Reigning world champion Yoshimura Sarthe Endurance Racing Team Motul took victory in the season-opening 24 Heures Motos EWC at Le Mans, France.
Yoshimura SERT Motul drivers, Gregg Black, Sylvain Guintoli and Xavier Siméon completed a total of 840 laps on the Bugatti circuit, 1:45.582 minutes ahead of their closest YART rivals and made 23 pit stops, in favorable weather conditions and in front of a large crowd.
Greg Black, who started second on the grid, took the start aboard the team's GSX-R1000R Suzuki and was able to get the upper hand on his opponents from the first corner. After spending much of the race in third position, the team took the lead on Saturday evening, a position they secured thanks to a solid race plan, reliable machinery and quick and efficient pit stops. carried out by Yoshimura SERT Motul technical staff.
Throughout the night, the trio of drivers stayed true to their plan and Greg Black set the event lap record at daybreak with a time of 1.36.195. Always focused on its objectives, the Franco-Japanese team gave everything to maintain its lead in the race against strong competition.
On the track, the Suzuki riders made no mistakes, maintaining control throughout the difficult 24-hour event, which saw the deployment of a safety car no less than eight times. The team even overcame a tricky incident during the second safety car exit when Sylvain Guintoli ran out of fuel but, as always, in the pits the technical team provided perfect support until the checkered flag arrived.
In addition to the additional 23 points gained during qualifying, and in the 8th and 16th hours of the race, 40 points were earned for the victory which gave Yoshimura SERT Motul a total of 63 points.
The Yoshimura SERT Motul team will now travel to Belgium on June 4-5 for the 24 Hours of Spa.
Damien Saulnier, Team Manager: “ What a week ! What a race! I was impressed by the level of performance of all the teams. I really admire the work of our three drivers. I am also very proud of the entire technical team around me, with Yohei, with Yoshimura's staff in Japan, with the SERT team at Le Mans. I think we are all happy with this race, which was exceptional and fantastic. »
Yohei Kato, Team Director: “ I am happy to start the second season with such a brilliant result and I am very satisfied with the work done by the whole team. We put a lot of effort into preparing for the 2022 season during the winter and it paid off. We have the same team as when we won the 24 Heures Motos last year, and their hard work has once again been rewarded with victory! »
Gregg Black: « I expected that I would start because I usually do pretty well. This year it was a little different. I crashed heavily during preparatory practice a few days ago and broke my heel. Eventually I managed to get over it and get a good start. Afterwards, it was an incredible race, with a very strong pace from start to finish. We had to push as hard as we could in each relay because we had some very strong competitors. My teammates were also very strong and the whole team did a great job. »
Xavier Siméon: « The team really did a great job on the strategy to allow us to do as many laps as possible and as few pit stops as possible. On the track, the bike showed extraordinary potential. We were able to achieve incredible times. In fact, Gregg broke the all-time record in the race. But it was still a difficult race because we had to push to the finish line. »
Sylvain Guintoli: « It's a very different victory than 2021. It was a tough race. We needed speed, strategy and the whole team in the box, which worked perfectly. Our fuel consumption was also better than our opponents and that also played an important role. We gave everything this weekend, and today we can be proud to go home with the trophy. »
