Second event of the 2021 Endurance World Championship season, the 12 Hours of Estoril officially begins today at noon (French time) with a two-hour free practice session before the first qualifications which will last throughout the afternoon, and a night session to end the day.
But before that, almost all the teams took part in a day of private testing on the Portuguese circuit on Tuesday, characterized by beautiful sunshine but very strong wind. The latter, still present on Wednesday, significantly hampered the competitors and even intensified at the end of the day, even if it should gradually ease over the days.
Private testing session required, no time was disclosed and the bikes were running without a transponder. However, as is customary in this case, all the leading teams took their opponents' times manually...
And there, it emerges very clearly from our information that the YART-Yamaha was by far the fastest, proving to be almost a second faster than his closest opponents.
Can we deduce from this that the #7 Yamaha will inevitably crush the competition this Saturday?
Obviously, no! We have endurance! On the one hand, as we have said, the wind bothered everyone, on the other hand it was only the first day of adjustments, without even remembering that an endurance victory is being decided today before all about the absence of problems, whether mechanical or due to pilot error…
Nevertheless, the YART-Yamaha, which enters this second meeting in 10th place in the ranking, 50 points from the Yoshimura SERT team which leads the general classification, knows that it has a good card to play, with a maximum of 45 points at stake during this Portuguese round including the departure will take place on Saturday July 17 at 10 a.m. (French time).
Mandy Kainz, Team Manager : " We are really happy to be in Estoril. We don't really have a plan, but we have one goal and that is to win. We want to repeat the success we had last year where we also had one goal before the race. I think we are more competitive this year and going to a circuit that suits our riders, our R1 Yamaha and the Bridgestone tires gives us the confidence to fight for victory this weekend. »
Karel Hanika : " We want to bounce back after the unfortunate Le Mans race. We had success in Estoril last year, but this year it will be difficult due to the higher temperatures, so we need to make sure we are well prepared. Our competitors are very strong, as we saw in France, which will make it difficult to repeat last year's result, but we will do our best, as always. We are in good shape so we have to stay focused and give our best to get the best result for the team on Saturday. »
Marvin Fritz : " After Le Mans we are really hungry to get a good result. We have good memories of Estoril, with the victory and pole position last year. Our R1 worked well there, as did our Bridgestone tires! Knowing our package is working makes us excited and we can't wait to get out on track and work hard to make it happen again. In EWC, anything is possible. We will fight until the last lap of the race. Then we'll see where we are! »
Niccolò Canepa : " We have good memories from last year. The track is really beautiful and our Yamaha was working very well. I expect a lot of teams to be fast during the race this year, so we need to put in some extra work if we want to try to win! After the bad luck at Le Mans, we have no strategy, only to attack for victory! »
Local times (add one hour for French time):
From the starting procedure from 9:45 a.m. CEST to the podium, the 12 Hours of Estoril will be followed in full on the Eurosport 2 international network. Beyond the Eurosport network, the Team Channel will be live in full from 9:40 a.m.
