Sert Fights Back From Crash As Suzuki GSX-R1000 Podiums

SERT – EWC Class – 10th
Junior Team LMS – SST Class – 2nd
No limits Suzuki – SST Class – 4th

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team fought back from a heavy crash to take 10th place at the Oschersleben 8 Hour Endurance World Championship fourth round in Germany as Junior Team LMS Suzuki raced to second in the Superstock FIM World Cup.

The 15 times champions were in a dominant position aboard their #2 GSX-R1000 in the early stages: Gregg Black started by leading the race and pushed hard until the end of his stint, but when then the team’s most decorated and longest-serving rider Vincent Philippe made a mistake and crashed heavily. Despite the work of the technical team to repair the SERT bike quickly, they went back out on track in 31st position and almost nine laps behind the leaders.

Philippe, Etienne Masson and Black dug deep and put in some consistently fast laps as they fought through the pack, regularly scoring some of the best lap-times of the race, taking 10th at the chequered flag.

Team Manager Dominique Méliand was clearly disappointed, but also found some positive points regarding the race He said: “The negative point is Vincent’s crash that ruined any possibility to finish at least on the podium. The positive point is that we improved in our development with the GSX-R1000. We found some solutions and frankly speaking, here, our bike was more than good. If we check the time-sheets, we are not far from pole position in almost all laps! So, I’m disappointed by the result but very satisfied if we talk about the mechanical points.”

Among the Suzuki mounted-teams, Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki finished on the second step of the podium in the Superstock class (seventh overall at the general ranking). This result allowed them to score second place at the 2017-2018 FIM World Cup. Also, the No Limits Motor Team finished in fourth place in the class (ninth at the general ranking) and also fourth in the Championship.