2023-06-18 14:26:39
Published on June 18, 2023 at 4:26 p.m. – updated on June 19, 2023 at 12:22 a.m. Mathieu Warnier
Fourteen years after the last victory of the Japanese brand on a double clock, the Yamaha of the YART team won the 24 Hours of Spa ahead of the Honda of the FCC TSR team and the factory BMW.
Yamaha finds the heights in motorcycle endurance. While the Japanese manufacturer’s MotoGP team is struggling, especially during the German Grand Prix this Sunday at the Sachsenring, the YART team went for victory at the 24 Hours of Spa. While Marvin Fritz had a complicated start from pole position, the Austrian team’s bike saw the FCC TSR Honda France formation, victorious at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last April, seize first position and knew how to hold it during the first third of the race. However, weighed down by exhaust problems after reaching the sixteen o’clock mark, Josh Hook, Mike di Meglio and Alan Techer had to spend no less than five minutes in the pits and lost all hope of winning the disputed event on the “Toboggan des Ardennes”. As for the YART team, the only real scare was a puncture at five o’clock from the checkered flag which forced an unexpected stop.
YART had a fairly quiet 24 hours
At the end of the double clock tower and 572 laps covered, the Austrian team won with a loop ahead of the FCC TSR Honda France team and took advantage of the opportunity to take first place in the world championship. On this occasion, Yamaha won its first 24-hour race since its success at Le Mans in 2009. Relegated to three laps, the official BMW team completed the podium ahead of Yoshimura SERT, which had many problems throughout the test. The Kawasaki team, which for a long time could only count on Randy de Puniet and Grégory Leblanc, Kazuki Watanabe having stopped by a hospital for examinations after an early fall, took fifth place under the checkered flag. After this second round of the EWC championship, the teams now have an appointment on August 6 for the Suzuka 8 Hoursbefore the end of the season in September during the Bol d’Or, played on the Circuit Paul-Ricard in Le Castellet.
ENDURANCE – FIM EWC / 24 HOURS OF SPA
Final ranking – Sunday June 18, 2023
1- YART Yamaha Official EWC Team n°7 (Canepa-Fritz-Hanika/ITA-ALL-RTC/Yamaha YZF-R1) 572 tours
2- FCC TSR Honda France n°1 (Hook-di Meglio-Techer/AUS-FRA-FRA/Honda CBR 1000RR-R) for 1 tour
3- BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team n°37 (Reiterberger-Mukhalchyk-Guarnoni/ALL-UKR-FRA/BMW M1000RR) à 3 laps
4- Yoshimura SERT Motul n°12 (Black-Guintoli-Masson/FRA-FRA-FRA/Suzuki GSX-R 1000) à 5 tours
5- Kawasaki Webike Trickstar No. 11 (from Puniet-Watanabe-Leblanc/FRA-JAP-FRA/Kawasaki ZX10-RR) with 10 laps
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