Le Mans 24hr: Honda take second ahead of strong British field

The Honda Racing team of MCE BSB racers Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Jason O’Halloran, joined by former world champion Sebastian Gimbert, will start tomorrow’s Le Mans 24hr race from second place.
 
The Lincolnshire based team formerly known as TT Legends suffered with a damp track after overnight rain for the first two riders, but improving times from Foray and O’Halloran left them second for the famous run across the French track.
 
Team boss Neil Tuxworth said after the qualifying was concluded: “We had a mixed practice session due to varying weather conditions but the main thing is we had no problems. The performance of the all four riders was strong and we remain in second position to start the race. In some ways this is better than pole as it takes some of the pressure away from the starting rider. Anyway, in a 24-hour race we know anything can happen so we’re just hoping for a trouble-free race.”
 
The factory SRC Kawasaki team of LeBlanc, Lagrive and Foret will instead take pole, while third is the Monster YART team of MotoGP riders Broc Parkes and Michael Laverty, sharing the bike with WSB racer Sheridan Morias.
 
Former EWC Superstock champion Steve Mercer is fourteenth overall and sixth in their class on the Penz13.com BMW, while TT star Guy Martin is 18th on the R2CL Suzuki.
 
The iconic race will begin at 3pm Saturday French time, concluding 24 hours later on Sunday afternoon.