Yoshimura SERT Motul bounced back from its Le Mans misery to hit the high notes in the FIM Endurance World Championship once again during the 24H SPA EWC Motos.
By qualifying third and finishing fourth, the Suzuki-powered squad shot up from seventh to fourth in the provisional standings after riders Gregg Black, Sylvain Guintoli and Étienne Masson combined to good effect at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
However, the team should have been far better rewarded for its efforts in Belgium as two time-consuming pitstops dropped it out of contention for top spot and even a place on the podium.
However, with the top three locked in a close battle, a stop-and-go penalty was handed down to Yoshimura SERT Motul after Masson was involved in collision with the #16 Holland Motorstore Racing entry. A further pit stop was required for repairs, which dropped the Le Mans-based outfit off the lead lap.
In an effort to recover some of the time lost, Sylvain Guintoli posted a new race lap record of 2m20.578s during an impressive night charge, which bettered his own previous benchmark time of 2m21.056s set during last year’s first edition of the 24H SPA EWC Motos last June.
But Yoshimura SERT Motul’s hopes of victory were dashed when a lengthy pit stop to fix a faulty water pump during the middle of Sunday morning left the team five laps down in fourth place. Despite every effort of its riders to close up to the final podium place, completing the top four was the end result.
It wasn't the result we'd hoped for, said Yohei Kato, Team Director of Yoshimura SERT Motul. I’m sorry for everyone who works with us and supports us. The riders and the bike performed well during the race. We're now going to do everything we can to win at Suzuka and the Bol d'Or.
Team Manager Damien Saulnier said: It’s hard to fall short of getting on the podium after all that effort. We had a great week in Spa and we were very well prepared for the race. The team did a good job and the tyres performed well also. But in endurance racing you sometimes need a bit of luck, and we didn't have any. And as it was also the case at Le Mans this year, I hope that bad luck will change sides next time.
Guntoli added: Personally, I feel completely drained after this race. But the result isn't there. It's a shame. There are still two races to go, so there's still hope. We just need luck to be on our side at last.
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]