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24 Heures Motos – Louis Bulle - Alex Plancassagne - Lukas Trautmann Team 3art Yam’avenue – Yamaha R1

ENGLISH VERSION 13.04.16

FIM ENDURANCE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 24 HEURES MOTOS - LE MANS RACE 01/04

SUPER RACE AND SUPER WIN IN SUPERSTOCK

With a total 72,300 spectators despite harsh 5th place. Honda Racing believed in their luck for weather, the 39th 24 Heures Motos was a huge more than half the race when the #111 was racing success. As the official lubricant partner of the between 4th and 2nd place, but trouble at the end world's major motorcycle endurance race, Motul of the night delayed them considerably. could hope for a sport success as it supports tech- And it's in Superstock class that light shone! There nically 23 of the 57 contending teams. A win was were many challengers but the Yamaha #36 had indeed bagged but in Superstock class, thanks to the final say. Alex Plancassagne was merely a re- Team 3art Yam’avenue's Yamaha. placement in another structure when he learnt he The Motul teams which were among the favou- would be teaming up with Lukas Trautmann and rites, nevertheless battled it out fiercely as shown Louis Bulle: 'Gabriel Pons, Danny de Boer's repla- by SERT's Suzuki. Unfortunately, the 2015 winners cement, also on the sidelines, broke his scaphoid and defending world champions suffered two falls, in the trials. I'm leading the World Cup whereas I a change of radiator, and an electronic glitch, but should have been watching these 24 Hours of Le they did push forward spectacularly from 54th to Mans from my sofa.'

FOLLOW US ON motul.com Ronnie Quintarelli-Tsugio Matsuda Nismo Motul Autech SUPER GT Nissan GT-R GT500 OKAYAMA RACE 01/08

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS STANDINGS - GT500 Matsuda / Quintarelli, 20 pts 01 HEAD A MOTUL 1-2-3 Rossiter / Hirakawa, 16 pts 02 Motoyama / Chiyo 11 pts 03

The Super GT has started very well for Motul which saw three of its technical partners mono- polise the first podium of the season on 10 April in Okayama. The iconic Nissan Motul Autech GT-R which bagged the title in 2014 and 2015 won the event with Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda, its implacable and steadfast duo of champions. The Lexus TOM'S RC F #37 beat by a narrow mar- gin the Nissan S Road MOLA #46 to become first runner-up Ronnie Quintarelli was driving in 3rd position at the won the first round and on this circuit,' admitted beginning of the race while James Rossiter took Ronnie Quintarelli, crowned on four occasions du- the lead at the wheel of the Lexus #37 that left from ring the past five seasons. pole. The Italian pushed forward to 2nd place, then Still at Nissan, the young Katsumasa Chiyo, cham- to the lead when the Brit handed the Lexus over pion of the Blancpain Endurance Series last year, to Ryo Hirakawa. Three laps later, a remarkable created a sensation by bagging 3rd place accom- pitstop by team Motul Autech allowed Tsugio Mat- panied by veteran Satoshi Motoyama, in his mai- suda to take the lead again. Tsugio completed the den outing in GT500. The second round will take 300 kilometres of the event with a 15 seconds lead place at Fuji at the beginning of May where there over his closest contender. 'Its the first time I've will be a first distribution of weight handicaps.

RACE 03/18

STANDINGS VIÑALES NO LONGER Marc Marquez, Honda, 66 pts 01 Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha, 45 pts 02 FAR FROM HIS FIRST PODIUM Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, 33 pts 03 Pol Espargaro, Yamaha Tech3, 28 pts 04 Maverick Viñales, Suzuki, 23 pts 08 Aleix Espargaro, Suzuki, 21 pts 10 Bradley Smith, Yamaha Tech 3, 16 pts 11 Still on the American continent but further nor- Stefan Bradl, Aprilia, 15 pts 14 th, the MotoGP held its third round on 10 April in Alvaro Bautista, Aprilia, 14 pts 15 Austin. The factory Suzukis did Motul proud by fini- shing a difficult race in 4th and 5th places. But the a few falls to bag this fine overall result. Sometimes two other teams supported technically by the wor- luck is on your side, sometimes less' commented ld specialist of high-performance lubricants also Suzuki technical manager, Ken Kawauchi. took good advantage of their passage in Texas. Pol Espargaro again pulled off a flawless race by 4th in qualifying as in the race, Maverick Viñales passing from 13th to 7th place. Equally fast and clinched his best result in MotoGP, while regretting steady as always, he now holds 4th place in the the deterioration of the grip at the rear of his Su- world championship and 1st among the inde- zuki at the end of the race. Not really on his game pendent teams...and despite Bradley Smith's fall, in the first two Grand Prix, Aleix Espargaro found his team Monster Yamaha Tech3 remains 3rd in the right pace again and was back in the Top 5 on the Teams standings. the Circuit of the Americas. 'In Argentina, we had Last, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini is still among the the top speed and could set our eyes on the po- first 10 thanks to Stefan Bradl, Alvaro Bautista fini- dium but Maverick fell. Here, we took advantage of shing just behind 11th placed.

