24 Hours Spa EWC Motos Test J1: BMW shoots first!

This Tuesday took place the first of two days of testing in preparation for the 24 Heures Motos which will take place on June 4 and 5 on the circuit of Recently renovated Spa-Francorchamps.

The sun was out for the three sessions that included this first day on “the most beautiful circuit in the world” and no less than 49 motorcycles were able to benefit from excellent conditions on the 7 kilometer Belgian route.

When first session, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., it’s BMW M1000 RR #37 of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team which distinguished itself by setting a first benchmark in 2'23.061 a little less than 7 tenths ahead of the Yamaha YZF-R1 #7T of the YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC: the gaps were then equal to the length of the circuit, big!

 

 

Behind the four machines of these two teams, the only ones which were then kept within the same second, we found the Honda CBR 1000RR-R #5 and #5T of the FCC TSR Honda France and the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 #1 and #1T of the Yoshimura SERT Motul, then the Kawasaki ZX10R #11, #11T and #4 of the WEBIKE SRC Kawasaki France and Tati Team Beringer Racing teams.
Surprise, you had to go to the bottom of the ranking to find the Ducati Panigale #6 and #6T…

At the end of the second session which was held from 14:00 p.m. to 15:30 p.m., we noticed a clear acceleration of the pace, and the Yamaha YZF-R1 #7T regained the advantage in 2'21.322 with a gap reduced to a fraction in front of the BMW M1000 RR #37, Then Honda CBR 1000RR-R #5 at half a second.
La Suzuki GSX-R 1000 #1 remained in ambush, a bit like at Le Mans, while the Ducati Panigale #6 arrived in a more usual area for a factory motorcycle…

 

 

Finally, the trail opened again from 16:30 p.m. to 18:00 p.m. for a third session which saw the rapid BMW M1000 RR #37 of Markus Reiterberger, Ilya Mykhalchyk, Jérémy Guarnoni and Kenny Foray take the torch in 2'20.887, thus pushing back the leading machine from Iwata driven by Karel Hanika, Niccolò Canepa and Marvin Fritz to more than half a second in the session (4 tenths combined)!

 

 

Three tenths behind, the Honda CBR 1000RR-R #5 began to show its teeth, the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 #1 and Kawasaki ZX10R #11 remaining more than a second behind the best time of the Bavarian motorcycle.

Tomorrow, only two sessions will be organized, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. then from 14:00 p.m. to 17:00 p.m.

 

Photo credit : FIMEWC.com