Suzuki's Le Mans one-two

Steve Plater and his Kawasaki France team-mates Frenchman Gwen Gabbiani and Julian Mazuecos from Spain finished third in the weekend’s Le Mans 24 hours – but the race was dominated by Suzuki France who finished first and second.

Plater’s chances on the Kawasaki France ZX-10 were compromised in the first two hours when his team lost a lap sorting a minor electrical glitch with a fuel warning light.
A frustrating fault since the bike ran faultlessly and all three riders were free from crashes or other incidents.

Plater said: “It was a bit of an up and down race because we had to play catch-up after the first two hours.

“We tried a new fuel warning light in pre-season testing which tells the rider there is five litres of fuel left to give us maybe one and half laps before we need to pit.

“I was doing the second session of the race when the fuel light came on 12 laps too early but I thought I had better play it safe and stop to have it checked over.

“Gwen started the race but had two safety-car sessions to cope with so we didn’t really get an indication of fuel consumption anyway. By the time I stopped and tried to explain the problem, our third rider Julian had jumped on the bike and was gone.

“Sure enough, he came back in with the fuel light on so we had lost about a lap within two hours.

“For the next 22 hours we were just flat-out trying to pick up time. Julian was really impressive. It was his first time on a superbike, he was fast as f**k and set the fastest lap of the race.

“We got third but I think Suzuki realise we’re back with a bang. The bonus for us is that their race winning team aren’t doing the full series so the points gap from us to their other team is minimal in terms of the championship.”

The Le Mans-based Suzuki Endurance Racing Team finished first and second with their ‘number two’ team of William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Max Neukirchner crossing the finish line at 15.00hrs local time with total of 818 laps completed.

They were just 1:19.938 minutes ahead of reigning World Champions SERT number one, comprising Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa.

Plater’s Kawasaki Motor France finished in third position on 817 laps with Yamaha GMT 94 fourth on 811 laps.

SERT number one led from the start but after the first hour they came under attack from Yamaha GMT 97 with just six seconds separating the pair.

SERT number two held third ahead of Kawasaki France. They increased their lead to one lap as the teams moved into Sunday morning and held it until a small problem with an oil pipe forced them to make an unscheduled pit stop.

This allowed Suzuki’s second GSX-R1000 through into the lead, which they held for three hours until the repaired Suzuki of SERT one charged by to the front once again.

But their team mates weren’t giving up and they retook the lead with just under two hours to go, which they held until the flag.

For Plater though the hard work didn’t finish with racing at Le Mans. He dashed straight home after the race, going 36 hours with no sleep.

Then he dropped his motorhome at Silverstone, drove back to Lincolnshire to pick up girlfriend Vikki and their new baby.

This week he’s spending two days at Cataulyna, instructing at a track day, then dashes back to race the AIM Yamaha R1 in BSB at Silverstone. Monday he flies back to Spain for the Albacete Six Hours.
 

Britain’s Yamaha Phase One finished in ninth place after an oil leak saw them sart from the back of the grid.

The R 1200 S of BMW Motorrad finished in a surprising 16th place in the general classification (read more about them in MCN’s April 25th edition).

British-based Diabolo 666 Bollinger finished in 19th, one lap down on the winners.

Results:

