This Friday, June 2, saw the Spa-Francorchamps circuit host the first qualifying session for the 24 Hour race on the 6,985-kilometer Belgian track.
20 minutes for each pilot, blue, yellow, red and green, allowed us to get a first idea of what awaits us: a race where the forces involved are really very close to each other!
The blue riders got the ball rolling and it was Josh Hook who was the fastest, leading his FCC TSR Honda France Honda CB R1000 RR-R in 2:20.411, a time very close to the one made by Marvin Fritz during free practice, 2:20.306. Behind the Australian, Gregg Black places the Suzuki GSX-R1000R of Yoshimura SERT Motul at 0.189s, while Randy de Puniet snatches third place on his Kawasaki ZX 10R from Webike SRC Kawasaki France, but already at 0.987s.
Note, however, that during this session, Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team) set a lap in 2:19.910 which was canceled for having exceeded the limits of the track…
Among the yellow drivers, it is by only 11 thousandths that Illya Mykhalchyk holds the #5 Honda of Gino Rea! In 2:20.388, the BMW M1000RR of the BMW Motorrad Workd Endurance Team, like the Honda, established itself as contenders for victory.
With a red armband, Karel Hanika saw the same by imposing in his last lap the YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC Yamaha YZF-R1 at the end of a lap in 2:20.253, best time of the day, ahead of Florian Marino on the Kawasaki ZX 10R #11.
Finally, among the reserve riders with an ecological connotation, Christian Iddon places the Suzuki GSX-R1000R of Yoshimura SERT Motul in first place in 2:21.774 ahead of Kenny Foray on the #37 BMW.
The Second Qualifying will begin at 11:25 a.m. CET on Friday. Under the new rules in force this season, qualifying results are based on the average of the times set by the two fastest drivers in each crew, instead of the three fastest previously.
