Plater wins Albacete Six Hour

Steve Plater and Spanish team-mate Julien Mazuecos dominated Saturday’s Six Hour Nightime Endurance race at Albacate in Spain.

The Kawasaki France factory duo won by a lap from their Suzuki Endurance Racing Team rivals in the race that started at 6pm and finished at midnight.

The result means that plater and Mazuecos are now second in the championship, just one point behind the SERT team of Lagrive and Costa.

Plater said: “We dominated the race. Julian rode really well. He was really on it, just like he was at le Mans. He started the race and within two laps he was leading. We had a gap straight away but then I struggled in my first session after making the wrong tyre choice.

“But after that the racing was mint – a walk in the park for us. Albacete is really physical but the bike worked so well that it made life easy for us. Tyres normally last what, 15 laps in testing. You destroy them there. But we were doing 41 laps on our Pirellis – and still running consistent 1:33s. 

“The weather was good and the temperature remained consistent throughout the race. I almost rained once but otherwise stayed dry. Championship-wise we’re just one point behind Suzuki which means we’ll be going to the Suzuka Eight Hour now.”

The Eight Hour, the world’s most prestigious race takes place on July 29. The remainder of the series includes the Oschersleben 24H (August 11/12), the Bol  d’Or at Magny Cours on September 15/16 and the Doha 8h on November 10.