Source: Honda Racing

The British-managed Honda Racing outfit has claimed an emphatic pole position ahead of the first race of the 2014 Endurance World Championship (EWC), the Bol d’Or 24 Hour at Magny-Cours.

The event marks Honda’s maiden factory foray into the championship, making the achievement by riders Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sebastien Gimbert even more significant.

The timesheet for final qualifying was in large a carbon copy of the first session due to wet conditions, which are predicted to continue throughout the remainder of the weekend and the race.

The number 111 Honda held out the Yamaha Racing GMT94 Michelin team by 0.117 seconds, with Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) to start third with their average time 0.328 seconds off the lead.

The most significant change at the head of the field was the demotion of SRC Kawasaki from a strong second place to 16th.

Matthieu Lagrive returned after a late crash in Thursday qualifying to register a lap despite a small crack to a vertebrae, his gallant 1m48.307 effort raising the average lap of the team and sending them towards the mid-pack.

Jason O’Halloran, the reserve rider for the Honda squad, is effectively the top-placed Aussie, with Damian Cudlin ready to stand in for SERT, in third.

Wayne Maxwell remains the fastest Aussie who will contest the race, his time from Thursday standing to keep the Yamaha Austria Racing Team in good stead with seventh on the grid.

Rick Olson, teammate to Maxwell, is gearing up for his EWC race debut, with Alex Cudlin, Gareth Jones and Bryan Staring bolstering the Aussie presence in the race, all set to start within the top 14 grid placings.

The race will begin at 3pm on Saturday (local time), with the 78th running of the event significant as it will be the last time it is held at Magny-Cours ahead of a move to the Castellet circuit in 2015.

2014 Endurance World Championship
Round one – Bol d’Or 24 Hour, Magny-Cours

Final qualifying results:
1. Honda Racing (Julien DA COSTA, Freddy FORAY, Sébastien GIMBERT) 1m40.802
2. Yamaha Racing – GMT 94 – Michelin (David CHECA, Kenny FORAY, Mathieu GINES) 1m40.919
3. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent PHILIPPE, Anthony DELHALLE, Erwan NIGON) 1m41.130
4. Junior Team LMS Suzuki (Baptiste GUITTET, Etienne MASSON, Gregg BLACK) 1m41.956
5. National Motos (Arturo TIZON, Olivier FOUR, Grégory JUNOD) 1m42.014
6. Team Bolliger Switzerland (Horst SAIGER, Roman STAMM, Daniel SUTTER) 1m42.317
7. Monster Energy Yamaha – YART (Wayne MAXWELL, Rick OLSON, Igor JERMAN) 1m42.370
8. Penz13.com Franks Autowelt Racing Team (Jason PRIDMORE, Pedro VALLCANERAS, Bastien MACKELS) 1m42.602
9. Hall Motos 02 (Cédric TANGRE, Camille HEDELIN, Luca DE CAROLIS) 1m42.891
10. Qatar Endurance Racing Team (Alexander CUDLIN, Mashel AL NAIMI, Nina PRINZ) 1m42.935
12. Team R2CL (Gareth JONES, Guy MARTIN, Gwen GIABBANI) 1m43.113
14. Team Traqueur Louit Moto 33 (David PERRET, Hugo MARCHAND, Bryan STARING) 1m43.195