EWC 24 Heures Motos: Yoshimura SERT wins the event after an almost perfect race!

Only a very small fuel shortage about fifty meters from his box prevents us from writing that the Yoshimura SERT Motul team drove THE perfect race in this 24 hours motorcycles 2022!

Otherwise, the official red and black GSX-R has fully mastered this first race of the 2022 FIM Endurance World Championship, giving Gregg Black, Xavier Simeon and Sylvain Guintoli to regain their place on the top step of the podium, just like last year.

Lost between about thirty seconds at the start for the Yamaha YZF-R1 #7 from YART – Yamaha Official Team EWCa safety car that gives the Suzuki a small advantage, one less refueling and a well-oiled team, several factors allowed the Suzuki to play cat and mouse with the Yamaha and maintain a one-lap lead over the latter upon arrival. And all the more so because, on the pure performance side, Hamamatsu’s machine had nothing to envy to Iwata’sas evidenced by the race lap record in 1’36.195 set by Gregg Black†

Nice work by the team Damien Saulnier and Yohei Kato who show their know-how in a discipline where the smallest grain of sand destroys the work of an entire team: a big BRAVO!

At 1’45 behind, the Yamaha YZF-R1 #7 from YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC is far from undeserved, but this annoying recurring starting problem associated with Magneti Marelli Superbike electronics requiring energy that the battery can’t provide, plus a few refuels that could be improved, ultimately prevented him from fighting for the overall win . We can imagine the frustration of Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz and Niccolo Canepaeven if the big points scored in the Sarthe will necessarily be important when making the year-end accounts…

Frustration for the Honda CB R1000 RR-R #5 from FCC TSR Honda UK which ended in 14 rounds in the hands of Josh Hook, Gino Rea and Mike DiMegliodue to problems with the shifter, the exhaust pipe and finally a fall of Gino Rea† But that’s where it starts to take quite a bit to be able to claim a win, as endurance races have turned into 24-hour sprints…

On the other hand, one can largely victory of the “firefighters” in Superstockthe Yamaha YZF-R1 #18 from Team 18 CMS Motostore Firefighters ending in 4th place overall † One last position grabbed by the force of the wrist by the trio Hugo Clere, Baptiste Guitter and Philipp Steinmayr despite fierce opposition from the Suzuki #44 No Limits Motor Team in the same lap, as well as Honda National Motorcycles #55 and the Kawasaki #33 Louit Motorcycle a little further towards the end of the race after having fought bravely for the supremacy of the category.

Respect to all participants, from the first to the last, for the extreme adventure of a 24-hour race, and see you on June 4 and 5 at Spa-Francorchamps for revenge!