Team Suzuki Press Office – December 20.
Yoshimura SERT Motul, powered into the second half of the 2021 Endurance World Championship season with a single-minded determination to gain lost ground, and win the coveted EWC title.
When Yoshimura and Motul joined 16-time EWC champions SERT at the start of this year, the focus was to draw on the considerable expertise of Yoshimura, a long-time associate of Suzuki Japan, and the experience of SERT (Suzuki Endurance Racing Team), the most successful team in the history of the FIM Endurance World Championship. There was just one objective … to win!
The strength of the new partnership was evident from the outset when its pilots Gregg Black, Sylvain Guintoli and Xavier Siméon, with test rider Kazuki Watanabe in reserve, put the Factory Suzuki GSX-R1000R through its paces at the season opener, to win the coveted 24-Heures Motos at Le Mans by a full eight laps ahead of the competition.
Sadly, things didn’t quite go according to plan at the 12-Hours of Estoril in Portugal. Yoshimura SERT Motul, with a great bike set-up and a margin of 16 points, was viewed as the favourite. However, as the race unfolded, the team experienced the lows of racing when Guintoli, and then later on, Siméon, crashed. In the true spirit of Endurance racing though, the riders and crew persevered, and their determination, together with the indestructible capabilities of the Suzuki, rewarded them with a 17th-place finish and 12 crucial points.
