Honda TT Legends team secures another fifth in World Championship
Monday 14 November 2011
TT
The Honda TT Legends team secured another fifth place as its first season in the Endurance World Championship ended on Saturday.
John McGuinness, the 17-times TT winner, was joined by fellow Mountain course racer Keith Amor and short circuit specialist Glenn Richards for the 8-hour race in Doha.
The team was on the pace throughout, qualifying 9th for the Qatar race and competing well to secure the third 5th place finish of the season.
After a solid start in first practice, all three riders improved their times in the second and final qualifying session with each getting thirty minutes of track time around the 3.43-mile Doha circuit. The team’s overall combined time of 2m03.381s was good enough to qualify 9th.
When the race got underway on Saturday afternoon, Richards, standing in for the injured TT winner Cameron Donald, set a blistering pace in the first stint taking numerous places and McGuinness was able to consolidate the team’s position, ensuring they were lying 3rd as he handed over to Amor.
Over the next few hours positions changed frequently and, as darkness fell, the team were in 5th, and it was McGuinness who had the honour of not only completing the final stint of the 8 hours, but also of the 2011 season.
The 5th place meant the team ended the year in 7th place in the Championship, with 43 points.
McGuiness said:
“We’ve finished three races this year and finished 5th each time so, for our first year in the Championship, I think that’s a fantastic achievement.”
“Qualifying went well and although I knew it was going to be tough out there, once again we strung together a pretty faultless race and with no issues we were able to bring the bike home for a good finish.”
“It’s quite a unique place to be racing and I was honoured to take the final stint for the team so the 8 Hours of Qatar is another box ticked in my ‘things to do’ list!”
“I’ve got to say a big thanks to everyone in the team – they’ve been mega all year long and with a lot of work going on behind the scenes, especially the ABS project, they’ve done an awesome job.”
“It’s all over for them, but I’m heading off to Macau now and I’m really looking forward to getting on board the SMT Honda – it won’t be easy but I’ll certainly be going for the win once more!”