The 37th 24 Heures Moto will probably leave a lasting mark for a long time on all those who saw it. First of all because an Open bike (BMW) and a Superstock (Kawasaki) upset the established order among the front-runners. Then because Suzuki ended an incredible series of wins by Kawasaki in world endurance 24-Hour races. And last but not least because 6 years on, Yamaha won the world title again, its third in endurance.

The start of the race was given on Saturday 20th September on the Le Mans Bugatti circuit. Almost right away there were a few collisions among the bikes that had just been unleashed. The works Yamaha entered by Yamaha Racing GMT 94 Michelin (Checa, K. Foray, Gines), the world championship leader before this race, was one of the machines that had to make a quick pit stop for repairs.

There was a lot of action in the first hour, in particular by the very quick Sylvain Barrier who took the lead on his BMW Open run by the Penz 13.com. team opening up a gap of over 50 seconds on his nearest pursuer. He put on a stunning show that delighted the large crowd, which prefigures an all-out return by the German make in 2015.

At the end of his stint it was a Superstock that tried to hunt him down, the hard-charging Qatar Endurance Racing Team Kawasaki ridden con brio by Anthony West, which went to the front.

Thus, there was a never-before-seen hierarchy at the top of the time sheets of the 24 Heures Moto.

After the opening round of refuelling stops the favourites in endurance gave the overall classification a more conventional look. The works Kawasaki (Leblanc, Lagrive, Foret) took the lead at the end of the first hour.

The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Philippe, Delhalle, Nigon) installed itself in second place until around 22h00 when Foret had a fall on his Kawasaki allowing Dominique Méliand’s men to take the lead. They stayed there till the chequered flag even if they never managed to build up a comfortable advance. Honda Racing, after Gimbert fell without injury or damage, set off in pursuit of the Yamaha trio who had a 2-lap lead.

Honda Racing (Gimbert, Da Costa, F. Foray) then ran into engine problems and had to retire handing second place to the no. 94 Yamaha that had made a mind-blowing comeback after falling down to 48th place on the first lap. In third was another Yamaha, the one entered by Monster Energy Yamaha YART (Parkes, Laverty, Morais).

There were no changes in this classification in the remaining 12 hours despite numerous technical problems and changing weather conditions.

Vincent Philippe then got it all wrong on his Suzuki at the start of a stint when he made a U-turn on the pits straight with his engine running thinking that he had a problem. He was handed a 30-second stop and go penalty, and he then made an unexpected stop to have the front wheel of his bike changed. This incident helped the riders of the second-placed Yahama believe that they had a chance of winning the race. Despite their talent and effort the Suzuki guys fought back and scored the manufacturer’s11th win at Le Mans. The GMT 94 team’s second place was good enough to give them the world championship title for the second time, 10 years after the first, the third in total for Yamaha.

After a no-holds-barred battle with the YART Yamaha (3e), the Qatar Endurance Racing Team (West, Cudlin, Al Naimi) finished fourth and first in Superstock. The Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki (Guittet, Masson, Black) was also involved in the scrap for the category victory until Gibert had a minor fall on Sunday morning. Nonetheless, the points scored gave the team victory in the FIM Superstock World Cup.

The Honda National Motos squad (Junod, Tison, Four) put on a good performance thanks to the consistency of its riders and finished sixth despite several problems with its bike.

The Penz13.com BMW of de Pridmore, Barrier, Allerton came out on top in the Open category after providing a lot of on-track action in the first hour: it finished seventh overall.

Among the riders the 2014 EWC world title went to David Checa (ESP), Kenny Foray (FRA) and Mathieu Gines (FRA), the works Yamaha trio. In Superstock the winners were Baptiste Guittet (FRA), Etienne Masson (FRA) and Greg Black (FRA), the Suzuki Junior Team riders.

70 500 spectators attended the 24 Heures Moto. It was a small increase compared to 2013 (70 200), but it confirmed the revival of the 24 Heures Moto.

The ACO new media again attracted a large following. The 24 Heures Moto Web TV that enabled people to enjoy the event live on tablets, Smartphone or on computers for almost 30 hours attracted 424 000 visitors. This represents a huge increase compared to the 267 000 visitors registered a year ago. The internet site 24h-moto.com was visited by 197 000 people, 18 % more than in 2013.

There’s no doubt that in 2015 the return of the 24 Heures Moto to its original date – spring – will consolidate the success of the most important endurance race for bikes. This change has been asked for by the spectators who will be able to attend the 38th event in seven months - on 18-19 April 2015.

Final Classification

FIM Endurance Teams World Championship

FIM Endurance Teams Cup

Winners’ Words

Vincent Philippe (Suzuki, winner of the 2014 24 Heures Moto): “This victory is a very emotional one for me as I haven’t won here for a long time – eleven years, in fact ! It’s been a difficult year for the team and from a personal point of view. I was asking myself how we could bring the bike home, but you have to understand that the race lasts twenty-four hours.”

Dominique Méliand (Team Manager du Suzuki Endurance Racing Team team manager, winner of the 2014 24 Heures Moto): “It’s a bit too early to start speaking about 2015. We’re going to savour this victory and celebrate! Then we’re going to sit down round a table with the people from Suzuki to talk. One thing’s sure: what just happened will open up some doors for us so it’s a good idea to start talking as quickly as possible.”

Christophe Guyot (Team manager of the Yamaha Racing GMT94 Michelin 2014 FIM World Endurance Champion team): “The title was almost done and dusted after eight hours (points were awarded after eight and sixteen hours). This being said we’re fighters and when the opportunity to win arose we tried to seize it. We gave Suzuki a few cold sweats and we’re proud of that. The title we’ve just clinched is very important for our three riders.”

David Checa (Yamaha, 2014 FIM World Endurance Chammpion): “I was on the tarmac after twenty-four seconds racing and I’m still standing after twenty-four hours! I’m lucky to be here. Just after the fall I was afraid I’d injured myself and that I wouldn’t be able to restart. I’m delighted with our result.”

Damien Saulnier (Junior Team LMS Suzuki team manager, winner of the FIM Superstock World Endurance Cup): “Since the start of the training programme 180 mechanics have passed through the Junior team in eighteen years. We’ll change the team in a month as a new class of youngsters will arrive. Today the tears were more about the victory than the future departure of our squad. The riders put their trust in this young technical team who I would like to wish a great career in the milieu.”

Baptiste Guittet (winning rider, FIM Superstock World Endurance Cup): “We’re celebrating the title more than our second place. It was the target this weekend. This morning I made a small mistake, which cost us two laps, but the main aim was the title. We missed out on it in previous years.”

Luis Sorano (Qatar Endurance Racing Racing team coordinator , winner of the Superstock category): “It’s a really great result that’s very satisfying. Three years ago we won the titles and now we’ve done it again. As for the future even if we’re able to change to a Superbike, we’re already going to see how to tackle things with the increase in the number of races in 2015.”

Anthony West (1st in Superstock) : “It’s my first 24 Heures Moto and I’ve finished first! I’m delighted for the whole team who did a super job. I made a good start and I pushed as hard as I could, but I wasn’t expecting this. Maybe I was a bit over optimistic concerning my strength considering the difficulties hanging on in there for twenty-four hours. At 06h00 this morning I asked myself ‘what am I doing here?’ Finally, I’ll remember a really fantastic, wonderful experience. Our efforts paid off in the end.”