The final qualifying sessions for the 76th annual Bol d’Or took place at Magny Cours today with the Honda TT Legends securing 11th place on the grid for tomorrow’s 24-hour race.

As the sunny morning weather gave way to threatening rain clouds, Cameron Donald, John McGuinness, Gary Johnson and Simon Andrews took to the French circuit one-by-one for the final four 30-minute qualifying sessions.

Although Andrews posted the fastest lap for the Honda TT Legends, as the fourth rider his times do not contribute towards the team's final qualifying time. The combined fastest laps of Donald, McGuinness and Johnson will see the team start the opening race of the 2012 Endurance World Championship from 11th on the grid. The three-rider race line-up will be announced following morning warm-up.

Neil Tuxworth – Team Manager

In general, we have not had any major issues during the practice and qualifying sessions. We had a minor technical problem that was quickly rectified and unfortunately Cameron had a small crash in his second session, but apart from that things have gone relatively well. It is a little disappointing that we have qualified 11th because as a team I feel that we are capable of more. Having said that, I think we will be much stronger in the race and I am certain that barring any problems, we should be able to achieve a top six position. Of course we would still like to fight for a chance to be on the podium, but this may prove a little difficult at the first round of the championship.

John McGuinness

We’ve had a few little problems over the last two days and we’re a little disappointed to have qualified 11th. As a racer, you always want to be at the front. Hopefully all our issues are out of the way now and we can have a strong race. All we can do is look forward to the race and get stuck in. I’ve heard all sorts about the weather for the race but I think the forecast is rain so it’s going to be an eventful one. We’ll just get our heads down and get on with it.


Cameron Donald

I’m feeling upbeat. We’d like to be up higher but we’re not. I don’t think anyone really improved today in terms of all the teams as the conditions weren’t as good as yesterday. We’ve made some more changes to the bike and we seem to be improving in that direction. Let’s see what happens tomorrow – the way the weather forecast is, all the dry track work could be out of the window anyway so we’ll just wake up and see what tomorrow brings.

Gary Johnson

I managed to go half a second quicker today so I’m happy enough with that. I think there’s more to come and I’m hoping I can close the gap a bit more in morning warm-up. I’m still learning the track and learning the bike, but it’s coming together nicely.

Simon Andrews

The team have done a great job today. We’ve had a few issues and Cam had a bit of a crash so they’ve really had to graft. The conditions were tough today with spots of rain during my session, but I went well and ended up second fastest so I’m happy with that.


Follow the Bol d’Or live on Motors TV or FIM-TV.com on Saturday 14 April from 10.20 to 11.30 and 14.30 to 22.00 and Sunday 15 April from 10.30 to 15.30. Live timing will be available on FIM-LIVE.com from 14.30 on Saturday 14 April.


2012 Bol d’Or schedule

Saturday 14 April

10.30 – 11.15 Warm-up

15.00 Race begins


Sunday 15 April

15.00 Race ends

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