Maco Racing completed its 20th season in the FIM Endurance World Championship with sixth place in the 100th-anniversary Bol d’Or last month.
With young Hungarian Bálint Kovács joining Enzo Boulom and Anthony West as a last-minute replacement for the team’s new recruit Camille Hedeline, the Slovak team overcame a delay in the third hour due to a technical issue, another technical problem and a crash to complete the top six.
Team owner Martin Kuzma said: “Our plan was to get as many points as possible and move up in the final ranking. Everything went according to plan until the second qualifying, in this qualification Enzo had a crash and he was taken to the hospital for a check-up. After his return, the doctor decided that he could start but it was not certain how long he would last in the race itself.
Since I needed two fast riders for the race and I didn’t know how Enzo would be, I tried to get a replacement for Camillo, who wasn’t riding such fastest times. In the end, Bálint move to our team, so he was ready to race with us. He only rode our motorcycle directly in the race, not before, not even one section during the trainings. However, he adapted immediately and makes such a beautiful time.
Anthony started the race, we immediately advanced to the top 10, followed by Enzo and after him Bálint. During his stint, however, a problem appeared on the back of the motorcycle and we lost positions during the subsequent repair. Once we were back on track and pushing it, another failure came, followed by a crash and it was done.
The chase started, everything worked as it should, and in the end, it was sixth place at the finish. Our three problems cost us the podium in the final showdown, which we are sad about, but the team worked at 110 per cent, they ride excellently despite Enzo’s injury, Bálint was perfect, he surprised everyone and at 21 years old he has a lot ahead of him. Anthony does his job perfectly well, he is fast and reliable, his participation in our team is a great asset for us.
At the Bol d’Or, we finished fourth twice in the past, this time sixth. Of course, we always want to finish as high as possible, but every 24-hour race is difficult and has its own destiny. So, we are satisfied in the end. I would like to thank all the team members and riders for their great work, big thanks also to all our sponsors and partners and above all our fans.
Maco Racing placed 12th in the final standings of the 2022 FIM Endurance World Championship for Teams.
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]
