BMW Motorrad France on pole position

BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent has confirmed its pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Damian Cudlin even improved on his best lap in the second practice session with a time of 1’37.039 and, with teammates Sébastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon, he is part of the most evenly balanced crew at the top end of the leader board. However, the Australian rider is not counting his chickens: “Last year too, we were in pole position but the race didn’t go our way. The most important work is still to be done tomorrow, as we have some very serious opposition.” Second on the grid, SRC Kawasaki did not manage to better its times this morning. The official Kawasaki clan had a major alert with a crash at the start of the session by Julien da Costa, the rider with the best individual lap yesterday in 1’36.826, who happily emerged unscathed. SRC Kawasaki have yet to announce their third rider: both Freddy Foray and Olivier Four are in the running. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team is still in third place on the grid, an unwonted position for the multiple world champions who had a minor crash in practice and are fielding a new Japanese rider, Takuya Tsuda, unfamiliar with the circuit. Most impressive on the track this morning was the Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube. David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive all bettered their times of yesterday and are now lying very close to the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team on the average of their best lap times. Reassured by a place on the podium in Suzuka, the Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube is looking good for another podium finish. The same can be said of the Monster Energy Yamaha YART, also faster than yesterday but still in fifth position on the grid thanks to fine performances by Steve Martin et Gwen Giabbani this morning. Also among this morning’s successes was the Yamaha of the Maco Racing Team with Gregory Junod, Gregg Black and Lucas de Carolis, which propelled itself into sixth position ahead of Bolliger Team Switzerland and Honda TT Legends. In Superstock, Team Motors Events AMT Assurances (Michael Savary, Frédéric Chabosseau and Guillaume Dietrich) set things straight by clinching the first Superstock position on the grid with their Suzuki ahead of the Suzuki of the MCP Starteam and the Junior Team LMS Suzuki.