The No.1 Suzuki Castrol bike led the first hour, pursued by the No.2 Suzuki Castrol and with the two Yamahas of GMT94 and Yamaha Austria close behind. Shortly after the first fuelling stop, Keiichi Kitagawa crashed the No.2 Suzuki heavily, bringing the pace out car for the first of many times during an incident packed race. Suzuki No.2 took the lead while the No.1 bike was repaired, ahead of National Motos Honda, Yamaha GMT94, Team Kawasaki France and Yamaha Austria.
Suzuki No.1 then began their long climb back through the field. Yamaha Austria fell behind and then retired from the race with cylinder head problems shortly afterwards, and Team Kawasaki France were also forced to retire after a heavy crash. The order remained Suzuki No.2, Yamaha GMT94, National Motos Honda until late on Saturday night when GMT94 pitted with an electrical problem. This let the Honda through to second and Suzuki No.1 had now climbed to third while Kawasaki Bolliger had made their way to fifth place behind GMT94 after a steady and consistent performance.
The order of the race leaders remained static through the night, but dramas continued behind them. Kawasaki Diablo retired with a broken gearbox, Yamaha Phase One with a blown cylinder head gasket, and Suzuki Innodrom also with a broken gearbox.
With four hours to go, any thoughts of a comfortable run to victory were dashed for Suzuki No.2; they pitted after a crash and eventually retired. While Suzuki No.2 were in the pits trying to diagnose the problem, Gary McCoy crashed the GMT94 Yamaha heavily. He managed to limp the bike back to the pits but National Motos Honda had taken the lead and Suzuki Castrol No.1 second place before GMT94 could rejoin the race.
Kawasaki Bolliger, meanwhile, had been running a classic endurance race; making up time on track through consistency and in pit lane through rapid and well polished fuel and tyre stops. Italian Suzuki squad No Limits & RT Racing Team ran a similar smooth race, as did Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se, Endurance Moto45 and RMT Racing Honda.
The Le Mans 24 Hour is one of the toughest races on the calendar, with only 33 of the 56 starters making it to the end. The next stop for the World Endurance Championship is the Albacete 8 Horas Nocturnas on May 20th.
Press Conference Quotes
Frederic Protat, National Motos Honda, 1st place: "What a great race. It's my first time at the Le Mans 24 hours, and it's unbelievable. I'd like to thank my team mates Olivier and Daniel and the rest of the team."
Dominique Meliand, Suzuki Castrol team manager, 2nd place: "I didn't worry that the No.1 bike would have the same problem as the other Suzukis; on the No.72 it was a head gasket and for No.72 the problem was changing the forks. For the No.1 bike it was necessary to score the maximum points rather than just having outright speed and going for the win. For No.2 it was different, it was win or nothing."
Mattheiu Lagrive, Suzuki Casrol, second place: "For me the race was not very easy. With my injured hand I could manage 20 laps but 30 laps was difficult. This morning I had no sensation in the left hand; it's not possible to ride the bike well with just one hand, but I stayed fast."
Gary McCoy, Yamaha GMT94, 3rd place: "It's great to be on the podium but I couldn't do my last two rides so I left Sebastien and David with more work to do. Will I be at the Bol d'Or with GMT94? The team work well, I like the riders and it's a great package. If we can do some more testing? it's a possibility."
Horst Saiger, Kawasaki Bolliger, 4th place: "For us this was a great success. To finish in the top four is perfect. We didn't have the speed of the people in front, but we had enough and we could keep it going the whole race. It was not an easy race until the last few hours. A hard fight right from the start of the race."
Provisional Top Ten Finishing Positions
1st 55 National Motos Honda - FRA - Honda CBR1000RR - Protat, Four, Ribalta - 817 laps
2nd 2 - Suzuki Castrol - FRA - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Philippe, Kitagawa, Lagirve - 815 laps
3rd 94 Yamaha GMT94 - FRA - Yamaha YZF-R1 - Gimbert, Checa, McCoy - 804 laps
4th 8 - Kawasaki Bolliger - SUI - Kawasaki ZX10R - Muff, Saiger, Morillon - 799 laps
5th 10 - Infini Team Suzuki - FRA - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Michel, Tangre, Bocquiet - 793 laps (1st SPR)
6th 44 - Suzuki No Limits & RT - ITA - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Ruozi, Monot, Jond - 789 laps
7th 83 - Kawasaki Maccio Racing - FRA - De Rosa, Fremy, Moisin - 788 laps (1st STK)
8th 12 - Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se - SWE - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Hanson, Andersson, Carlberg - 787 laps
9th 100 - Suzuki Endurance Moto45 - FRA - Perrerau, Duprez, Briere - 786 laps
10th 21 - RMT21 Racing Honda - GER - Honda CBR1000RR - Mizera, Chevre, Steuer - +1.21.018
