The Kawasaki SRC will start from second place on the grid at the 24 Heures Motos in Le Mans. After Gregory Leblanc’s crash in the rain during the first qualifying, the Kawasaki SRC riders wrested back control in the second round. Gregory Leblanc posted the fastest lap time of Friday morning’s entire test: 1’37.420. Matthieu Lagrive was hot on his heels, with a lap time of 1’38.373. Fabien Foret was unable to continue because of a serious crash. He escaped unscathed, but is too shaken up for the team to confirm whether he will be on board the ZX-10R #11.
That scare is not the only thing Gilles Stafler, the Kawasaki SRC team manager, is worried about. “On a dry track and in mild weather everything’s fine, but we’ll have a problem in case of rain because we haven’t yet found a way to take on the competition on equal terms.”
Grégory Leblanc, the ZX-10R #11 rider, is confident. “This morning’s session was encouraging. I managed to clock the absolute best time despite a cold track. We lost the pole partly because of Fabien’s crash, but we showed we’ll be there for the race.”
Matthieu Lagrive is feeling upbeat. “It’s not a big deal to have lost the pole. We’ve worked well with this new bike, and that’s a positive thing. The chassis puts the rider at ease, and there’s extra mileage to be got from the more powerful engine. We’ve a good basis, but we can do better.”
 
Saturday’s race will start with the warm-up at 9.45am. The 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans will be flagged off at 3pm.