Source: FIM.

Team SRC Kawasaki made a comeback in the first qualifying practice session of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours in France.

Taking the average of the three riders’ best times, SRC Kawasaki came out ahead of Honda Racing, Monster Energy Yamaha YART, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, Yamaha Racing GMT 94 Michelin and the Honda of National Motos. Qatar Endurance Racing Team is the best placed Superstock.

Gregory Leblanc, Matthieu Lagrive and Fabien Foret produced a superb exhibition of riding this afternoon on the ZX-10R of Team SRC Kawasaki. So far, they are the only ones to have clocked up a best lap time of under 1m37.500 at Le Mans.

The only other rider to break through the 1m38 mark on the Bugatti circuit was Sébastien Gimbert. With Julien Da Costa and Freddy Foray, he propelled Honda Racing to a promising second spot coming out of these first qualifying sessions.

Also impressive was the performance of Monster Energy Yamaha YART, currently in third place with Broc Parkes, Michael Laverty and Sheridan Morais. The Austrian factory Yamaha is out of the running for the world title, but is a definite contender for a win.

On the provisional grid, it is ahead of both the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Erwan Nigon) and Yamaha Racing GMT 94 Michelin (David Checa, Kenny Foray and Mathieu Gines).

The first placed private team, Honda National Motos, is already shaping up as a challenger capable of upsetting the top teams with its crew of Valentin Debise, Arturo Tizon and Olivier Four.

A trio of Superstock teams fill positions 7-9: Qatar Endurance Racing Team with Anthony West, Alex Cudlin and Mashel Al Naimi, ahead of Team Traqueur Louit Moto 33 (Julien Pilot, David Perret and Emeric Jonchière) and Junior Team LMS Suzuki (Baptiste Guittet, Etienne Masson and Gregg Black).

Other Australians in the mix include Glenn Allerton on debut with the Penz13.com Racing Team, which was 12th overall, and Gareth Jones’ Team R2CL Suzuki squad was 18th.

Having spared Le Mans during the afternoon, the rain seems to be moving away and the local met office is announcing a dry morning tomorrow.

2014 FIM Endurance World Championship
Round four – Le Mans, France

Qualifying one results:
1. SRC Kawasaki 1m37.273
2. Honda Racing 1m38.067
3. Monster Energy YART (Broc Parkes) 1m38.449
4. SERT 1m38.641
5. Yamaha Racing GMT 94 1m39.111.
6. National Motos 1m39.283
7. Qatar Endurance Racing Team (Anthony West/Alex Cudlin) 1m39.287
8. Team Traqueur Louit Moto 33 1m39.723
9. Junior Team LMS Suzuki 1m39.869
10. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing 1m40.067
12. Penz13.com Racing Team (Glenn Allerton) 1m40.354
18. Team R2CL (Gareth Jones) 1m40.977

Click here for detailed results