The Yamaha GMT 94 of David Checa, Sébastien Gimbert and Olivier Four won the race by seven laps ahead of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 1, and ten laps ahead of the Suzuki SERT 2 in an incredibly tight race. This is the first race victory for the GMT 94, who were World Endurance Champions in 2004 in this event.
Despite the Suzuki 1 missing out on race victory, the SERT team has won the QMMF Endurance World Championship 2007. With the Kawasaki no.11, second in the World Championship classification, not finishing the race, the Suzuki no. 1 has an advantage of 60 points enabling them to claim the World title before the last event, the Doha 8 Hours in Qatar in November.
Yamaha Phase One Endurance finished in fourth, their best result so far of what has been a very difficult season for the English team. Phase One has moved up in the overall standings to sixth position. Yamaha Acropolis Moto Expert completed the top five Bol d’Or finishers just ahead of Honda National Motos.
However the positions looked to be very different just minutes before the finish. At 14:30 hours, the then fifth-placed Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland were forced to retire after a spectacular crash from Horst Saiger at the exit of the stands. This 71st Bol d’Or proved to be one of surprises right up until the final moments, with none of the main contenders escaping the 24-hour race without some kind of incident.
The race leaders changed places several times in the first two hours from the start. The two official Suzuki teams and the Yamaha GMT 94 shared the lead at various times until Olivier Four crashed on his GMT 94 around 17:00 hours. Then the Kawasaki France 11, which had been delayed by a stop-and-go penalty at the start of the race, dropped to the back of the race having run out of fuel. The race continued to be full of incidents. At 19:30 hours, Julien Da Costa collided with another rider and crashed his Suzuki no.1 at the head of the race. The Suzuki 1 rejoined the official Kawasaki back in 30th place, thirteen laps behind the Suzuki 2 which was in the lead ahead of the Yamaha GMT 94, to rapidly gain places after the crash.
The night proved fatal for the two official Kawasakis. Relatively lucky at the start of the race, the Kawasaki Maccio 111 was third behind the Suzuki 2 and the Yamaha GMT 94 at just after the 23-hour stage. The Kawasaki machine had moved back into ninth place and was ten laps behind the lead Suzuki when Jehan d’Orgeix fell. But despite launching a valiant effort to get back up front, the Kawasaki 11 and 111 were forced to retire with mechanical problems – the 11 with a broken rod, and the 111 with a broken gear box.
In the early hours of this morning, the lead was being fought between the Suzuki 2 and the Yamaha GMT 94. At 09:00 hours, the Yamaha 94 finally managed to move ahead after the long and entertaining duel with the Suzuki 2. Guillaume Dietrich’s crash on the Suzuki 2 moved the team four to five laps behind the leading Yamaha 94. Shortly after midday the Suzuki 2 had climbed back to third place ahead of the Yamaha Phase One Endurance.
Moto Endurance 38 finished seventh and first Superproduction, just in front of the Junior Team Suzuki LMS in eighth, and first Superstock. Among the permanent teams who finished in the points were Endurance Moto 45, eleventh overall and second Superstock, and RT Racing Team and Moto Virus who finished fifteenth.
The other permanent teams were less fortunate. Yamaha Austria Racing Team, who at 19:00 hours were third behind the two Suzukis, had to pull out due to a broken engine. The Honda RMT 21, which was in an impressive tenth place, was forced to retire with clutch problems. The Honda FCC TSR Eurosport Benelux dropped out with brake problems. Yamaha Zone Rouge Belgique pulled out of the race at 18:00 hours yesterday after two crashes and a broken cylinder head gasket. Kawasaki Diablo Bolliger was let down by problems with its gear box. Maco Moto Racing Team also dropped out with mechanical problems. A broken engine also forced the Kawasaki Qatar Endurance Racing Team to retire in the early hours of this morning, and Raffin Motos just after midday.
The next and final round of the QMMF Endurance World Championship, the Doha 8 Hours will take place on 10th November in Qatar.
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