By covering the 4.185 km of the track in 1 min 34 sec 878/1000 on the handlebars of his Yamaha N.7, Czech rider Karel Hanika largely beat the qualifying record of Frenchman Randy de Puniet which dated from 2017 (1min 35sec 730 /1000).
Behind the lead machine, we find the Suzuki N.1 of the Yoshimura-SERT team, winner in 2021 at Le Mans and EWC 2021 world champion, followed by the Honda of the official FCC TSR Honda France team.
The Yamaha N.18 of Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers CMS Motostore won first place in the Superstock (SST) category and that of the first private team.
Former MotoGP rider and TV consultant Randy de Puniet, back on the handlebars of the official SRC team Kawasaki for the 2022 season, was unable to defend his record, the new electronics of the bike specially adapted for racing. endurance still to be refined.
The qualifying session was marked by several crashes, including the spectacular crash of the BMW N.9 which broke apart, without its driver, Frenchman David Perret, being seriously injured.
This year the start will return to its historic schedule on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., but before that the qualified competitors will meet at 9:00 a.m. for the final practice session, the traditional 45-minute warm-up.
© 2022 AFP