The opening round of the 2014 Endurance World Championship got underway today with the Honda Racing team qualifying in provisional pole position for the Bol d’Or 24-hour race, which will begin at 15.00 CEST this Saturday.

The first of two qualifying sessions took place in warm and sunny conditions this afternoon with the all-new Honda Racing rider line-up of Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sebastien Gimbert each completing a 20-minute stint aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP.

Da Costa and Foray were second quickest in their respective sessions, while Gimbert topped the timesheet in his. Da Costa was the fastest rider of the Honda Racing trio with a time of 1:40.382. The combined average of all three riders’ lap times (1:40.802) places the team on provisional pole.

Reserve rider Jason O’Halloran also completed a session today as part of the team’s fuel strategy development. The riders will now take part in night practice this evening before the second qualifying sessions tomorrow afternoon.

Neil Tuxworth, Team Manager

To achieve provisional pole position at the first round of the championship shows both the effort the team have made over the winter to prepare the machine and the calibre of the riders we have competing for us this year. It’s not a done deal yet as we still have another session tomorrow, but it’s a great way to start the weekend.