A top five finish at Spa

After finishing tenth at Le Mans at the inaugural round of the World Endurance Championship, the Webike Trickstar Kawasaki Team took the chequered flag at the Spa 24 Hours in fifth position. Ninth on the grid, the team, now led by Ryuji Tsuruta, quickly moved up into the top five. Taking advantage of the arrival of Gregory Leblanc, recruited after the Le Mans 24h Motos, Randy de Puniet and Kazuki Watanabe managed to maintain a steady pace throughout the twenty four hours.

The riders of the #11 Kawasaki ZXR-RR didn't make the slightest mistake and only an electrical problem, which caused them to lose a lap after the safety car come out on the track, slowed their pace. “We couldn't have done any better," commented Randy de Puniet. “We did our best without making any mistakes. Unfortunately, like at Le Mans, we were at a disadvantage. Despite the arrival of Greg, who rode really well, we couldn't keep up with the leading machines. We haven't had enough riding time and the bike is getting old, as you can see from how it’s doing in Superbike. We were a little better on race pace compared with practice, but that's not enough. Especially as with their Bridgestones, YART, SERT and the FCCC TSR Honda team have an advantage of over a second per lap. We're fighting it out with the privateers, which is pretty frustrating.” By finishing fifth, the Webike Trickstar Kawasaki team nevertheless climbed to seventh place in the overall standings with 35 points.