The German RMT21 Honda team are expanding for next season and enlarging to a 30-strong team. The team, run by Thomas Roth, will be a test team for different manufacturers and, along with preparing for the World Endurance season, will be entering both the Isle of Man TT races and the Macau Grand Prix - so they are seeking mechanics for 2008 - if you speak German, think you're ready for the move to the World Championship and might be prepared to live in the Limburg area, contact the team now at Team2008@rmt-racing.com

After having contested in the World Supersport Championship for the last two years, the Yamaha GMT94 team will move up to the World Superbike Championship in 2008. In addition to this and following on from their Bol d’Or win in 2007, Yamaha GMT94 will continue to enter the world’s two most demanding Endurance races – the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Bol d’Or 24 Hours.

The Guyot Motorcycling Team was founded in 1992 by Christophe Guyot - himself a former rider and passionate sportsman - with the aim of making motorcycle racing more accessible to the young people of France. In 2003, the team linked up with Yamaha Motor France to become a more professional concern and has since gone from strength to strength, including becoming Endurance World Champion in 2004. Now known as the Yamaha GMT94 team, the squad operates a strategy focused on two very different road race classes – sprint racing and endurance racing.

For 2008, the team is moving into the World Superbike Championship, although they are continuing with the current team line up of David Checa and Sébastien Gimbert. 2004 Endurance World Champion David Checa, aged 27, has raced in World Supersport with the Yamaha GMT team for the past two seasons. The younger brother of Carlos Checa, David’s racing pedigree includes 250GP and European Supersport before he moved into Endurance racing in 2003. In addition, that same year he was Pirelli’s WSB control tyre tester and participated in a handful of WSB races. This WSB experience will stand him in good stead for 2008 as he re-enters the WSB fray once more.

Sébastien Gimbert is also a long-time member of the Yamaha GMT94 Team, having first joined the team’s Endurance effort in 2004 and becoming world champion in the same year. Like many Frenchmen the 30 year-old has specialized in the Endurance scene, having won the Bol d’Or with Checa and the GMT94 team in 2007 as well winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2005. But to date he also has 45 WSB races under his belt. Gimbert achieved his best WSB result in 2004 when he scored two fourth position finishes at Magny-Cours. This success was enough to gain him a full-time WSB ride with Yamaha Motor France the following year, although a broken leg during the season prevented him from showing his full potential.

As well as contesting the WSB Championship, David Checa and Sébastien Gimbert will contest the Le Mans and Bol d’Or races once again in 2008, this time with British rider Steve Plater. In 2007 the Yamaha GMT94 Team won the Bol d’Or for the first time in style with a five lap lead, after having already won as a team twice the Le Mans 24hrs and numerous other Endurance events.

Yamaha GMT94 will receive some support from Yamaha Motor Europe who recognize the importance of Endurance racing in France and the dream of team owner Christophe Guyot to grow steadily to become a future top contender in World Superbikes.

David Checa
Date of Birth: 20/04/1980
Nationality: Spanish
Residence: Barcelona, Spain
Career Highlights
2007: 12th, World Supersport Championship, 1st Bol d’Or 24 Hours
2006: 11th, World Supersport Championship and 3rd, Le Mans 24 Hours
2005: 1st, Le Mans 24 Hours and 2nd, Bol d’Or 24 Hours
2004: World Champion Endurance and 1st, Oschersleben 24 Hours and Zhuhaï 6 Hours rounds
2003: 3rd, World Champion Endurance

Sébastien Gimbert
Date of Birth: 09/09/1977
Nationality: French
Residence: Puy de Velay, France
Career Highlights
2007: 20th, World Supersport Championship, 1st Bol d’Or 24 Hours
2006: 3rd, Le Mans 24 Hours and 19th, World Superbike Championship
2005: 1st, Le Mans 24 Hours
2004: World Champion Endurance
2003: 2nd, French Super-production Championship and 1st, Bol d'Or and Spa 24-hour races

The 2007 Macau Grand Prix is finally on TV somewhere. If you missed the coverage in the UK (like most of us...I haven't seen any repeats), you can see it...in Germany. It's on  ORF Sport Plus on 23rd December at 15.55.

