FIM Endurance Motorcycle Racing
The following is from Yamaha GMT 94 Team Manager Christophe Guyot of France. On Sunday, the team finished 14th in the final race of the FIM World Endurance Championship, the 8 Hours of Doha at Qatar. Overall, the team finished in eight position
The 2010 season did not end the way we were hoping. David Checa fell after five laps of racing and returned a badly-damaged bike back to the garage. Repairs on the swing arm, gas tank, wire harness, foot pegs, handlebars, fairing bracket, bodywork and seat took almost 40 min. to complete.
A couple of hours later, the bike was further damaged when David fell again. Fortunately, he was not hurt in either incident. In the eight years he has been racing with YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 IPONE, David has only fallen four times in a race (Vallelunga 2003, Bol d’Or 2004) so who can blame him? David is very disappointed in himself but has the full support of the entire team for everything he has given us over the years.
Matthieu Lagrive showcased his talent and confirmed his reputation in his debut race with GMT. He never gave up and completed some impressive relays on our Yamaha. Kenny Foray also put in a solid performance, combining regularity and speed. The last bit of hardship fell on him as he experienced an unidentified vibration 5 min. before the end of the race and chose to push the bike across the finish line rather than break something. We will investigate upon our return to Europe.
We finished the race in 14th place and the 2010 World Endurance Championship in eighth position on the final rankings.
Finally, we would like to say a big “thank you” to MICHELIN for stepping in and supplying us with fantastic tires at the Bol d’Or and in Qatar. Their superior product significantly improved our performance level and have made us competitive again. We are disappointed that we were not able to produce results matching the quality of the tires supplied by the French manufacturer and that of our Yamaha.
We will obviously strive to do better in 2011.
Christophe Guyot
Yamaha GMT 94