Kawasaki Deals Suzuki an Upset at the 76th Bol d’Or

With the weather changing almost constantly during the weekend’s race and close to freezing at night, the 76th annual Bol d’Or proved to be both an exciting and grueling race that saw teams changing to wets, slicks, and cut-slicks almost constantly in the pit stops. Racing for 24 hours, the SRC Kawasaki Team did the unthinkable, and beat the heavily favored Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) in this year’s Bol d’Or endurance race. Losing most of its time in the pits, SERT had to contend with a crash in the fourth hour of the Bol d’Or, which sent lead-rider Vincent Philippe home early with a broken collarbone.

Completing the remaining 20 hours of the race with only two riders, SERT was able to close the gap to SRC Kawasaki in the final hours of the contest to only 60 seconds, but after several more pit stops the team would have to settle for finishing just on the same lap as the Kawasaki squad, as they slowed their pace to ensure victory. While one could make the argument that SERT lost the race instead of SRC Kawasaki winning it, riding a flawless and careful 24 hours is a part of the winning strategy in the FIM World Endurance Championship. Kudos to the SRC Kawasaki Team.

Also playing the hare to Kawasaki’s tortoise was the Honda TT Legends crew, which also suffered a crash on Sunday morning. Losing the front-end of the Honda TT Legends CBR1000RR at high-speeds, Cameron Donald had to push the battered CBR back to the team’s pits, where after a 20 minute pit stop the Honda TT Legends crew was able to get back to racing with John McGuinness at the helm. The quick rebuild allowed the Honda TT Legends to salvage ninth place overall, and sixth place in the WEC standings.

“Not the result we came for but it was one of our strongest rides yet,” said Honda TT Legends Rider John McGuinness. “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,” continued McGuinness. “We wanted to be a bit further up but at least we’ve picked up some world championship points.”

Finishing third was the Monster Yamaha YART squad, while the Yamaha France backed Yamaha GMT94 Michelin Yamalube finished a close fourth to its Austrian factory rival. With the Yamalube Folch Endurance team finishing fifth, Yamaha accounted for three of the top-five positions.

Race Results from the 76th Bol d’Or 24 Hours at Magny-Cours, France:

Source: Bol d’Or; Photo: SERT