The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team is trying to defend its World Championship this year, but the team has had two of its riders injured during the 2011 season. 22-year-old Baptiste Guittet will be racing this weekend for the SERT team at Le Mans, as both Freddy Foray and Vincent Philippe were deemed unfit to race.
Guittet, who races in the French Junior Supersport Championship, is a native of Le Mans. Guittet will be racing with SERT regulars Anthony Delhalle and Daisaku Sakai this weekend.
Foray, suffered a head injury at Magny Cours in July, and doctors recently decided that he was not fit to race at such a high level. Philippe was also crossed off the lineup recently. Philippe crashed during a practice on Tuesday and broke his collarbone.
The SERT team is currently in second place in the standings, 6-points behind the BMW Motorrad 99 team. SERT has won the Endurance World Championship 10 times, and they are hoping Guittet can help keep their hopes for an 11th championship alive this weekend.
"We called riders from World Superbike, AMA, BSB and Japanese Superbikes, but nobody could get here on time or was free to race," said SERT's Remi Vulliet. "We asked Baptiste Guittet to join us and today is his first time on the official GSX-R1000 machine in practice and qualifying. It is not easy for him as it is his first time in EWC category."
Today saw the first free practice session of the Le Mans round. The BMW team lead the way, while SERT finished fifth.