1 S.E.R.T. SBK, COSTES W8181:42.3121:40.329 Pit2
2 S.E.R.T. SBK, PHILIPPE V8181:19.9381:45.9381:40.110 Pit2
3 Kawasaki MotorFrance SBK, PLATER ST8171 Lap1:43.9371:39.860 Pit2
4 Yamaha GMT 94 SBK, GIMBERT S8117 Laps1:43.0621:40.094 Pit2
5 Yamaha Austria Racing SBK, JERMAN I8108 Laps1:46.1571:40.281 Pit2
6 Junior Team Suzuki LMS SST, FORAY F79523 Laps1:49.1251:41.750 Pit2
7 Acropolis Moto Expert SBK, SMRZ J79127 Laps1:50.8441:41.375 Pit2
8 Team LTG 57 SST, MORENO A78830 Laps1:51.4381:43.000 Pit1
9 Phase One Endurance SBK, NOWLAND W7882:04.0312:33.5631:41.047 Pit2
10 Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers SPP, MOLINIER ST78731 Laps1:52.8131:43.390 Pit1
11 Jadoul Motorsport SPP, JADOUL D78236 Laps1:52.6871:43.765 Pit1
12 Select Machines SST, HENRY J78038 Laps1:55.4371:43.344 Pit1
13 Team Zone Rouge SPP, DEPOORTER O77939 Laps1:52.9691:43.109 Pit2
14 3D Endurance Moto Center SST, HAQUIN CH77840 Laps1:51.0001:43.890 Pit2
15 Village Motos Honka SST, PENNA S7781:12.8441:50.5311:44.672 Pit1
16 BMW Motorrad Motorsport OPEN, PENZKOFER P77642 Laps1:52.7811:44.922 Pit1
17 Rac 41 – X Trem Bike SPP, PRIGENT A77543 Laps1:52.7501:44.078 Pit2
18 Endurance Moto 38 SPP, NIGON E77246 Laps1:52.9691:43.047 Pit1
19 Diabolo 666 Bolliger SBK, HUTCHINS J77048 Laps1:51.5311:43.218 Pit2
20 ABG Performance SST, ALLUARD CH76553 Laps1:54.0941:45.640 Pit1
21 Team Endurance Moto 45 SST, JAULNEAU N76454 Laps1:52.1881:45.484 Pit1
22 TBS 29 SPP, MARSAC D75464 Laps1:48.6251:43.469 Pit1
23 City Bike 53 SPP, GUYET E75365 Laps1:56.2811:43.282 Pit2
24 RDJ Competition SST, HENRY R75167 Laps1:53.6251:45.141 Pit2
25 Macco Moto Racing SPP, ROWLET D74969 Laps1:48.4691:44.656 Pit2
26 Team Zone Rouge 18 SST, MULOT TH74870 Laps1:51.8751:45.734 Pit1
27 Acropolis Moto Expert SST, QUAEGEBEUR D74573 Laps1:56.0311:46.031Pit2
28 Normand’urance SST, DOS SANTOS M7451:09.9371:53.8121:44.922 Pit2
29 Team Cognace SST, BOULANGE G74177 Laps1:54.7181:45.969 Pit2
30 Sikora Racing Team SPP, SIKORA J7414.5003:08.3751:44.281 Pit2
31 FRT 116 SST, BERNON F73484 Laps1:58.8751:44.078 Pit2
32 Lycee Pro Jean Jaures SST, BOUVIER D73286 Laps1:52.0001:44.015 Pit2
33 Back Racing SBK, MAHER R72791 Laps2:00.8751:44.453 Pit2
34 Orca / TRT 27 SST, CUZIN B520298 Laps1:48.8751:43.703 Pit1
D.N.F. EWC Eurosport Benelux SPP, VISSCHER A OUT
D.N.F.Bolliger Team Switzerland SBK, MORILLON D OUT
D.N.F. Team AmadeusX-One SPP, TESSARI P OUT
D.N.F. Infini Team Moto SST, MICHEL CH OUT
D.N.F. Suzuki Sweden SBKANDERSON T OUT
D.N.F. Les Pistons Flingueurs SPP, BERTHOLET M OUT
D.N.F.Team Rafin Motos SPP, CHENE D OUT
D.N.F. RMT 21 Racing SBK, SEIDEL M OUT
D.N.F. Genous Team SPP, RULFO B OUT
D.N.F. Motors TV/MV Agusta SPP, FOULOI D OUT
D.N.F.R.T. RACING TEAM SPP, DEVOYON JL OUT
D.N.F. No Limits & MCB Racing SPP, CODELUPPI M OUT
D.N.F. Metiss JLC Moto OPEN, BARATIN A OUT
D.N.F. Team Alf’s SBK, MARTIN G OUT
D.N.F. Education Racing Team SST, ROGERS N OUT
D.N.F. Action Bike Racing SST, PRULHIERE S OUT
D.N.F. Profil + DAP 91 SBK, DE CAROLIS L OUT
D.N.F. Qatar Endurance Racing SBK. CARDOSO JL OUT
D.N.F.  AM Moto Racing SPP, GIBET A OUT
D.N.F.  Power 113 SBK, PIOT P OUT
D.N.F. Stand 41 SST, DIGUET J OUT