2024EWC 4th Round Bol d'Or 24h Qualifying1 Sep 12th Report

2024年9月14日 00:45

Sep 12th, 2024

Q1 Pole for Team Étoile! Aiming even higher for Q2.

The 2024 EWC series 4th round Bol d'Or has officially begun. For Team Étoile who's never raced here at Circuit Paul Ricard before, it is merely a day2 after the first time out on Sep 10th Tuesday.

The riding order has changed from what was initially planned, and now it is Kazuki Watanabe, Yudai Kamei, Hikari Okubo, and Shogo Kawasaki, in order. The first session today from 14:00 to 16:00 was fully focused on improving the bike setup for various conditions that could be expected during the race, and Team Étoile ended the session 9th overall, 2nd in SST class with the lap of 1min 54.949sec.

Q1 begun at 17:20, starting from Kazuki Watanabe with the lap of 1min 54.429sec which is the fastest in SST class (9th overall). Next, Yudai Kamei finished his attack with the lap of 1min 55.279sec which is the 2nd fastest in SST class (10th overall). So far so good.

The third rider, Hikari Okubo however crashed at the final corner during his outlap, which meant he could not set his lap time. Shogo Kawasaki, the fourth rider, ended his session 13th in SST class (23rd overall) with the lap of 2min 00.785sec, showing consistent improvement over the past sessions.

At the end, the result of Kazuki and Yudai combined was enough to get the pole position of Q1. Team Étoile, however, is far from being safe to defend the pole position as there is only a gap of 0.25sec with the 2nd SST team. For Q2, Hikari hopes to get his lap done to defend the pole.

After the Q1, the night session started from 20:40 for 1 hour, where all of our four riders got the sense of cold tarmac and ambient temperature. Team Étoile recorded 1min 58.744sec which places us 11th in SST class, 22nd overall.

Throughout the day, no major issues were seen, but a few minor issues were there. Team Étoile to prepare for the Q2 at Sep 13th 11:00 (18:00 JPN time).

Rider Kazuki Watanabe

'Due to the way championship points are awarded in EWC, it is extra important to finish high on the qualifying sessions. The potential 5 points from the qualifying is critical for the team, so I was mainly focused on securing as much points as possible.'

'Due to the strong wind, the slip stream effect was much more significant than usual, so I was quite careful in terms of where I should be riding around the track to get the best out of it. I think I managed well, but there is still a room for an improvement. Anyway, 1st in SST class "so far" is great, and I'm happy about it.'

'2nd SST team is very close from us, but I believe Q2 could even be better than Q1 with Hikari onboard. I hope we can defend the pole position after Q2 and start the race with the best condition possible.'

Rider Yudai Kamei

'Due to the team strategy, I had to start my qualifying run with the used tyre, and I was even riding alone most of the time but I could set my personal best which is the 2nd fastest in SST class. I'm happy about it.'

'My goal for now is to defend the pole position tomorrow and improve my lap time even more for the race. We'll work together with the team.'

EWC 2024 Season Race Schedule

1st round: Le Man 24 hours (France, Le Man): Aprl 18th ~ 21st
2nd round: Spa 8 hours (Belgium, Spa Francorchamps): June 6th ~ 8th
3rd round: Coca Cola Suzuka 8 hours (Japan, Suzuka): July 18th ~ 21st
4th round: Bol d'Or 24 hours (France, Paul Ricard Circuit ): Sept 12th ~ 15th

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