Hannes Soomer has repeated his Suzuka preparations for this week’s FIM Endurance World Championship title showdown in France.
The Estonian, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team’s new recruit for the Bol d’Or, was a Suzuka novice prior to contesting the venue’s EWC counter in July and resorted to a car racing simulator to learn the challenging layout.
With Circuit Paul Ricard, which hosts the Bol d’Or from 12-15 September, also on his list of untried tracks, Soomer has spent more time on a car racing simulator to get to grips with the 5.673-kilometre course. “I’ve tried to learn the track as much as possible in the car simulator,”* said the 26-year-old. “It’s the same what I did for Suzuka so at least I know where the turns go but I will have to learn it during the week.”
Soomer, who claimed Dunlop-equipped Superstock honours in the 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race, replaces Sylvain Guintoli in the factory BMW line-up after *Guintoli withdrew for personal reasons. “It will be my first time doing the Bol d’Or and straight away with the factory team,” Soomer said. “I would like to be happier about it but the situation with Sylvain is not really pleasant and definitely not the way I wanted to get my first chance. I am sorry for him but I will do my best”.
Soomer took part in April’s 24 Heures Motos as part of the Tecmas MRP BMW Racing Team Superstock squad. However, a fall left him with damaged ligaments and meant he was absent from the 8 Hours of Spa Motos..
“In Le Mans I didn’t really get to the difficult part of the night, the cold part that everybody is talking about when you feel like you want to be home,”* Soomer said.
Asked if he was under pressure to deliver a strong result for BMW, which can still win the FIM Endurance World Championship for Teams in 2024, Soomer added: “I think the pressure is there when you wear a factory team’s leathers but I try not to think about it. I will just do my best and learn as much as possible from Markus [Reiterberger] and Illya [Mykhalchyk] and how to manage the night and everything.”
Of Soomer’s potential, Guintoli said ahead of the 24 Heures Motos: “He’s done good. Hannes is a great guy, a young lad, coming up very quick so for him it’s a good opportunity to be on one of the top bikes and a good opportunity for him to learn and maybe step up in the future.”
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]
