Le Castellet (France) (AFP)
The famous Bol d'Or, on the circuit of Castellet (Var) this weekend, launches the 2019/2020 endurance motorcycle season which will see the French team SRC Kawasaki defend his title against his usual opponents but also the newcomer BMW.
This 83rd edition of the Bol d'Or is the first of two 24-hour EWC events, with the 24 Hours of Motorcycles on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans on the weekend of 18-19 April 2020.
The championship also includes the 8 Hours of Sepang (December 14th), the 8 Hours of Oschersleben (June 6th) and the 8 Hours of Suzuka (July 19th).
With his world champion crew composed of Frenchmen Erwan Nigon and Jérémy Guarnoni as well as Spaniard David Checa, the SRC team now sports the N.1 on his Kawasaki.
He will find among his main competitors the Suzuki N.2 SERT, entrusted to the French Vincent Philippe, Etienne Masson and the British Gregg Black, who had failed on the wire to conquer the title at the Suzuka 8 Hours in late July because of an engine break 5 minutes from the end.
The emblematic SERT Dominique Méliand's "team manager" having retired, it is now Damien Saulnier who presides over the destinies of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, whose creation dates back to 1980 and which has an impressive record of 16 victories at the Bol d'Or. However, 10 victories at the 24 Heures Motos and 15 titles of world champion.
The Suzuki N.2 however only got the 6th time of the tests, the Yamaha N.7 of the YART, entrusted to the French Loris Baz, the German Marvin Fritz and the Italian Niccolo Canepa, achieving the best time ahead Kawasaki N.1 of the SRC and the machine N.5 of the TSR Honda France, driven by the French Freddy Foray and Mike di Meglio backed by the Australian Josh Hook, winners last year.
- On the bill but not on the track -
For Baz, it's a return to endurance after his victory at the Bol d'Or in 2013, which was running at Magny-Cours, and four years spent in MotoGP. The Frenchman also runs this year in the World Superbike Championship. "I like running in endurance but it is not always easy to reconcile calendars," he says.
He did not lose his hand, however, as he set the fastest qualifying time in 1: 53.408, with the YART drivers being the only ones to get under the 1 minute 54 seconds mark.
It will also be necessary to count on a new official team in the championship: the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, with a factory machine (the N.37) entrusted to Kenny Foray - the twin brother of Freddy -, accompanied by the Ukrainian Ilya Mikhalchik and German Julian Puffe. They achieved the 4th time qualifying practice.
Note also the presence in the EWC category of a Ducati, the one entered by the Hertrampf Racing Endurance, which only achieved the 37th time.
Among the absentees, the British Honda Endurance Racing Team announced brutally late August that it would no longer line up in the championship, depriving French handlebars Randy de Puniet and Sebastien Gimbert (who intended to take advantage of the Bol d'Or to make his goodbye to endurance after 25 years in the discipline). Ironically, this machine bearing the number 111 is on the official poster of this edition.
In total, 56 crews will start the race at 15:00 (13:00 GMT) on Saturday at the circuit Paul Ricard, along 5,673 km, a weather that promises to be cloudy with rain Sunday.
© 2019 AFP