Grégory Leblanc, Matthieu Lagrive and Fabien Foret did a perfect job and set an incredible average qualifying time of 1’37’’273, the best qualifying average in the history of the event.

Even if this pole position doesn’t mean so much in a long and gruelling 24 hours, it shows at least the serious potential of the Kawasaki SRC squad for the race as Gilles Stafler explained :

« It’s the first time ever for me that I got such a result from my riders. The gap between them it’s only four tenths of a second on either race tyres or qualifiers. The team made a really good job as well, and it’s the perfect start for this long race week-end. Now the most difficult part is coming and we have to be 100% focused on the race. Pole position is one thing the race something very different. »

Grégory Leblanc added : « It’s a really good thing to start from pole. I had traffic on my first lap time and made a small mistake in the second one but overall I can say I’m happy with this result. But Gilles said the most difficult part of the week-end is coming. Personally I can’t wait for the race ! »

Matthieu Lagrive commented : « For sure I’m really happy to get this pole position for Kawasaki and the team. I was quite worry about so many bikes near me during my first run but I was lucky to get a clear lap in the second qualifying.  Gregory, Fabien and I are very close on lap time and with the team and the Ninja Kawasaki ZX-10R we also have a really good package to make a strong race. »

Fabien Foret concluded : « I really enjoyed my qualifying session. I could have been a little bit faster but I made a small mistake and almost crashed. So it’s a good result for the team and a perfect way to prepare the race. We all know that it will be much more different and difficult in the race but, for sure, we are ready for the fight. »

The start of the 37th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours race will be on Saturday 20 September at 3 o’clock and the famous number 11 ZX-10R Ninja bike will start proudly ahead of 55 other competitors.