[EWC] Honda #111 regains control in the 24 Heures Motos warmup

The Motorcycle that revealed itself the fastest on Thursday in the hands of Randy de Puniet, during the first qualifying series for the 24 2019 Heures Motos, the Honda #111 of Honda Endurance Racing experienced a very slight drop in pace on Friday, nevertheless sufficient to obtain 6th position at the start of this legendary endurance event.

This morning, during the warmup which took place from 9:40 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans, the red Honda (Sébastien Gimbert, Yonny Hernandez and Randy de Puniet) was again the fastest, this time driven by Sébastien Gimbert, which augurs a daggers-drawn race with the other contenders for victory, namely the #6 BMW of the ERC-BMW Motorrad Endurance Team (Kenny Foray, Julien Da Costa and Mathieu Gines), the Yamaha #7 of YART (Broc Parkes, Marvin Fritz and Niccolò Canepa) and #333 of the VRD Igol Pierret Expériences (Florian Alt, Florian Marin and Xavier Siméon), and the Suzuki #2 of Suzuki Endurance Racing in 1'37''642 (Vincent Philippe, Étienne Masson and Greg Black), just ahead of her sister #1 world champion of the FCC TSR Honda France (Josh Hook, Freddy Foray and Mike Di Meglio).

Sébastien Gimbert therefore achieved the best time of this warm-up aboard the Honda #111 of Honda Endurance Racing thanks to a time of 1'37''390. Remember that the 41-year-old French driver is preparing to take part in his last 24 Hours Motorcycles. The Yamaha #7 of the YART-Yamaha team achieved the second time in 1'37''606 thanks to Marvin Fritz. The Yamaha #333 of VDR Igol Pierret Expériences completes the top 3 in the general classification.

Let's point out the fall during this warmup of Matthew Lussiana riding the Yamaha #36 of the 3ART – Moto Team 95 team at the Dunlop chicane. A fall without consequences for this new team in the Formula EWC category, the premier category of the 24 Heures Motos.

In the Superstock category, it was the #50 Suzuki of the Motors Events team which set the best time in 1'38''640. Tenth in the general classification, this machine is ahead of the BMW #56 of the German team GERT56 by GS YUASA (1'38''684). It is this bike which achieved pole position in this category at the end of qualifying practice. In the Experimental category, the #17 Kawasaki of ITeM 17 took the best time in 1'40''230. A performance which places her 27th in the general ranking.

The teams and drivers are now ready to start the 42nd edition of the 24 Heures Motos which will be given at 15 p.m. Jorge Viegas, president of the International Motorcycling Federation.

At the end of the warmup, the team managers of each team will announce the final names of the three drivers who will participate in the 24 Heures Motos.

>>> Access the complete results of each session <<