Roland Resch: 24h von Bol d'or

By MR Presse, 22 September, 2016

Ich habe viel gesehen, gelernt, gelitten, Spaß gehabt und Freundschaften geschlossen. Danke, dass ihr mit mir die EWC 2016 bestritten habt! Hier noch ein paar Bilder vom Wochenende und der internat. Pressebericht. Text und bilder von Toni Börner - highside PR:

Lukoil BMW Motorrad CSEU with heroic finish at the 80th Bol d’Or at Le Castellet

Le Castellet, France. The 80th Bol d’Or, the 24 hours of Le Castellet in France, was a difficult, but heroic affair for the whole Lukoil BMW Motorrad CSEU squad, which finished the race in 29th position of 55 teams entering the race. On the helm of the BMW S 1000 RR Roland Resch (AUT), Julian Mayer (AUT) and Marin Ivanov (CRO) showed a strong race but also encountered a lot of problems.

The trio had entered deeply into the Top Ten overall classification of the race, went up to 8th spot, but then had to enter the pits in the early morning hours. The team’s BMW S 1000 RR was diagnosed with a gearbox problem and the team decided to change it, as quickly as possible.

The boiling hot engine was opened by the Lukoil BMW Motorrad CSEU mechanics crew and the even hotter inside was changed as the motor housing and the frame are the only party that have to remain the same from start to finish in the FIM Endurance World Championship.

In around 2.3 hours the team changed the complete gearbox and sent the trio Resch/Mayer/Iavnov back on track with just one target: Finish the race in classification – which is exactly what they did. Out of 55 teams Lukoil BMW Motorrad CSEU brought it’s BMW S 1000 RR home in 29th spot, lapping the Paul Ricard Circuit of Le Castellet a total of 565 times.

Roland Resch:
“Well, of course we were flying high when we took over eighth place and were rolling in the top ten, but then the Endurance-reality hit us hard once more. At least we could ride on three riders this time, which unfortunately was not the case at the 24h Le Mans and the 12h Portimao. We were declared heroes in the races there, as we were running it on two for many parts of the races, but this time our true heroes are the mechanics and the crew. They decided we would finish this race by all means and even changed a burning hot gearbox on our BMW S 1000 RR’s engine – and this in a record breaking time. So all thanks goes out to the team, who’s efforts made it possible to cross the finish line today.”