Julien Da Costa only 2 points away from FSBK title
. By Bikeland Staff
It was supposed to be easy, but Julien Da Costa will have to wait a little bit longer and until the last round of the French Championship to secure the French Superbike title that he deserves.
Past weekend at the track of Lédenon Da Costa took a second and a third place. He is now only two points from his target, which is the French Superbike title. He is a little bit upset with the result, spoiled as he is with many race wins this season: ‘It’s really frustrating not to win both races, but that’s racing. My goal was to secure the title during this race weekend, but now I will have to wait a few more weeks. The races were not bad but today our contenders were stronger and we have to admit this. Anyway, I’m still leading the championship with a huge 48 points gap, and the 50 points win during the last round are still in the back of my head. I think there is a more tricky situation, the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans race. I want to win as well as the whole team, to secure a third victory in a row. It will be a perfect way to prepare for the last Superbike round!'
In the Supersport class, Gregory Leblanc had a partly difficult weekend, having had a small crash in the first race and a victory in the second one.
Leblanc: ‘I made a small mistake in race one. I rode on the white line and I this made me crash. Things went better in race two and after four or five laps I could increase my pace and then take the lead to the finish line. As Julien said, we have to be focused on endurance now and I’m sure we will have a big chance to fight for the first spot of the 24 Hours of Le Mans podium.'
Gilles Stafler, Kawasaki SRC team manager, was a bit frustrated but wants to turn things positively : ‘It’s rather frustrating but it’s not the end of the world for sure. For me it could be a positive thing for everyone in the team before the 24 Hours race to stay strongly focused on the target. That shows that racing is not easy and things will not happen as predicted. I really hope now that we will be able to do a strong race in Le Mans and get the result that we deserve.'
FSBK Overall standings after the Lédenon race:
Superbike
1. J. Da Costa (Kawasaki SRC Pirelli) 317 points
2. S. Gimbert (BMW) 269 pts
3. G. Dietrich (BMW) 199 pts
4. D. Muscat (Ducati) 163 pts
5. V. Philippe (Suzuki) 161 pts
Supersport
1. G. Leblanc (Kawasaki SRC PIrelli) 287 points
2. A. Maurin (Yamaha) 176 pts
3. E. Masson (Kawasaki) 169 pts
4. D. Perret (Yamaha) 151 pts
5. D. Bouan (Yamaha) 140 pts