Endurance: Yoshimura SERT Motul on pole position at Le Mans

Yoshimura SERT Motul has qualified on pole position for the 24 Heures Motos.

Yoshimura SERT Motul are on pole position in the opening qualifying session of the year for the EWC grid. It was mixed conditions for riders, making qualifying tricky for the 54 motorcycles.

Heavy rain on Friday meant that Thursday’s Qualifying one would essentially decide the grid for the race. The average lap times of the fastest two riders for each team have decided the grid order.

Yoshimura SERT Motul set the fastest average lap time with a 1:37.153, as they look they repeat last season’s success. The team will continue to use the Suzuki GSX-R1000 with riders Gregg Black, Sylvain Guintoli, and Etienne Massin. 

YART Yamaha qualified in second position, as the #7 looks to make an improvement on their race starts this season. The team set an average lap time of 1:37.242 with Marvin Fritz setting the fastest lap time out of the trio. Karel Hanika qualified the YART Yamaha on pole last season, breaking a new lap record.

Hanika said: “Our engineers have worked hard and we are quite positive in this matter for starting the race but you never know what is going to happen. Hopefully, we will have some luck, but you don’t win the race at the start, we have to be competitive for the whole 24 hours.”

Defending World Champions, F.C.C. TSR Honda France will start the race in third position after a strong qualifying. Josh Hook and Mike Di Meglio set an average lap time of 1:37.764. The Honda team looked strong in practice, topping the time sheets in the night practice season.

The Moto Ain team will start the race in fourth position, starting the race as the first independent team. Corentin Perolari set the fastest lap for the team, starting the race ahead of the Honda Viltaïs Racing team. 

The #6 ERC Endurance Ducati enters the 24 Heures Motos as the only Ducati on the grid. They set an average time of 1:38.617, after finishing ninth in the standings last year.

Metiss return

The Metiss bike was on pole position in the experimental class, finishing the session in 18^th overall. Metiss offer their riders a unique experience, using a ‘swingarm’ on the front of the motorcycle. The experimental class has two bikes racing in it this season, with the Aprilia Le Mans 2 Roues team racing an Aprilia. 

Team Louit April Moto was the quickest Dunlop Superstock Trophy bike and the fastest FIM Endurance World Cup bike. The #33 Louit April Moto team stated that “Pole position is not important because the race is long and always in Le Mans it’s a tricky race”.

After mixed conditions throughout practice and qualifying, riders are now expecting dry conditions for the race. Teams and riders will have just a 45-minute warm-up session to prepare them for the 46^th edition of the 24 Heures Moto.

Image credit: EWC