YOSHIMURA SERT MOTUL SETS SECOND FASTEST IN LE MANS QUALIFYING
Yoshimura SERT Motul set the second fastest time in qualifying today for the opening round of the 2025 FIM Endurance World Championship, the 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans (France).
Suzuki is the most successful marque at the 24 Heures Motos, with 15 wins to its name. Already competitive in the first qualifying session, the Yoshimura SERT Motul team riders confirmed their status as favourites during the final qualifying sessions which took place today on the Bugatti circuit.
The 48th edition of the legendary 24 Heures Motos will welcome 53 teams to the event and, once again, the Franco-Japanese team is fielding a quartet of riders who are both efficient and experienced. Frenchmen Gregg Black and Étienne Masson are joined by Japanese rider Cocoro Atsumi and British rider Dan Linfoot who, thanks to a serious shoulder injury sustained during testing, will serve as reserve rider for this first round of FIM EWC.
Wearing the blue armband, Black set the fastest time this morning in a fiercely contested first session. He took the lead in the final minutes with a superb time of 1.34.551, the best provisional time for all sessions combined, significantly improving on his performance of the previous day where he was second with a time of 1.34.949.
Penalised by two interruptions caused by competitors crashing, Masson in the yellow group did not have the opportunity to give his best in qualifying one. He was sixth with a time of 1.35.945. His bad luck continued in Q2 with another red flag stoppage. However, the Frenchman was eventually able to put in a fast lap which saw him set the second fastest time in 1.35.251.
Like all the other red-armband riders, Atsumi encountered more difficult weather conditions in the final qualifying session, with a few drops of rain falling on the Bugatti circuit. The Japanese rider finished second, putting in his best performance of the day on the very last lap. He did the same in Q1 when he put in a blistering last lap to lead the group with a best lap of 1.35.187.
Linfoot battled through the pain barrier to complete nine laps of the Bugatti circuit in the first qualifying session. Unfortunately, he could not finish the second qualifying dedicated to reserve riders.
With qualifying results based on the average times of the two fastest riders, the Suzuki GSXR1000R mounted team finished second in qualifying with a time of 1.34.869. This performance gave the team its first four valuable points in the championship.
Last year’s winner and undefeated in 24 Hours races since the 2023 Bol d’Or, Yoshimura SERT Motul will be taking to the grid in the best possible conditions for the 48th edition of the 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans, which gets underway tomorrow, Saturday the 19th of April, at 3pm (local time).
Yohei Kato – Team Director
“Our team has done a superb job. Everyone is happy with the results, which is very positive and encouraging. We’re in second place and, of course, we’re keen to get the number one position, but this result is still very good for us. Tomorrow, the weather conditions will bring uncertainty, particularly on Saturday evening when rain is expected to fall. We’ll have to remain vigilant and attentive to make sure we don’t make any mistakes. If we’re lucky enough to seize a few opportunities, we’ll do so and win the race. That’s what we’ll be concentrating on.”
Damien Saulnier – Team Manager
“We’ve had a good week and everything has been rebuilt between the technical team and the riders. Of course, we’re disappointed not to have Dan Linfoot at 100% fitness because of his injury. However, the qualifying sessions were very positive. Cocoro had some very good test sessions. He’s constantly improving and working hard. There’s no doubt he’ll be up for the race. Second place in qualifying shows that we’re there and on the pace. Our team will be fast and competitive throughout the weekend, but it’s going to be a complicated race because the weather is likely to throw up a lot of twists and turns. We’ll have to be in the right place at the right time to get through the drops! We’ll see how the race turns out, but one thing’s for sure, we’re ready and confident.”
Gregg Black – Rider
“Qualifying went very well. We’ve had what I’d call a perfect week. We’re second on the grid and, in the past, this position has brought us good luck as, when we’ve started from pole, we always had problems in the race. Despite everything, we tried hard to get the pole position and I managed to beat the absolute track record of 1.34.5, these are incredible lap times here at Le Mans. We never thought we’d be able to go that fast, so I’m really satisfied with the work the team did over the winter to bring us some new set-ups. Now the race will be different. The official tests took place in the dry, where we were very comfortable, but we saw during the first free practice sessions that we could also perform well in the rain. It’s going to be a very long race, so we need to be regular and opportunistic.”
Etienne Massson – Rider
“Our qualifying sessions went well overall. I was really unlucky in my first qualifying session, which was disrupted by red flags. I never had a very clear track, so that was very frustrating for me. However, Gregg and Cocoro set good times. Today, we had one qualifying tyre left and the team decided to give it to Gregg because he felt he could improve a bit. And that’s exactly what he did – he rode really well! As for me, I started off with a slightly used tyre, but that still enabled me to ride fast and improve my time. All in all, the results are positive; we’ve got a good bike for the race and the whole team is on top form.”
Cocoro Atsumi – Rider
“For my first session, I benefited from a new qualifying tyre and I set 1.35.1, which is my personal best. I’m really pleased. The bike was very good too. In the second qualifying session, we battled for pole position. I tried to improve on my personal best, but the conditions weren’t ideal because of too much traffic. That made it difficult for me to set my pace. But in the end, what I’ve learnt is that I’ve made progress on each of my outings and recorded a lot of important information. That definitely gives me confidence for the race.“
