Steve and Kawasaki France Finish Second at Oschersleben

As part of a three-man team riding for Kawasaki France, Steve has finished in second place in round four of the FIM World Endurance championship held at Oschersleben in Germany at the weekend.

The long-awaited duel at the Oschersleben 24 Hours between Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and Team Kawasaki France didn’t last longer than four hours. After a neck and neck start to the race between the two official machines, the tension eventually took its toll with a fall by Gwen Giabbani from the Kawasaki France machine just after 6pm on Saturday.

Delayed even further by a fall by Steve's Spanish teammate Julian Mazuecos the team dropped down the order but a spirited ride by Steve saw him make up time and eventually regain fourth place.

With the demise of the Phase One Yamaha team, Kawasaki France was elevated to third spot and towards the end of the gruelling 24-hour race benefited from an engine problem that befell the Yamaha Austria team to move into second place.

But despite setting the fastest lap time of the race Stever was unable to catch SERT who finished the race 12 laps ahead of Kawasaki France.

“It’s a shame we had to miss the last round in Japan,” said Steve. “But all is not lost and we are only 32 points away from the title. There are 35 points on offer to the winner of each round and it will only take SERT to have a dnf and we are right back in contention again.”

Steve will be back in action for Kawasaki France on August 21/22 when he tests for the team at Magny Cours, the venue for the Bol d’Or, after which he returns to domestic action and his home round of the British Superbike championship at Cadwell Park on August 27 where he will be reunited with his Team AIM Yamaha R1.

The Bol d’Or is now on the horizon (September 15/16) and promises to be a decisive race in the Championship, before the final round takes place in Qatar in November.

Oshersleben 24hr - Qualifying

Steve has qualified in pole position for the start of the World Endurance 24-hour race at Oschersleben in Germany, which sets off at 3pm (2pm British time) on Saturday.

A close-fought battle for the front of the grid saw Kawasaki France and the Suzuki Endurance Race Team (SERT) separated by only a tenth of a second. In the second session on Friday Kawasaki France took pole position just ahead of SERT, who had initially taken a very small lead from the first qualifying session on Thursday afternoon.

Steve arrived at Berlin airport early Tuesday morning and, despite being absolutely shattered because of the lack of sleep, met up with his Spanish teammate Julian Mazuecos and drove to the circuit to join French teammate Gwen Giabbani and prepare for the practise and qualifying periods of Thursday and Friday.

Steve was apprehensive of how he would fare as despite the intensive treatment he had to his injuries he was uncertain on how his shoulder and damaged ribs would stand up to the pressure of racing a motorcycle.

"First practice was all day Wednesday, obviously it’s a three man team plus a reserve, but being the most experienced and good with
feedback I had the job of testing most settings on the Kawasaki
France ZX10," explained Steve.

"My injuries were not a problem and I managed 78 laps by end of the sessions with a good set-up and fastest with a smile on my face!”

Thursday was a little different with qualifying in the afternoon before compulsory night practice going on until 11pm. The weather had been awesome all week but as they took to the track it began to rain, not heavily enough to wet the track but enough to make it slippery. Steve decided to pit for 10 minutes while the drizzle stopped and a softer race tyre was fitted, which made all the difference as he immediately went faster.

"I had a little coming together with a slower rider which didn’t really affect me but he went down. Shortly afterwards another high-sided rider caused by now two sets of waved yellow flags and an ambulance parked on the side of the track" said Steve.

"The problem was that the two crash sites were the best two places for passing, if you were lucky enough to get a clear lap a fast time was possible, but with my qualifying tyres I was stuck behind slow guys every lap dropping me to fifth in my session.”

"The weather then changed back to beautiful sunshine with 40 degrees track temperature and both my team mates sessions were perfect, both fastest but still leaving us one tenth behind Suzuki for the grid."

"Despite the fact that my slower time was not really my fault, it really annoyed me as my time restricted us to a provisional second place on the grid but at least we had Friday morning to make amends if the weather stayed fine."

"Sure enough Friday morning was dry but very cloudy as my last qualifying session started. I went out on circuit with a soft race tyre putting in a mega time, I’d been fastest in our team all practice on race tyres so was confident of improving my times."

"The team fitted some qualifiers but again enough drizzle meant I couldn’t cash in on the extra grip they gave. But with the grid set up from an average of all three riders fastest times it turns out that we have taken pole position for tomorrows race, pole is mega but it’s the race that counts!"

The local forecast is predicting thunderstorms for the weekend at Oschersleben so the outcome of the 24-hour race will be dependant on track conditions and the skill and ability of the riders to overcome the difficulties that may await them on Saturday.

With just 25 points separating the SERT team who hold the series lead and Kawasaki France the scene is set for some fast and competitive racing with 35 points up for grabs to the winners of the Oschersleben round of the World Endurance series.

FIM Endurance website