For the 11th time in 12 years, Mercury Racing won the grueling 24 Hours of Rouen endurance powerboat race Sunday, May 1, in Rouen, France. In addition, eight of the top 11 boats were powered by Mercury outboards. Rouen tests both man and machine as boats run non-stop, with the exception of fuel stops and driver exchanges, for 24 hours. Mercury has powered more first-place finishers at Rouen than any other engine builder.
Defending champion Team Pegase Racing SPM76, a Mercury S3000 race outboard-powered Moore hull, won the 42nd running of the world's most demanding powerboat race. Team Pegase Racing SPM76 also won the Class 3 competition. Pilots Christophe Boyard, Thierry Petiot, Xavier Savin and Nicolas Lecanu completed 861 laps for the win. Their Mercury S3000 race outboard fended off the Evinrude S3000 race outboard-powered Team RMSN, finishing a 26-laps ahead of the competitive power. Team Dynamic Performance completed 803 laps in their Mercury S3000 race outboard-powered Molinari hull for a third place overall finish. Mercury S3000 outboards powered seven out of nine Class 3 finishers.
Weather in Rouen this time of year is typically a mix of rain and sunshine with high winds and changing tides stirring up rough course conditions on the famous River Seine. This year was different – with unseasonably warm sunny weather and calm winds.
Mercury Racing OptiMax 200XS SST race outboard powered Team Casino Forges Eaux, a Moore hull piloted by Philippe Masselin, Jean Marie Guerra, Tomas Cermak and Thierry Marchand, completed 791 laps for a first-place finish in Class 2 competition and fourth overall. OptiMax 200XS SST race outboard-powered Sonotic placed second in Class 2 and sixth overall, beating a second Evinrude S3000 race outboard-powered Team RMSN entry which finished seventh overall. IXE Team, with a third place finish in Class 2 (8th overall) , completed a 1-3 Class 2 sweep for the low emissions, direct fuel injected 2-stroke Mercury OptiMax outboard in a class populated by purpose-built, high revving race outboards. Olympic Team Rouennais, a Milan hull powered by a Mercury SST 120 race outboard, placed 10th overall (Mercury S3000 race outboard-powered Tech Motor Racing placed 9th overall) and fourth in Class 2 competition. Bruno Lacroix, Regis Barre and Aurelien Loutz rounded out fifth in Class 2 and 11th overall in Team Loutz Larigot, a Hulley boat powered by an OptiMax 200 XS SST race outboard. Mercury OptiMax 200 XS SST race outboards powered four out of the top five Class 2 finishers.
Team WRB, a Demante hull powered by a Yamaha 850 CC outboard, completed 490 laps to win the Class 1 competition and 12th place overall. Yamaha powered Soft Esigelec placed second in Class 2 and 13th overall with 471 laps completed. Navikart, one of two Mercury powered entries out of a total of 17 boats, placed third in Class 1 with 458 laps completed (the second Mercury 60 EFI FourStroke powered Sotteville Inshore Racing Team to a seventh place finish in Class 1). Yamaha powered Olympic Team Rouennais and Team Touax Performance rounded out 4-5 in Class 1 competition.
Results by Category:
Top 5 - Class 3
- Team Pegase Racing SPM76 #1 (Mercury S3000 -861 laps)
- Team RMSN #3 (Evinrude S3000-835 laps)
- Team Dynamic Performance #06 (Mercury S3000-803 laps)
- Drakkar Inshore #18 (Mercury S3000-780 laps)
- Team RMSN #02 (Evinrude S3000-717 laps)
Top 5 - Class 2
- Team Casino Forges Eaux #23 (Mercury OptiMax 200XS SST-791 laps)
- Sonotic #27 (Mercury OptiMax 200XS SST-753 laps)
- IXE Team #33 (Mercury OptiMax 200XS SST-696 laps)
- Olympic Team Rouennais #30 (Mercury SST 120 Race – 631 laps)
- Team Loutz Larigot #24 (Mercury OptiMax 200XS SST-601 laps)
Top 5 - Class 1
- Team WRB #50 (Yamaha – 490 laps)
- Soft Esigelec #69 (Yamaha – 471 laps)
- Navikart #76 (Mercury 60 EFI FourStroke – 458 laps)
- Olympic Team Rouennais #51 (Yamaha – 430 laps)
- Team Touax Performance #64 (Yamaha – 429 laps)