Reigning FIM Endurance World Champions SERT Suzuki have claimed provisional pole position ahead of this weekends Le Mans 24 Hours, beating the YART Yamaha trio by four thousands of a second.

Consistent pace and the homogeneous times set by Gregg Black, Xavier Simeon and Sylvain Guintoli earned Yoshimura SERT Motul provisional pole in the first qualifying session at Le Mans. The average of the fastest lap times had the Suzuki team ahead by a whisker of YART-Yamaha Official EWC Team’s Karel Hanika, who posted the day’s fastest time, a 1:36.018, Marvin Fritz and Niccolò Canepa.

BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team are in third place on the provisional grid of the 24 Heures Motos. The M1000RR #37 is being ridden by Markus Reiterberger, Ilya Mikhalchik and Javier Forés with Kenny Foray as backup rider.

The surprising Kawasaki-mounted Tati Team Beringer Racing kept up their progress and came in 4th in the first qualifying with riders Alan Techer, Sébastien Suchet and Julien Enjolras. The independent French team were ahead of Japanese team F.C.C. TSR Honda France who were slowed by a minor crash for Yuki Takahashi.

In 6th place, VRD Igol Experiences also benefited from the consistency of riders Florian Alt, Florian Marino and Nico Terol, coming in ahead of Webike SRC Kawasaki France Trickstar who were slowed by a crash.  In 8th place, ERC Endurance-Ducati also ran into some problems after a crash and running out of fuel.

Moto Ain and 3ART Best of Bike rounded off the Top 10 ahead of the three fastest Superstock teams – BMRT 3D Maxxess Nevers, Team 18 Sapeurs-Pompiers CMS Motostore and Wójcik Racing Team 2, in that order.

Wójcik Racing Team EWC finished at the tail end of the classification while awaiting Sheridan Morais who is expected to shore up Sylvain Barrier, the Polish team’s new recruit, tomorrow in the second qualifying session.

The session will get underway tomorrow, Friday 11 June, at 10.20am CEST.

Words: FIM EWC
Feature image: FIM EWC