Big improvements for Honda at 12 Hours of Estoril France

Fourth place start for F.C.C. TSR Honda France at the 12 Hours of Estoril

With scorching temperatures at the circuit of Estoril, Honda’s endurance specialists Josh Hook, Mike Di Meglio, and Yuki Takahashi claimed the fourth fastest time (1:39.309) aboard the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, following a two-part qualifying across Thursday and Friday.

During Thursday’s sessions, the lap times of the Fireblade were not what the team expected, but F.C.C. TSR Honda France push hard and did a great job to turn around the bike during night practice, and the Honda squad improved their times, obtaining a good result for tomorrow’s starting grid.

Honda’s Superstock contenders National Motos, will start from 13th position tomorrow (1:41.233). The team’s feeling is very positive although the qualifying results are not the desired ones, but Guillaume Antiga, Stéphane Égea and Enzo Boulom are very confident of achieving another podium during the 12-hour race.

Privateers RAC 41 Chromeburner will start the race from 16th place (1:41.531), happy with the set-up of the Fireblade, the team are convinced of a good finish with the bike showing good race pace.

The 12 Hours of Estoril gets underway at 9.00 am local time (10.00 am CEST) on Saturday 17th July.


Josh Hook
Josh Hook 5

F.C.C. TSR Honda France

‘We made big improvements since yesterday and the test earlier in the week. In the last session of the qualifying today, Mike made a big step. We still have to test a few new things during the warm up this afternoon, especially the hard tire and in these hot conditions. We are a lot closer where we need to be, so it is positive, we are on the right direction.’

Mike Di Meglio
Mike Di Meglio 5

F.C.C. TSR Honda France

‘I’m really happy with our progress. It’s been very hard all week to find the right solution. We went back to a base we used to know and then mainly worked on a few things to get a feeling and set-up we were all happy with, thanks to these new settings, I managed to ride faster and improve my lap timing from last year. I pushed less with used tyres and am not so far on the lap times, so we are progressing well; I’m very happy. It’s positive for the race.’

Yuki Takahashi
Yuki Takahashi 5

F.C.C. TSR Honda France

‘Until yesterday, we had difficulties in achieving good lap times, but in the night session the team worked very hard and we found the solutions that allowed us to be faster.  This morning Josh set a better time, I tried to do my best to improve my time as well and I’m very glad I did it. We still have to work to be more consistent but it is very positive for the team. We will use the warm up to enhance our settings so that we can fight ahead during the race.’
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