In front of a large crowd at the Bugatti circuit - which hosted the 47th edition of the 24 Heures Motos - the Kawasaki Webike Trickstar team started from sixth on the grid.
Grégory Leblanc got off to a very good start and finished the first lap in third place. While more than a dozen crashes disrupted the start of the race, the #11 Kawasaki found its pace and settled into a solid sixth position.
Christian Gamarino and Roman Ramos Alvaro helped Grégory Leblanc back into the top three after four hours of racing. A position they kept until the 8-hour mark, giving the team eight intermediate points. The cooler track conditions encouraged caution, but that didn't stop the riders from improving on the team's best time at the end of the night with a lap of 1.37.212.
After spending most of the night in fourth position, and pocketing seven bonus points in the intermediate classification after 16 hours of racing, the Kawasaki Webike Trrickstar Team was back in the top three at dawn.
With 5h 30min to go, Roman Ramos Alvaro was riding the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR when an incident forced him to return to the pits, with the bike immobilised for nine minutes for repairs. Thanks to the efficient intervention of the technical team, Grégory Leblanc rejoined the track in sixth position. A second technical intervention was required shortly before the finish, but this did not prevent the team from gaining two further positions.
Competing against an increasingly strong field, the #11 Kawasaki crossed the finish line in a great fourth position after completing 844 laps of the Sarthe circuit.
Thanks to the excellent work of the technical team and the three riders, the Kawasaki Webike Trickstar team left Le Mans with 39 points and fourth place overall in the 2024 World Endurance Championship.
Thomas Baudry - Chief Technical Manager
“Obviously, we always come to fight for the podium. But we're very happy with our progress. The bike performed very well. Our riders are very close in terms of average times and performance. We made an excellent choice and I have absolutely no regrets. We're going to continue to progress and do our best in the races to come.”
Christian GAMARINO - Rider
“This is my first race in EWC. I'm very happy. For sure, a podium would have been better. We stay a lot of time in 3rd position during the race. But fourth position is very good because Roman and I are both new in this team. So I don't know the bike very well yet. But I think this is a very good starting point.”
