Isle of Man TT stars secure fine fifth at Le Mans 24 Hours race
Tuesday 27 September 2011
TT
Isle of Man TT stars John McGuinness, Cameron Donald and Keith Amor completed an amazing 819 laps of the legendary Le Mans circuit on their way to a fine fifth place in the latest round of the Endurance World Championship.
Riding for the Honda TT Legends team, the trio started the weekend’s 24-hour race in 10th place, but ran in fifth for most of the event.
Qualifying went well, with 2-times TT winner Donald particularly impressive around the 2.597-mile French circuit to take fourth in his group. McGuinness was 11th and Amor 22nd.
An overall lap of 1m 40.283s put the team 10th, but during the first stint Donald moved them up to fifth, a position McGuinness and Amor consolidated in their stints.
The Honda TT Legends had a close battle with Team Bolliger and the Yves Molch Endurance squad, but, despite their relative lack of experience, the teammates held their own to match the result from the opening 24-hour race of the season, the Bol d'Or in April.
McGuinness said:
‘That's two fifth places now in the two biggest races of the Endurance World Championship and we've got to be pleased with that.”
“Both the Bol and Le Mans are huge, historical races and everyone's played a huge part in getting us to the end. The week started well in practice and qualifying and although I was a bit disappointed with my final session, it turned out the wheel had spun on the rim and that was what causing the vibration I was feeling from the rear of the bike.”
“Tenth gave us a good platform and the race itself was long and hard, but we had no major issues amongst any of us so I just tried my best and kept out of trouble.”
He added:
“It was unbelievable out there at times and so smoky - I think the fans were burning anything and everything they could lay their hands on - so it was a really brilliant atmosphere!”
“We weren't necessarily the fastest team out there but we were very consistent and able to turn some strong lap times whilst the boys in the pits did an awesome job with both the strategy and the stops.”
“To have competed in the race was a huge honour and it's definitely ticked a few boxes for me, and the fact that we finished in a strong fifth place makes it even more special.”