De Alessio Piana / Corsedimoto.com
Current world champion, the Kawasaki SRC team finds itself in pursuit of the title: the 24 hours of Le Mans will almost be its last chance.
It was supposed to be the first season to live without worries, without the sword of Damocles. As reigning world champions, the Kawasaki SRC team was guaranteed, for the first time in recent times, the opportunity to participate in the entire FIM EWC season thanks to the availability of a substantial budget . Without the uncertainties of recent years, Gilles Stafler's structure initially aligned with the legitimate expectation of attempting the double, but so far everything has not gone well.
GLOBAL ADVENTURE
In the field of motorcycling in the 2000s, the global success of the Kawasaki SRC team in FIM EWC 2018/2019 had a taste for adventure. Originally, she had a sufficient budget to only run endurance marathons, the 24-hour events in France. After winning Le Mans, she was guaranteed to be able to race the next two stages of the calendar. Until the last minute, she was not yet sure that she would be able to compete until the end, but with the podium and the championship leadership obtained in Oschersleben, the economic assurances to face the trip to Japan arrived. Yes: at the Suzuka 8 Hours, where the first world title in its history was obtained, Kawasaki SRC was not even supposed to be there...
2020 PLANS
Although almost out of time, it is a great story which guaranteed the reference team Kawasaki Motors, Kawasaki France and Pirelli, the possibility of racing the entire 2019/2020 FIM EWC season. A project only finalized on September 15 (the week before the Bol d'Or...), so much so that until the last minute, the SRC team had registered for the 24 hours at Le Castellet with #11 and not with the #1 of the reigning world champions. For this full-time commitment, Kawasaki France has widened the purse strings, just as the contribution of a new title sponsor (Webike) has allowed Stafler, for once, not to have to worry as much about the "budget » at the start of the season.
TRAUMATIC GOLDEN BOWL
After reconfirming the trio formed by Jeremy Guarnoni, Erwan Nigon and David Checa, the Bol d'Or did not quite go as planned. Instead, it turned out to be a nightmare, with Nigon crashing with Baz (YART Yamaha) onto the oil left behind by the #5 FCC TSR Honda, leaving the #1 Kawasaki in the middle of the flames. The result ? If we leave aside the points lost in the championship for once, the results of the expenses are… desperate: the Ninja ZX-10RR ended up (literally) charred. Irreparable, irrecoverable: a catastrophe.
COURSES
Without one of its two motorcycles, Kawasaki SRC then showed up at the start of the Sepang 8 Hours, which earned it an honorable weekend. Sixth place in the race was not bad, but because of the Suzuki SERT's fifth place, the championship standings show a heavy deficit of 49 points. This is not a minor shortcoming, so much so that the 24 hours of Le Mans, on April 18 and 19, already sound like a last chance. With 65 potential points up for grabs on the said weekend, the objective will be to repeat the triumph of 2019 to close the circle and, at the same time, return to the race: without last year's victory, Team Webike SRC Kawasaki France would not be showing off the number 1 on the bubble today…
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