Provisional pole position, pole position and victory, it was at the end of a real demonstration of force that the Yamaha YZF-M1 #1 of YART-Yamaha crossed the finish line in the lead. 8 Hours of Spa this Saturday at 21 p.m.
Despite strong opposition led throughout mainly by the Suzuki #12 du Yoshimura SERT Motul, the world champion motorcycle and its crew were able to respond blow for blow to any attempted challenge, ensuring, despite additional refueling, a small capital of 40 seconds in advance at the end of the 201 laps covered on the Belgian circuit of Spa-Francorchamps.
Behind the two teams accustomed to the leading roles of Niccolo Canepa / Marvin Fritz / Karel Hanika et Gregg Black / Etienne Masson / Dan Linfoot, the top 5 is completed by three Hondas, even if the official bike of the Japanese firm experienced some problems which did not allow it to do better than 5th.
Indeed, in third position, it is the CBR 1000 RR #4 du Tati Team Beringer Racing who achieved a masterstroke, conceding only 3 laps and obtaining the third step of the podium with Hugo Clere, Randy Krumenacher and Corentin Perolari.
One place and one lap further, we find the sister machine #333 of the team Honda Viltaïs Racing taken by Florian Alt / Steven Odendaal / Leandro Mercado, while Honda CBR 1000 RR-R #5 du FCC TSR Honda France finally finished 5th after 5 laps, with very good relaysAlan Techer after fall of Josh Hook in the second sector.
40 seconds which separate the two main candidates for victory after 201 laps, that's roughly 2 tenths of a second per lap: Not much, but it makes all the difference.
In the championship, Yoshimura SERT Motul now has 88 points, YART-Yamaha 87, Tati Team Beringer 54 and BMW Motoraad Team 53.
Congratulations to all participants in this second round of the FI MEWC endurance world championship, which remains above all a human adventure!
