BSB Legend Wins on 24 Hour of Le Mans Debut

Jason O’Halloran secured victory at the Le Mans 24-hour race aboard the YART Yamaha R1, alongside Karel Hannika and Marvin Fritz.

O’Halloran’s win came on debut at the famous French circuit, where the team also picked up 63 out of 65 points.

It was the Kawasaki Webike Trickstar team that had looked favourites for the win during the opening few hours, despite an early crash for Mike Di Meglio. However, the team ran into problems later on, which handed the advantage back to the YART Yamaha team following a pit stop that took over five minutes.

O’Halloran, who had been on World Superbike duty over the last few weeks as he stepped in for Jonathan Rea, was making his first appearance for the YART Yamaha Endurance team since leaving BSB.

O’Halloran can now add the 24 Heures Motos victory to his impressive list of accomplishments, which includes 28 wins and 75 podiums in BSB.

The win was also Hannika's first at the event, while Fritz became a first-time winner and the first German to take victory at Le Mans since his current crew chief did so in 2007.

Speaking after the win, the Australian said: “My first race with YART, and my first 24-hour race…so to win here at Le Mans is incredible! The whole team has done an amazing job throughout the week. Due to the conditions, it is certainly the trickiest race I have ever been involved in. We had to think on our feet on the bike all the race, deciding whether you needed to pit to swap tyres, or what strategy we needed to adapt.

“It was a long race, but my teammates were incredible. I actually enjoyed riding during the night, because you can get your head down and work away at it, but when the sun comes up, you realise there is still a long way to go. The final ten minutes were probably the longest ten minutes of my life, but we did it. The whole team should be so proud, and I want to thank each and every one of them; they worked so hard, and we deserved the victory.”

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