind the winner Suzuki.

While the Chromeburner Rac41 (Honda) team with Jesko Raffin, Wayne Tessels, Martin Renaudin and Chris Leesch finished second behind the National Motos, the 3ART team was Best Bike (Kemmer, Vietti-Ramus, Watanuki, Pot) with Yamaha R1 being listed. 3. In the test class, only Metiss reached the finish line. Max Schmidt was also able to take the trophy for the class win.

What happened to the Honda factory?

In a thrilling final round, the 24-hour race once again blossomed into a thrilling affair. FCC TSR’s Honda battled back to 9th place after suffering three crashes. But with 90 minutes to go, Josh Hook broke the chain at CBR.

The Australian went out and looked injured. With a swift motion, the chain hit Hook’s leg, who was obviously in a lot of pain. When they returned to the pit with the car, the Masakuzi Fujii team realized that the race was over. The chain must have caused a lot of damage to the Fireblade.