Team Suzuki Press Office – September 19.
Reigning World Endurance Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has qualified in fourth place for tomorrow’s 37th Le Mans 24-Hour World Endurance Championship final round in France.
GSX-R1000-mounted Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Erwan Nigon posted a combined time of 1:38.641 at Le Mans-Bugatti Circuit this afternoon behind Pole-Setters SRC Kawasaki (1:37.273), Honda Racing (1:38.006) and Monster Energy YART (1:38.449) as current series leaders Yamaha GMT 94 finished fifth with a combined lap-time of 1:38.668. However, SERT reserve rider Damian Cudlin, who will sit-out tomorrow’s race – as the race team is limited to a maximum of three riders - put in a great performance in his individual qualifying session, finishing at the top of the timesheets with a lap-time of 1:38.486; the second-fastest SERT rider on the day behind Delhalle’s with his 1:38.343 lap.
In the Superstock class, Suzuki’s Junior Team LMS riders Baptiste Guittet, Etienne Masson and Gregg Black – who hold a narrow nine-point lead over Penz13.com Autowelt going into tomorrow’s series finale – finished ninth overall and third in class with a time of 1:39.455.
The Team R2CL Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Gareth Jones, Guy Martin and Gwen Giabbani – currently 12th in the championship standings - will start from 18th place on the grid after posting a combined time of 1:40.879.
The fourth and final round of the 2014 World Endurance Championship gets underway at 15.00 hrs local time tomorrow (Saturday). The race will be broadcast live on various global satellite TV stations, but also livestreamed on the FIM You Tube Channel: HERE
Le Mans Final Qualifying: 1 SRC Kawasaki (Kawasaki) 1:37.273, 2 Honda Racing (Honda) 1:38.449, 3 Monster Energy YART (Yamaha) 1:38.449, 4 SERT – Vincent Philippe/ Anthony Delhalle/ Erwan Nigon - (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:38.641, 5 Yamaha Racing GMT 94 (Yamaha) 1:38.668, 6 National Motos (Honda) 1:39.283, 7 Qatar Endurance Racing Team (Kawasaki) 1: 39.287, 8 Team Traqueur Louit Moto 33 (Kawasaki) 1:39.325, 9 Junior Team LMS Suzuki – Baptiste Guittet, Etienne Masson, Gregg Black (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:39.455, 10 Penz 13.com Racing Team (BMW) 1:39.848.
