SERT Takes
2024 Le Mans
24 Hours
T
he Yoshimura SERT team of
Gregg Black, Dan Linfoot and
Etienne Masson fought back
from a crash to take the 2024 Le
Mans 24 Hours on the weekend
as the FIM Endurance World
Championship season kicked
off.
What was shaping up to be
the perfect start to Yamalube
YART Yamaha EWC Official
Team's EWC title defense ended
when Karel Hanika crashed out
of the lead at the 16-hour mark.
The Austrian outfit set new
lap records in both qualifying
and the race and led comfort
-
ably by four laps until Hanika's
error in the cold early morning
conditions, which dropped the
team back to third place behind
runner-up BMW Motorrad World
Endurance Team of Markus Re
-
iterberger, Illya Mykhalchyk and
Sylvain Guintoli. Hanika injured
his shoulder in his Sunday morn-
ing crash and the decision was
taken for his teammates Niccolo
Canepa and Marvin Fritz to com-
plete the race as a pair.
"It's always good to finish the
race, but the objective is to win,"
Suzuki's Gregg Black said. "We
won in 2021 and 2022, but those
races were a bit easier because
we could relax towards the end.
We were quite fast with YART,
but with the crash, we dropped
quite far back and had to push
all the way to the end.
"BMW and YART had issues
and we ended up leading the
race when, on paper, we thought
maybe we would finish third or
second. But we made no more
mistakes and kept pushing. In
the end, we only had one lap
over BMW, so we couldn't relax.
It's amazing to be back on the
first step [of the podium here],
just amazing. Dan, Etienne, and
the whole team have done such
great work all winter; we showed
our speed and got our revenge
from last year. It's just awe
-
some."
The Dunlop-equipped FIM
Endurance World Cup category
was taken by the National Motos
Honda team, the outfit gaining
revenge for its agonizing Bol
d'Or retirement last September
when it was on course for the
Superstock title, only to stop
with 20 minutes remaining.
Chromeburner-RAC41-Honda fin
-
ished second, followed by 3ART
Best of Bike after the number-36
Yamaha was repaired after a
crash nearing the final hour.
CN
WIND
IN THE
P60
Highlights of the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours
The Yoshimura SERT
team celebrates
winning the Le Mans
24-Hours.
