Bridgestone supported Yamaha Austria Racing Team will be hoping to turn the tables on FIM Endurance World Championship rivals GMT94 this weekend in France, as the Bol D’Or kicks off the 2017/18 season at the Paul Ricard.
A DNF at last year’s Bol cost Broc Parkes and his teammates dearly last year, leaving them with plenty of work to do at Le Mans and the following rounds as they tried to play catch up. Despite a great result at Suzuka, it just wasn’t enough and they finished 3rd overall behind their fellow Factory Yamaha squad and the SERT crew.
The team remains unchanged for this year with Parkes riding alongside Marvin Fritz and Kohta Nozane, with the young Japanese rider learning much during the recent campaign.
Yamaha Austria will once again be using Bridgestone race tyres for the season, having been impressed with both their performance and longevity.
Parkes put in the fastest lap of the recent official test ahead of the Bol, and had this to say:
“I am so pumped about the new season, especially after we topped both days of the test. On the second day, in the afternoon I only did a three-lap run and that’s when I set the fastest lap! The whole atmosphere in the team with Marvin and Kohta is really good, I am really excited. Yamaha have been helping out to tweak and update some parts on the bike and the overall package feels amazing. The Bridgestone tyres are working brilliantly at the circuit, I did the fastest lap on race tyres, which shows you how good they are. Last year we had a good pace at the Bol d’Or but suffered an issue, so I am looking forward to heading back. It’s a really nice track, very different, although it can be daunting when you first go there with the 1.8km straight! This year, it’s nice to be mentioned as one of the title favourites, but I think anyone from 5-6 teams can win this year, with other manufacturers really upping the ante this season. Our aim is to finish the race, as there are so many points up for grabs during the 24-hour races, so it is vital, and ideally, we will be aiming for the podium.”
Team Principal Mandy Kainz commented further:
“We were really happy with the test. Broc was the fastest rider, and we were the fastest team, plus he did the lap times with race tyres, not qualifying tyres. Kohta and Marvin were also very fast and we are happy with how things are set up for the opening round of the season. Their race pace was amazing and the Bridgestone tyres worked well at the test too, so we are feeling confident. The bike is similar to the Suzuka R1 but we have made some improvements, but with the small gap between Suzuka and the Bol d’Or, we could not change a huge amount. A lot of people are saying we are the team to beat this year, and we have a great package to fight for the title, so it is vital for us to get our season off to a good start at the Bol d’Or.”
You can check out Bridgestone’s high performance race tyre range here.
