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Le Mans 24 Hours: Yamaha Austria victory ahead of Honda France and Suzuki SERT

In Other news

21 aprile 2009

Yamaha Austria Racing Team of Igor Jerman, Gwen Giabbani and Steve Martin took their first victory at Le Mans. YART paid a tribute to the Yamaha brand at and to the Austrian anthem at Le Mans. As a permanent team, YART took a first option for the 2009 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship title.

YART took victory with a seven laps gap over the Honda France of Sébastien Charpentier, Matthieu Lagrive and Steve Plater and eleven gaps over the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team of Vincent Philippe, Guillaume Dietrich and Barry Veneman.

During 24 hours, and very often under the rain and on a damped track, the three Japanese brands were involved in the most intense racing seen for years. As their talented riders managed to avoid crashing, YART could take this victory, with the support of their Michelin tyres that seemed to be perfectly suited for those racing conditions.

Honda France neither Suzuki Endurance Racing Team managed to avoid crashing on a very tricky track. Honda France even started the race from the end of the pack after Matthieu Lagrive crashed. The SERT reckons that the lack of track time and development with the Dunlop tyres explain their third place. They’ve already announced to take revenge at Bol d’Or.

The Suzuki RT Racing Team Moto Virus of Jean-Louis Devoyon, Frédéric Jond and Raphaël Chèvre took a fantastic fourth place after a faultless race. This is the best result for this permanent team, who has a short career so far, and they score big points for the 2009 championship as well.

The first two Superstock bikes are in fifth and sixth position. After an intense battle towards the end of the race, the Suzuki Junior Team LMS (Freddy Foray, Cédric Tangre, Louis Bulle) took a class victory with a tiny twenty seconds lead over the Qatar Endurance Racing Team (Mashel Al Naimi, Masahiro Shinjo, Anthony Delhalle). That gives QERT some great points to conquer the FIM World Cup for the second year in a row. The Qatari team also got the ESCRA prize given for the best pit work. The Suzuki TRT 27 Bazar 2 la Bécane (Mathieu Andrieu, Sébastien Pruhlière, Geoffrey Gnemmi) completes the Superstock podium.

The GSR Kawasaki is in eighth place. The official Kawasaki of Julien Da Costa, Kenny Foray and Fred Moreira was delayed by a few crashes and a fuel inlet problem. The Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland of Patric Muff, Horst Saiger and Rico Penzkofer managed to score some points after several crashes with a tenth place overall and a seventh in the Formula EWC class.