Honda Racing Forced to Withdraw from Endurance World Championship 24-Hours of Bol d'Or

 

 

Bol d'Or 24 Hour - Magny-Cours 26.04.2014                           Honda Racing takes points and positives from Bol d'Or 24-hour After almost 21 hours and over 600 laps, the Honda Racing team and its trio of French riders, Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sebastien Gimbert, were forced to retire from the Bol d’Or 24-hour today following a mechanical problem in the closing stages. However, in accordance with new regulations, the team leaves the opening round of the 2014 Endurance World Championship with 19 points under its belt.   An eventful start to the race in wet conditions caused problems for many teams early on, however Honda Racing held steady in the top three well into the night, alongside 13-time EWC champions SERT and Team Yamaha GMT94. Following a crash for Da Costa aboard the Fireblade SP just before midnight, the crew were able to repair the minor damage and return the bike to the track – in third place – within minutes.   In the early hours of Sunday morning, SERT crashed out of the lead and subsequently withdrew from the race. The Honda Racing team had made up significant time on then-second place contender Kawasaki SRC and was able to secure the top spot, leading the race for the next seven hours and establishing a five-lap margin. Unfortunately, with just three hours remaining and Gimbert on his penultimate stint, the gearbox sprocket on the bike broke causing irreparable engine damage and Honda Racing was forced to retire from the race.   Despite the disappointment, the team leaves France having proven its race-leading capability and with 19 valuable championship points to its name - nine and ten points earned for placing second and first respectively at the eight and sixteen-hour intervals.   The full standings will be available on completion of the race at 15.00 CEST. The EWC will resume with the legendary Suzuka 8-hour race in Japan in July.  Neil Tuxworth     team manager We’re terribly disappointed. I feel so sad for the riders and the team for all the effort they’ve made. It was such a small part that broke, just a gearbox sprocket that damaged the engine and we couldn’t continue. If we’re to take any positives from it it’s that we were the strongest team in the race, we were leading by five laps and I’m certain that the team will go on to win some races this year. It’s just very unfortunate that we couldn’t finish the Bol d’Or. We’ve still gained 19-points in the championship so we’re not going away empty handed. We’ll come back fighting next time. Julien Da Costa This is endurance racing and it is never easy but to go out with so little time left and with such a small problem is frustrating for all the team. We have to look at the positives and we were leading with a good gap and we could have got the win so we just have to wait until next time.  Freddy Foray I heard many riders telling the story of going out in the last hours of the race and now I have this story to tell my children. It is so difficult because the team did such a good job during the race and preparation. It’s hard to lead a 24-hour race and everyone did an excellent job. I tell myself all through the night when my ribs were really painful that I have to do this and we can win, but this is endurance racing. I have to thank everyone in the team. We were unlucky here, but we’ll see you at the next one.  Sebastien Gimbert I know better than anyone the feeling of leading the qualifying, getting the pole and leading the race only to be forced out in the final stage. It is very disappointing for the whole team who have worked so hard, but we proved we can lead the race and we work well together, so we can do it this year.    Copyright-free images © 2014 Honda Racing