Defending World Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team staged a heroic race from the back of the field to finish third in the opening round of the 2013 World Endurance Championship at Magny-Cours in France today.
Team riders Anthony Delhalle and Vincent Philippe both crashed the team's GSX-R1000 less than four hours into the 77th Bol d'Or, with Philippe refusing to be stretchered into the ambulance so he could get the damaged machine back to the pits for repairs.
Early race leaders and pace-setters SERT plummeted down the leaderboard as the team technicians - who initially thought the race was over for them after watching TV footage of Philippe being stretched to the ambulance - frantically rebuilt the bike. New 2013 SERT rider Julien Da Costa eventually rejoined the race just inside the top 40 and started an amazing comeback through the field that saw the Le Mans, France-based team claim the final podium position on 797 laps, 11 adrift of race winners SRC Kawasaki and just two behind runners-up Monster Energy YART.
In a race that saw intermittent rain at the Nevers Circuit, necessitating a wide choice of Dunlop wets, intermediates and slick tyres, SERT settled into a fast pace through the night into Sunday morning, carving through the field and setting the second-fastest lap of the race - 1:40.722 - in the process. The only team to better this was the winners with a lap of 1:40.663; these were the only teams to get under 1:41.000.
Despite the two unscheduled pits stops for repairs, SERT 'pitted' 28 times and took a total of 32.349 minutes. In comparison SRC Kawasaki came in 26 times with a longer overall time of 35.852 minutes. Third-placed Monster Energy YART pitted 30 times with a time of 35.737 minutes.
Bol d'Or 24-Hour Results: 1 SRC Kawasaki (Kawasaki) 808 laps, 2 Monster Energy YART (Yamaha) 799, 3 SERT (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 797, 4 Yamaha France GMT 94 (Yamaha) 793, 5 Junior Team LMS Suzuki (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 788, 6 Penz13.com Franks Autowelt (BMW) 788, 7 Team R2CL (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 785, 8 National Motos (Honda) 784, 9 Team Motors Events (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 783, 10 Starteam PAM Racing (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 782.
