Mercury sweeps Rouen 24 hour Classic

Mercury Marine has dominated the 49th annual 24 Hours of Rouen endurance powerboat race –powering the top nine finishers!

Once again some 400,000 spectators lined the banks of the River Seine in the French city of Rouen to see the toughest endurance boat race in the world.

For the second consecutive year, the race was run in three sections over three days instead of the traditional 24-hour non-stop format but that doesn’t mean the racing wasn’t brutal, with driver changes every two hours and river conditions being far from ideal.

When all was said and done only 19 boats lasted the full 24 hours, and 15 had Mercury engines.

Understandably, Mercury’s dominance stretched through all three categories:

• Mercury S3000 race engines powered the first five boats in Class 3,
• Mercury owned all of Class 2 with OptiMax 200XS SST or SST 120 engines, and
• The FourStroke Mercurys swept the top four in Class 1 competition – a first in a class which normally favours TwoStroke engines.

Team Pegase Humanis #8, a Moore hull pushed by a Mercury S3000 race outboard, won the race overall and the Class 3 competition.

Drivers Christophe Boyard, Xavier Savin and R. Avenel completed 730 laps, 30 laps ahead of Drakkar #2.

Force Inshore #18, Neptune Inshore #14, and Tech Motor Racing-Matm #16 rounded out the top five – both in Class 3 and overall – and all were powered by Mercury S3000 race outboards.

Reigning Class 2 champion Team Dailly Inshore Passion #36 completed 593 laps, one ahead of Neptune Inshore #34 to capture their second consecutive Class 2 victory and a respectable sixth place overall.

Dailly Inshore Passion #35 and Olympic Team Rouennais #24 rounded out the top four in Class 2 and 6-9th overall.

Marine Inshore #28,  Team Privilege #25,  One Team Family #30 and Navikart #32 completed the Class 2 competition, with all finishers powered by Mercury OptiMax 200XS SST or SST 120 race outboards.

A Mercury 60 EFI Formula Race outboard drove Team Vallee de Seine #77 to an historic victory in Class 1, completing 412 laps to take the chequered flag and a place in the record books as the first Mercury FourStroke outboard to win Class 1.

VSI #50, Team Magaur #48 and DKV #70 took the next three spots; all powered by Mercury 60 EFI Formula Race outboards.