The rain caused a few upsets at Le Mans. After the free practice sessions in dry conditions, the first qualifying of the 24 Heures Motos took place on a waterlogged track. The best combined lap times put the April Moto Motors Team in the lead, ahead of the Japanese Honda team F.C.C. TSR Honda and the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team.
A series of showers turned the track soaking wet. Gregg Black, Grégory Fastré and Alex Cudlin were the stars of the first qualifying session. The riders of the April Moto Motors Events Team’s Suzuki picked up the provisional pole thanks to the trio’s consistent performance. Another surprise: the Suzuki #50 was ahead of the F.C.C. TSR Honda, new comer which proved unexpectedly quick considering the dicey conditions on the track. Kazuma Watanabe, Alan Techer and Damian Cudlin got the Honda #5 up to second place, with Damian Cudlin posting the fastest lap time of the entire qualifying.
The most keenly-awaited teams are in the next three leading slots: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, Honda Endurance Racing and GMT94 Yamaha.
Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki topped the Superstock category, ahead of Team 3ART Yam’Avenue and Yamaha Viltaïs Experiences.
The YART Yamaha could only manage 8th place, while SRC Kawasaki is lagging far behind at 31st following Gregory Leblanc’s fall at the start of the session, though with no damage to either the rider or the bike. There were quite a few crashes throughout the first qualifying. The GMT94 Yamaha, Yamaha Viltaïs Experiences, the Jackson Honda Racing, Tati Team Beaujolais Racing and even the April Moto Motors Events Team were guilty of a fault, but the SRC Kawasaki team paid the heaviest price. Unusually, Penz13.com BMW Motorrad placed 30th. The rain-drenched track did not give the bikes equipped with Pirelli tyres the right conditions to fight it out at the front.
Fortunately, better weather is expected for the second qualifying, which starts at 10am tomorrow (Friday).
