Fourth place start for Honda Endurance Racing at the Bol d’Or

The Honda Endurance Racing team will start tomorrow’s 24-hour Bol d’Or race from fourth position aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP.

Honda’s trio of endurance specialists Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sébastien Gimbert completed the final qualifying sessions today and their combined times gave the Honda squad an average lap time of 1’59.392.

It was a sunny and dry session that saw Da Costa obtain the fifth best time with a 1’59.413 lap. Team-mate Gimbert who had crashed during the session, was unhurt and was able to finish his session seventh, with a best time of 2’00.401. Foray’s 1’59.859 lap time saw him finish his session in sixth position.

Yesterday’s night session saw the Honda team finish again in fourth position with a best lap time of 2’01.012.

The Bol d’Or race will start tomorrow (Saturday 19 September) at 15:00 (GMT+1).

Julien Da Costa

I improved a little bit so I am a bit more satisfied with my lap times. We have a good pace for the race and we managed to secure the fourth place, which we’re happy with. The race is 24-hours and a lot can happen in that time, so we need to make sure we get a good start and can stay within the leading group. I’m looking forward to the race now and seeing what we can do.

Sébastien Gimbert

The track conditions were good, I tried to push at the maximum but unfortunately I crashed out and hit a wall. Thankfully I walked away unhurt, I have to rest a bit now but I am ok. I feel sorry for the team because I gave them some extra work before the race! It was only a qualifying practice today, the most important thing is to be ready for tomorrow as it’s race day.

Freddy Foray

We improved again since yesterday, which is good. Today’s crash with Sébastien was a bit stressful for us all because we were scared that he was injured – fortunately he is well so it’s reassuring. As far as I’m concerned I improved my lap time even if I only did two laps. Things are going in the right direction and are promising, we know that the Bol d’Or is a 24-hour race so we know that being on pole or starting from fourth place is not that important. We have to stay focused on the race and hope that luck will be on our side.