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YAMAHA-GMT94 Win the Bol d丹r 24hrs Sep. 18, 2007

French-run YAMAHA-GMT94 took the chequered flag in the famous but also grueling Bol D丹r 24hrs Endurance race this weekend, completing 801 laps on their YZF-R1 machine and beating second place by five laps. The race took place at the circuit of Magny-Cours (France) in front of 100,000 spectators; it started at 15.00 hrs on Saturday and ran through the night to finish at 15.00 hrs on Sunday afternoon.

The three riders were S饕astien Gimbert, David Checa, who both also ride for YAMAHA-GMT94 in World Supersport, and Olivier Four. From the start YAMAHA-GMT94 were in the thick of the action but held their nerve to take the lead with a tight margin of 30 seconds back to second place. But, with only four hours to go the second placed Suzuki team crashed out, giving YAMAHA-GMT94 a ten lap lead. Keen to avoid anything that could lose them the lead, the team maintained their focus to take the win. This win is made all the sweeter as this is their first win at the Magny-Cours race.

Permanent World Endurance Championship entry YAMAHA PHASE ONE ENDURANCE team finished fourth (with riders Warwich Nowland, Glen Richards and Pedro Valcaneras Flores) with Yamaha teams ACROPOLIS MOTO EXPERT fifth and ENDURANCE MOTO 38 finishing seventh. Currently 4 Yamaha teams are in the top 7 of the Endurance World Championship standings.

YAMAHA-GMT94, run by former rider and passionate sportsman Christophe Guyot, operate on a strategy focused on two different race programs. They are permanent entries in the World Supersport Championship with riders David Checa and S饕astien Gimbert mounted on Yamaha R6 machinery. In addition, they enter the two most demanding Endurance races in the world on the Yamaha R1, both run in France - the Le Mans 24hrs and the Bol d丹r 24hrs.


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Running as much as 10 laps ahead of 2nd place team, YAMAHA-GMT94 finished 801 laps

S饕astien Gimbert is all smiles with his home-country win

David Checa in action



David Checa (YAMAHA-GMT94)
典his race has been excellent; the bike and the tyres worked perfectly together and the team has just worked as one to get on the top of the podium. The last four hours were the easiest, after the Suzuki team crashed; it was just about keeping the pace up and not making any silly mistakes. I壇 like to thank Yamaha and YAMAHA-GMT94 for all their support and efforts.・

S饕astien Gimbert (YAMAHA-GMT94)
展hat can I say? To win feels very satisfying! Everything came together well and the race was perfect for us.・

Olivier Four (YAMAHA-GMT94)
典he bike was set-up well and S饕astien, David and I all worked well together. It feels great to win here! I壇 like to thank the team for getting us here.・

Christophe Guyot (Team Manager, YAMAHA-GMT94)
的壇 like to thank everyone for all their hard work. I知 so happy with the result; it痴 just fantastic to win here this weekend! It was a big fight from the beginning of the race and, although we got the lap record we were only leading by 30 seconds at 10.30am on Sunday morning. Then, the Suzuki which was in second place crashed, meaning we were in the lead by ten laps. From then on it was down to the riders to just ride carefully and not risk any crashes. This result is a great proof of the power and reliability of the Yamaha R1.・/p>

RESULT


Pos. Team Machine Lap
1 YAMAHA-GMT 94 Yamaha 801
2 SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM 1 Suzuki 796
3 SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM 2 Suzuki 791
4 YAMAHA PHASE ONE ENDURANCE Yamaha 789
5 ACROPOLIS MOTO EXPERT Yamaha 782

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