Published April 20, 2019 by Michael Le Pard , Editor‑in‑Chief
Team Suzuki Press Office – April 19.
SERT – GSX-R1000 – 5th
MOTORS EVENTS – GSX-R1000 – 12th
JUNIOR TEAM LMS – GSX-R1000 – 14th
Suzuki Endurance Racing Team will start Sunday’s Le Mans 24 Hours Endurance World Championship second round from fifth position on the grid following final qualifying today in France.
Following their first session, dedicated to work on the race settings of the GSX-R1000, SERT stepped-up another level and all the riders improved their lap times at the 4.185 km Circuit Bugatti.
Vincent Philippe scored an amazing 1.36.991 best time while Etienne Masson was just behind with 1.36.999. Only Gregg Black could not achieve the best lap time he deserved because of the traffic in front of him, but he still set a good chrono with 1.37.121 lap. SERT’s average time for all three riders was 1.37.037.
The other Suzuki teams from today are: Motors Events (1.38.236) and Junior Team Le Mans Sud (1.38.528).) who are third and fifth respectively in the Superstock category.
SERT Team Manager Dominique Méliand said: “Today, gaps at the overall ranking have decreased. We would have liked a better position on the timesheet and our final result of the tests is a little bit mixed. Vincent Philippe and Etienne Masson did a good job, but Gregg Black missed his session because of the traffic. The good point is that our times have been set with a bike in race configuration. We have worked a lot this winter and the Suzuki is working well. All the riders are very motivated, and I think that all this will allow us to get a very good position in race.”
The 42nd edition of Le Mans 24 Hours starts at 3pm local time tomorrow (Saturday).
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