OFFICIAL LUBRICANT PARTNER

MOTUL HAS BECOME FIA WEC OFFICIAL LUBRICANT PARTNER

Motul and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest credit. During all these years, Motul has worked announced on 7 April 2016 the signature of a ma- with teams to develop products boosting both jor agreement under which Motul has become performance and reliability. In 2016, 12 of the 60 the official lubricant supplier of the FIA World En- cars entered in the 24 Hours of Le will receive durance Championship and its iconic event, the Motul's technical support. 24 Hours of Le Mans. 'Le Mans is a central pillar of our four-wheel mo- This partnership comes in addition to the sup- torsport strategy,' stated Hervé Amelot, President port Motul already provides to the ACO through of the Management Board, Motul. 'By developing many sports events and activities such as the its cooperation with the ACO while also becoming driving school and go-kart circuit. The first ad- involved with the FIA WEC Motul can spread the vertising posters and banners bearing the fa- magic of Le Mans throughout its international dis- mous red and white logo appeared around the tribution network. Thanks to this new partnership, 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit in 1954. Since then, Motul can now fully express its passion for endu- over 220 cars have borne Motul's colours in the rance which has a particularly strongly aura each top endurance race, with 17 class victories to its mid-June at Le Mans.'

FIM MXGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP NEUQUEN, PATAGONIA RACE 04/18

SEEWER CONTINUES BAGGING MX2 STANDINGS J. Herlings, KTM, 200 pts 01 PODIUMS IN MX2 J. Seewer, Suzuki, 152 pts 02 A. Tonkov, Yamaha, 131 pts 03

From MotoGP to MXGP, from Termas de Rio Hon- with best lap time for the whole weekend and do to the Province of Neuquen, Argentina was at 7th place in the Grand Prix standings, two places the heart of motorcycling sport news for a full two ahead of Kevin Strijbos and his Suzuki. Suzuki is weeks. Team HRC and Team Suzuki World MXGP, enjoying an excellent start to the season in MX2 both partnered technically by Motul in internatio- with Jérémy Seewer. The Swiss rider was beside nal motocross, share something they would rather himself with joy on his third podium of the sea- not: one of their iconic riders was not at the start son, bearing in mind that his least flattering result in Patagonia on 10 April. Injured, Gautier Paulin, for the moment is 4th place in Qatar! The first win already did not answer present in the Netherlands is perhaps no longer far off... 'Following a collision while Ben Townley had still not recovered from the with another rider at the start of race one, I did my virus that had plagued him in Valkenswaard. utmost to push forward. I nevertheless found the A fighting fit Evgeny Bobryshev took a fine 4th strength to resist Tonkov, who is also my pursuer place at the arrival of race one before falling in in the championship, all the way to the arrival of the second. The Honda rider consoled himself the second race.'

RACE 01/05

GOOD POINTS FOR GARAGE 59 NEAR THE ADRIATIC

SRO has altered its European GT cham- hour races with a midway tyre and driver change. pionships with a schedule of five sprint events Driven by Alvaro Parente for Q3, team Garage 59's and as many endurance races. Each of these McLaren 650S GT3 was just 15 thousandths of a two disciplines will continue to appoint its second off pole. Alvaro lost ground at the begin- champions, but they will have to be competitive ning of the night-time qualifying race, on a track in all ten events, which last from 60 minutes to that was still damp. Rob Bell enjoyed more favou- 24 hours, to secure the most prestigious titles rable conditions during his stint and managed to of the Blancpain GT Series. The season began move forward from 16th to 9th place. on 9 and 10 April with a field of 39 contenders The two drivers continued their effort on Sunday for the first round of the Sprint Cup on the Mi- to finish in 4th spot. 'I've rarely seen such strong sano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, where grids in GT,' commented Rob Bell. 'We must still McLaren GT's client team, Garage 59 defended work but the foundations are solid'.' 57 cars are Motul's colours fittingly. awaited at Monza on 24 April for the curtain-raiser The sprint events format consists in two one- to the Endurance Cup!

Motul Sport News 2016 © Motul - All right reserved Credits : Stan Perec, GTA, Lukasz Swiderek, www.suzuki-racing.com , Motul 119 bd Felix Faure • 93300 Aubervilliers McLaren GT Publishing & editing coordinator : Leslie Raiwoit / [email protected]