Resultat

24h du Mans

Le Mans circuit hosts the first round of ICGP championship during the 33th edition of Les 24H du Mans moto.

In the typical ICGP atmosphere the first race has taken place with an amazing starting grid including Guy Bertin who was vice world champion and is the only rider to have won Grand Prix de France and les 24H du Mans.

Ian Simpson who won 3 times the Isle of Man TT was also part of the grid, as Eric Saul or Jean Paul Lecointe.
The usual Yamaha TZ faced a serious invasion in their backyard like an ex-works Kawasaki KR a Rotax and even an Exactweld.

This year again pilots were present in a crowded starting grid.

Wednesday during the first free practice Chris Rose felt in his first lap due to cold tyres and had to retire because of a broken foot.

In the mean time Bertin was setting up his Kawasaki KR 350 from team Frighi, Lecointe was discovering his ex-works Kawasaki and Simpson was finalizing his suspension set up on the BSR from Robert Burns team. Iol was the quicker ahead of Chris Bishop and Guy Bertin.
Eric Saul made only the 5th time for 250cc category due to a too rich carburetion and a too close transmission. Alberto Peruzzi bet them all on his TZ L ahead of Steve Clark, Yves Hecq and Steve Boam.

Friday second qualify main fact was the huge crash of André Gouin who has seized his engine at the end of the straight line and fainted in the gravel. Julien who was taking pictures close to him explains us what happened:

All the pilots went out of the curve behind Eric and at the end of the first lap we saw a pilot flying in the air and a bike which was smoking. The pilot rolled on the track, went through the other riders and ended in the gravel aside to his bike. The marshals came to the bike in a first time to evacuate it but then they understood that the pilot was unconscious and needed help. The round was stopped and the pilot was evacuated by Ambulance in a stretcher after some long minutes.

It was not such a big deal as André came back after a while with a slightly scratched elbow and a little bit shake, as you can see in his helmet picture.

Despite some remaining parts lying on the track like a silencer there was not any new issue for the rest of the round. Jean Dondaine and Jean Paul Lecointe blew their engines. Jean Dondaine had to retire when Jean Paul Lecointe finished to fix it at 2 o’clock in the morning :
It is due to rod bearing break which has engendered a massive seizing. I don’t know why it happened, the crankcase is home made and maybe there has been an error during machining ...said Jean Paul Mestre who owns and maintain this ex-works KR.

In the paddock everyone uses to give a hand and it was a pretty hot night for those who faced major issues.

Alain Chevalier helped a lot of ICGP riders. More than his unbelievable memories it is his endless knowledge which has been helpful. It is amazing to see how he can find the solution felt by riders with only first sight or simply by touching the front fork.

Lots of people have finished working on their bikes late in the night but except two riders everyone was back on the grid the day after.

After qualifications here is the starting grid :

At warm up lap beginning Bernard Tabarly had to push his bike away from the grid as his engine has stalled. He had to wait all the other pilots to start to be allowed to try to restart his engine. Under massive public cheering he managed to restart it and to complete his warm up lap.

The race starts and Guy Bertin took the lead at the first curve. The rhythm was pretty high but unfortunately Guy Bertin felt at the Dunlop turn, which cut the bunch in two. Ian Simpson took advantage of this situation and escaped despite Parker and Lecointe pushed very hard to catch him up.

Jean Paul Lecointe fought during the entire race against Parker and Bishop, to end up at the second step behind Simpson when Parker took the third step.
The KR requires getting use to it contrary to the TZ which are really well known after lots of years of racing. As 2010 is a year to learn about this bike we’ll prove out new carbs, a definitive crankcase and new heads.

Eric Saul made the perfect race to win the 250cc race and setting a new fastest lap. He digged out the gap with the group led by Steve Clark who had started first on the grid. Steve Boam did not manage to follow him..

In the next to last lap Phil Thorley felt after a clash with Roger Timms, engendering the red flag which finished the race.

The week end has been concluded by the famous buffet which gave an occasion to the rider to discuss about all what happened during the week end. These stories are really pleasant to hear about these guys who have fought as true gentlemen riders, and shared this pleasure with us..... in 2 words, who can resist to such an appeal ?

See you next month in Albacete !

Thanks to Arnaud Maria for his help for the translation

General results are avalaible here

All qualify and race results are avalaible by clicking here

Here are the raking of different class.

350cc Class