IN
THE
WIND
P30
LE MANS TO SUZUKI, TITLE TO YAMAHA
D
efending 13-time World En-
durance Champions Suzuki
Endurance Racing Team (SERT)
turned its 2014 season around
to win the Le Mans 24 Hour on
Sunday in France, but it wasn't
enough to stop Yamaha from tak-
ing the World Endurance Cham-
pionship.
Vincent Philippe, Anthony Del-
halle, Erwan Nigon and reserve
rider Damian Cudlin leapt from
fifth place to second overall in
the series after collecting a max-
imum 60-points in the 37th-run-
ning of the Le Mans event. The
GSX-R1000-mounted Le Mans-
based team, winners of the title
for the four previous seasons,
took the lead early on Saturday
evening after multi-time Le Mans
winners SRC Kawasaki crashed-
out and was forced to retire.
From there-on, SERT – under
the guidance of long-term Man-
ager Dominique Meliand - was
never headed, adding an extra
10-points at each of the eight
and 16-hour stages in the race,
which gave the team a total of 60
points.
SERT clocked-up a total of
812 laps, two ahead of newly
crowned World Champions Ya-
maha Racing GMT 94 Michelin,
despite SERT being given a ride-
through penalty for an alleged
pit-lane speed infringement.
In the end, SERT made 28 pit
stops, one more than Yamaha
GMT and third-placed Monster
Energy YART.
It was SERT's first win of the
four-round series in a season
plagued by bad luck, crashes
and injuries.
"I haven't won here for 11 years
and 2014 was a very difficult year
for SERT and also for me," said
Vincent Philippe. "It is very spe-
cial to win here today. On Friday,
we would have never fancied our
chances to win, but we will be
back fighting in 2015."
Californian Jason Pridmore
teamed with Sylvain Barrier and
Glen Allerton on the Penz13.
com Racing Team BMW to win
the Open class while finishing
seventh overall.
The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team
celebrates after winning the Le
Mans 24 Hour on Sunday.
CARDENAS
TO WORLD
SUPERSPORT
M
artin Cardenas will travel to
the final two rounds of the
World Supersport Championship
in France and Qatar to ride for
the CIA Insurance Honda team,
the team has announced. Carde-
nas rode a Yoshimura Suzuki
to sixth in the AMA Superbike
Championship with a best result
of second in the second race at
Barber Motorsports Park.
"I have enjoyed a decent sea-
son in the USA, but it came to
a finish too early," Cardenas
said. "I feel I am getting into my
stride and riding well, so I want
to see what I can do on the world
stage. Getting a good bike in
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