Zongshen 1 wins 12-hour night race

Zongshen No. 1 has won the fourth round of the World Endurance championship at Albacette in Spain.

The 12-hour night race was beset by numerous crashes during the first qualifying sessions as riders struggled to cope with the heat. But by the time the race started temperatures had dropped to a more manageable degree.

The longest race of the season so far saw the two Zongshen teams set the pace throughout the race on their Suzuki GSX-R1000s with the No. 1 team eventually finishing a full lap ahead of partners Zongshen No. 2.

British team Suzuki Phase One were in contention for a place on the podium but suffered continuous bad luck. After just half an hour’s racing a small crash saw the team drop back to last place.

They managed to fight their way back in to the top ten but developed break problems and collided with another team dropping back again. They put in a good effort and managed to fight back but could only get to sixth position before the end of the race.

The Police Nationale team were also in contention for the lead but their engine failed just over half way through the race forcing them to retire, leaving the way clear for Folch Endurance to take third.

The Yamahas of GMT94 and Endurance Moto 38 took fourth and fifth respectively, with Yamaha Austria in seventh and the Bolliger team in eighth on their Kawasaki.

Top ten finishers:

1) Suzuki Zongshen 1 (Nowland – Mertens – Jerman) CHN, 2) Suzuki Zongshen No.2 (Bonhuil – Bontempi – Lerat) CHN, 3) Yamaha Folch Endurance (Fernandez – Tomas – Rodriguez) SPA, 4) Yamaha GMT94 (Scarnato – Holon – Foti) FRA, 5) Yamaha Endurance Moto 38 (Brian – Morrillon – Cuzin) FRA, 6) Suzuki GB Phase One (Lindstrom – Ellison D – Ellison J.) GBR, 7) Yamaha Austria (Truchsess – Wilding – Saiger) AUT, 8) Kawasaki Bolliger Team (Kellenberger – Stamm – Nystrom) SUI, 9) Suzuki Phase One Junior (Fincher – Jessop – Notman) GBR, 10) Suzuki Trackdaze 11 (Falcke – Hutchins – Pilborough) GBR.