A revised 2008 World Superbike Championship calendar now been announced by the FIM. The 15 event season includes a German round of the championship at Nürburgring on 15th June and a visit to Sentul in Indonesia on October 12th. The Vallelunga race has been brought forward by one week, and the Portimão season finale moved to November 2nd.

February 23 - Qatar - Doha/Losail
March 2 - Australia - Phillip Island
April 6 - Spain - Valencia*
April 27 - Netherlands - Assen*
May 11 - Italy - Monza**
June 1 - United States - Salt Lake City
June 15 – Germany – Nürburgring*
June 29 - San Marino - Misano*
July 20 - Czech Rep. - Brno*
August 3 - Great Britain - Brands Hatch*
September 7 - Great Britain - Donington Park*
September 21 - Italy - Vallelunga
October 5 - France - Magny Cours*
October 12 – Indonesia – Sentul**
November 2 - Portugal - Portimao*

*with Superstock FIM Cup
** subject to contract

With the news from www.race24.com's Martin Gelder that Warwick Nowland has signed once more for the British privateers Phase One, that's another World Endurance champion off the market for another year. Warwick also still has an executive position in his own right, as Team Manager of STP Racing. With British rider Chris Burns taking over the ride from Victor "The Vicar" Cox in the British National Superstock Team in the middle of last year, STP have upped their game for 2008, sticking with the MV Agusta marque that they were running in 2007 - but this time it's MV themselves who are building a blueprinted engine to Superstock specifications. It's not a factory effort, as the team, owned by Welsh businessmen John Strike and Simon Woods are paying for everything themselves - but they aim to take the Privateers Cup next year and embarrass as many factory teams as they can along the way.

Back in World Endurance, the Spanish giants Folch Yamaha are rumoured to be mounting a challenge next year, along with another well-funded French-based team...and with top class riders still sniffing around (the massively experienced and seriously fast American rider Jason Pridmore is looking seriously at which team would be best for him for 2008 - he's out to take the 2008 World Championship crown to the USA).

Which teams still need great riders? Moto38? The Belgian Zone Rouge team? The Swedes, Fagersjo-El? Each of these teams could mount a serious challenge in 2008 with the right riders. And remember, The Qatari Endurance Racing Team are rumoured to be running Yamahas in a 2-bike team for 2008.

IDEAS UPDATE - How about Sebastien Charpentier?? Ok, so at the moment he's apparently going to be doing PR for Andrew Pitt and Johnny Rea...but he's damned fast and that's a bit of a waste.

This was the proposed 2008 World Endurance calendar:-
April 19th and 20th - Le Mans - France (24H)
May 11th  - Albacete - Spain (6H)
June 22nd - Estoril - Portugal (6H) TBC
July 27th - Suzuka - Japan (8H)
August 9th and 10th - Oschersleben - Germany (24H) 8H
September 20th and 21st - Bol d’Or - France (24H)
November 8th - Losail - Qatar (8H)

No official press release but it's looking confirmed that the fantastic Oschersleben 24 hour race has been emasculated and is now a mere 8 hours long...a bit like a Sunday ride-out. To make things worse, the proposed Portuguese race at Estoril is now posted as tbc (to be confirmed) - the first thing you do to an event on a calendar if you're thinking of pulling out.

And it's all down to no promoter for the year. Again.

Latest other rumours:
We may once again have to play the "WHERE'S WOKKA" game...sources say that Warwick Nowland may not be competing this year...
Sebastien Scarnato, though, looks to be riding an MV Agusta - in a team run by someone called Montoya?
QERT might be looking at running Yamahas in 2008....TWO of them...

Great news from Horst Saiger - it's confirmed that he will be riding with the Swiss Bolliger Kawasaki team for 2008 and the team are eagerly awaiting their new Kawasaki ZX10R's and hoping to be out testing in Cartagena, Spain in the middle of January.

Meanwhile...have you ever wondered what happens to last years' machinery? Ok, they crush the GP bikes...and the WSB bikes get bought up immediately by the non-factory WSB teams...as for the best World Endurance machines, the one type of bike which, above all others, is tailor-made for ruling the streets...

...they are available for you and I to buy.

The 2007 Bolliger Kawasakis are now available for sale (in full race trim, as raced in World Endurance). There are three available, each at at £10, 950. Tell me where else you can get such a beautiful piece of engineering for even four times as much.

For more information, contact the Bolliger Kawasaki Team HERE