Nothing is ever written in in stone in endurance racing and this years 24H SPA EWC Motos proves it again. The Suzuki n°1 (Yoshimura SERT Motul) had been leading since the early minutes and had increased the gap when gearbox problems forced Sylvain Guintoli back to the pits. Gregg Black was able to restart 25 minutes later, but the world champion team dropped from first to fourteenth place.
Having held strong in second place, the Honda No. 5 (F.C.C. TSR Honda France) took full advantage to take the lead, with the BMW No. 37 (BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM) and the Yamaha No. 7 (YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC) in hot pursuit. No major problems affected the three bikes during the last four hours and by one o’clock in the morning, i.e. halfway through the race, all three were within two laps of each other.
Five laps behind the leaders, the Kawasaki No.4 (TATI TEAM BERENGER RACING) layed down some strong laps and is firmly placed in fourth, defending against the Yamaha No. 777 (Wójcik Racing Team STK 777). The suspense remains across the pack, especially as storms are approaching the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
In the Superstock class, the battle for victory is still raging between the Kawasaki No. 33 (TEAM 33 LOUIT APRIL MOTO) and the Yamaha No. 18 (TEAM 18 SAPEURS POMPIERS CMS MOTOSTORE), following each other in the same lap. In addition to the success in their category, both machines are also fighting for the sixth place in the scratch classification. They could soon be joined by the Suzuki n°1 of the SERT, which has been pushing hard since its mechanical problem and has just broken backinto the top ten, holding ninth place and charging hard.
Formula EWC standings after 12 hours:
- 1. Honda n°5 (F.C.C. TSR Honda France)
- 2. BMW n°37 (BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM)
- 3. Yamaha n°7 (YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC)
- 4. Kawasaki n°4 (TATI TEAM BERINGER RACING)
- 5. Yamaha n°77 (Wójcik Racing Team 77)
Superstock standings after 12 hours:
- 1. Kawasaki n°33 (TEAM 33 LOUIT APRIL MOTO)
- 2. Yamaha n°18 (TEAM 18 SAPEURS POMPIERS CMS MOTOSTORE)
- 3. Yamaha n°94 (TEAM LH RACING)
- 4. Yamaha n°66 (OG MOTORSPORT BY SARAZIN)
- 5. Kawasaki n°23 (TEAM NORMANDIE MOTORSPORT)
