Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team’s Mandy Kainz described the long wait to win the FIM Endurance World Championship last season as like being 10 years in the desert and then you find paradise
Kainz, the YART Team Manager, was on hand to guide riders Niccolò Canepa, Marvin Fritz and Karel Hanika to the coveted EWC title during a dramatic Bol d’Or season finale at Circuit Paul Ricard last September.
The Austrian outfit was one of six teams in EWC title contention starting the legendary 24-hour event in southern France, albeit 14 points behind F.C.C. TSR Honda France.
It came through a fraught period on Sunday morning, the result of a temperature issue that required several unscheduled pitstops, until it was rectified by the team’s mechanics ahead of the final two hours of action.
But with its main rivals either dropping out (F.C.C. TSR Honda France) or dropping out of contention (BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team), YART essentially needed a top-nine Formula EWC finish to secure the FIM Endurance World Championship’s biggest prize, making its troubles on Sunday morning particularly troubling.
With its riders performing faultlessly, having benefitted from an inspired tyre call for the opening stint on Saturday afternoon and safe in the knowledge the #7 Bridgestone-equipped entry was working as it should in the closing stages, fourth place was sufficient to take the title.
We were so many championships so close but always something happened, even we lost one tile in the last hour, said Kainz. It’s very relieving to be honest and the feeling is the same as being 10 years in the desert and then you find paradise.
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]
