The Circuit Paul Ricard, France
The Honda Endurance Racing team was forced to retire from the 80th Edition of the Bol d’Or after experiencing a mechanical issue in the 21st hour. With 567 laps completed and a race distance of 3,312km, the team announced its retirement today at 12.20pm.
It was a positive start to the 24-hour race, which got underway shortly after 3pm yesterday at the Paul Ricard Circuit, in Southern France. Starting the race from fifth was Freddy Foray, who had a blinding start aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP.
Leading into the first corner Foray was instantly with the front group and highly competitive as the 2017 FIM Endurance World Championship got underway. At the first pit stop the team was sitting sixth and it was Julien Da Costa’s turn next at the 5.842km circuit.
Da Costa immediately got up to pace and by the end of his stint the team were sitting second. However a slower than normal pit stop moved the team back into seventh as Sébastien Gimbert headed out on track. Gliding the CBR back through the pack with impressive pace, Gimbert slotted back into the third place spot.
Over the next few hours Honda’s endurance specialists were on pace at the fast circuit and a podium finish was looking almost certain, with the team dicing between second and third places. However, seven hours into the race Da Costa crashed, unhurt, whilst holding third place.
Getting the CBR quickly back to the garage the skilled Honda crew got to work immediately repairing the machine and getting back on track as soon as possible. After 25 minutes, and repairs made primarily to the front of the bike, the team returned to the race in 19th position.
It was then down to the riders and the Honda crew to ensure time was made up on track and also during pit stops. Pushing hard all riders dug deep moving up places and just missed out on points at the 16-hour mark by 2.21 seconds, behind the team in tenth place.
Swiftly moving into the top-ten all eyes were on the Honda squad and if more places could be made up. Da Costa set about hunting down the ninth place spot and hopes in the garage were high as the final hours of the race approached.
At 11.30am Gimbert brought the CBR into the garage reporting an issue and it was all hands on deck as the team got to work to identify the problem. After 30 minutes in the box Gimbert was back on track, but returned after one lap reporting the same issue.
As an issue with the gearbox could not be resolved, it was decided that after 21 hours of racing the Honda Endurance Racing team would retire from the Bol d’Or. This decision was made due to the fast nature of the Paul Ricard Circuit, considering the safety of the team’s riders and fellow EWC competitors.
The Honda Endurance Racing team will now refocus, regroup and make preparations for the next round of the EWC season, which is set to provisionally take place in March (2017) at Portimao, in Portugal – with dates still to be confirmed.
Freddy Foray 111
The result is disappointing for us to retire from the Bol d’Or, I was feeling good about things at the start of the race, we had the pace and we were with the front group. I definitely thought a podium was on the cards for us today, but you know this is endurance and racing – anything can happen and today it was not for us. But you know, we have improved on last year and we proved that we can run with the front group. We now need to focus on the races next year, to make sure we keep the pace and remain competitive. We have lost valuable points not finishing today, so we need to make sure we come back from this strong and regain as many points as possible at the second round.
- Honda Endurance Racing
Julien Da Costa 111
So we are of course very disappointed not to have finished the 24 hours - at the start of the race it was very positive and we were in the front group, not too far from the front. We did struggle a little with the front of the bike and I had a big crash during the night. Thankfully I am OK, but there was a lot of damage to the Fireblade. The team worked hard to get us back on track quickly and a big thanks to them for turning it around so fast. At the end we had the problem and we are disappointed, but this is racing and it can happen to anyone, but today it was us. We will be back next year stronger and fighting for the EWC title.
- Honda Endurance Racing
Sébastien Gimbert 111
I am not too happy with today, it’s not the result we wanted starting the new season and I am disappointed. We started the race well and we had good pace, we were catching the front group and I think if we didn’t have the problem and after Julian’s crash we’d have been chasing seventh place. Now we have some work to do to make sure in the New Year we are ready for the second round and to start collecting valuable season points.
- Honda Endurance Racing
Neil Tuxworth, Team Manager
Well we’ve had another disappointment in endurance today having to retire from the Bol d’Or with just three hours to go. We made the unfortunate decision to retire and we’re not 100% sure what the problem is, but we have our doubts with the gearbox and we don’t want to take a risk with our riders having an injury, or causing another team to have an incident, while we’re uncertain to what the actual problem is. We did everything possible to try and fix, and identify the issue, but with less than three hours we were forced to retire. I feel sorry for the riders and also the whole team who have put so much effort in and worked so hard over the last few days. We will now regroup; sort things out and we will be winning some endurance races before long.
