Marvin Fritz (YART): “We did a good job” / World Endurance Championship

Niccolo Canepa, who injured his shoulder during practice for the Daytona 200 in March, set a new qualifying record for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Thursday. The Italian clocked a time of 1:34.708 on the 4.1km course and thus laid the foundation for his Yamaha team’s position.

Karel Hanika and Marvin Fritz still set the best times in their groups in their series with 1:35.028 minutes and 1:35.139 minutes and thus YART got the first five World Championship points of the new season. For Fritz, who has been with Mandy Kainz’s team for eight years, the most important thing is the unity within the Austrian team.

“It’s all about teamwork at EWC and I think we’ve learned a lot together over the last few years,” the 31-year-old is convinced. “This is now also visible in this pole position, because Niccolo did a good lap, while Karel and I also did a good job.”

In summary, Fritz and his teammates had a strong week at the Circuit Bugatti. “After concentrating on giving everything for a fast lap on Thursday, it was a bit cold on the track on Friday. “So we used the race time to focus on our race pace and get a feel for the race tyres,” explained the German. that one.

“All three of us felt very good on the bike and did some fast laps. We are very confident about the race,” added the Yamaha rider. The 47th edition of the 24h Le Mans starts at 3am on Saturday. freezing at night, which creates an additional challenge for the driver and the machine.

Zeittraining, Q1 and Q2:
1. YART Yamaha, 1:34,868 minutes. 2. Yoshimura SERT Motul, 1:35,178. 3. FCC TSR Honda France, 1:35,223. 4. Honda Viltaïs, 1:35,354. 5. BMW World Endurance, 1:35,398. 6. Kawasaki Webike Trickstar, 1:35,887. 7. Tati Beringer, 1:36,025. 8. KM99, 1:36,087. 9. National Motos Honda, 1:37,178 (1. Superstock). 10. Bolliger Kawasaki Switzerland, 1:37.216. Also: 11th Tecmas MRP BMW, 1:37.256 (2nd Superstock). 14. Metiss-JBB, 1:37.770. 23. Motobox Kremer, 1:38.097.