SERT Wins World Endurance Title!
Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has won the 2012 World Endurance Championship – Photo: David Reygondeau / www.good-shoot.com
Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has won the 2012 World Endurance Championship after one of closest and most-exciting finishes at the Le Mans 24-Hour race in France.
Team riders Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Takuya Tsuda completed 844 laps of the world-famous Bugatti Circuit to bring their GSX-R1000 Suzuki home in second place just 1:02 minutes behind race winners SRC Kawasaki, who also finished with 844 laps.
SERT had led the race going into the closing stages but were given a time penalty for an alleged rule infringement during a pit stop, which put them back to second place, but the demotion to second place was not enough to clinch SERT’s 12th World Championship with its total of 128 points from the five rounds some 24 ahead of BMW Motorrad France, with Yamaha France GMT 94 taking the bronze medal on 98 points.
Vincent Philippe led away the 35th-Anniversary Le Mans 24-Hours from the start – Photo: David Reygondeau / www.good-shoot.com
SERT rider Vincent Philippe led away the 35th-Anniversary Le Mans 24-Hours from the start from fastest qualifiers SRC Kawasaki; then swapped places several times as the race progressed. SERT led on several occasions, but the event was dominated from the front mostly by the Kawasaki trio of Julien da Costa, Gregory Leblanc and Freddy Foray as the Suzuki team played a calculated race to finish ahead of its closest rivals in the series – Yamaha France GMT 94, Honda TT Legends and BMW Motorrad France.
Said a delighted Team Manager Dominque Meliand, who has headed the most-successful team in World Endurance history for more than 30 years: “The main goal was to win the world title but we staked everything on the race win, as we really wanted to win our home race at Le Mans – and we didn’t miss it by much…”
Source: Team Suzuki
2012 Le Mans 24-Hour Overview And World Endurance Championship Point Standings
2012 Le Mans 24-Hour Image Gallery (Click for full size images)
(courtesy of David Reygondeau / www.good-shoot.com)
Le Mans 24-Hour Results
- SRC Kawasaki (Kawasaki) – 844 laps
- SERT (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – 844
- BMW Motorrad France (BMW) – 840 laps
- Yamaha France GMT 94 (Yamaha) – 839 laps
- Honda TT Legends (Honda) – 828 laps
- National Motos (Honda) – 815 laps
- MCP Starteam 67 (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – 814 laps
- Louit Moto 33 (Kawasaki) – 809 laps
- Penz13 Kraftwerk (BMW) – 806 laps
- RAC 41 (Yamaha) – 803 laps
2012 World Endurance Championship Point Standings (Final Standings)
- SERT – 128 – 2012 Champion
- BMW Motorrad – 104
- Yamaha GMT 94 – 98
- Honda TT Legends – 97
- SRC Kawasaki – 80
- Monster YART – 59
- Bolliger Switzerland – 55
- Yamalube Folch – 55
- Team R2CL – 49
- FCC TSR Honda – 35
Filed in: Motorcycle News • Sport Bike Racing News
