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   TEAMS 
SERT - SERTLIVE
YAMAHA AUSTRIA
PHASE ONE
BOLLIGer
TEAM SUZUKI SWEDEN
DIABLO666
No Limits
ENDURANCE MOTO 45
zone rouge
AMADEUS X - One
KAWASAKI FRANCE
ENDURANCE MOTO 38
PRIMO RED FOX RACING
RAFFIN MOTOS
GENOUS TEAM
ABG PERFORMANCE
EWC EUROSPORT BENELUX
MACO MOTO RACING
RMT21 RACING
MICHELIN POWER ONE

OTHER TEAMS
FOLCH ENDURANCE
DUCATEAM
JET ENDURANCE
Police NATIONALE
TEAM MARCHETTI
Bergmann & Söhne
TEAM GMT94
TEAM DELETANG
HONDA DAP 91
TEAM ALFS RACING
Burger King lust MV
TEAM OCTOPUSS
TEAM 3A RACING
TEAM 18 Sapeurs Pompiers
DUCATI ZONE ROUGE 18
RAC41
TEAM POWER BIKE
SUZUKI AUSTRIA
CLASSIC MOTOS RACING
FAGERSJO-EL.SE
SRK SUZUKI
SRU RACING SANGERHAUSEN
XZ TRACK RACING
INNODROM RACING
Les PISTONS FLINGUEURS
TEAM METISS


RESULTS    
        2000
LE-MANS
SPA
        2001
LE-MANS
BRANDS HATCH
BRNO
NURBURGRING
SPA
SUZUKA
OSCHERSLEBEN
BOL D'OR & Final Results

        2002
LE MANS
IMOLA     
SILVERSTONE
BRNO
SUZUKA
OSCHERSLEBEN
BOL D'OR
VALLELUNGA
MACAU GP

     2007
LE MANS
ALBACETE
BARCELONA
SUZUKA
OSCHERSLEBEN
BOLDOR
DOHA
MACAU GP

     2008
WEC ENTRY LIST
DAYTONA 300
DAYTONA 200
LE MANS
ALBACETE
SUZUKA
OSCHERSLEBEN
BOLDOR
DOHA
MACAU GP

     2009
WEC ENTRY LIST
LE MANS
OSCHERSLEBEN
ALBACETE
SUZUKA
BOLDOR
DOHA
MACAU GP

WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP 2005 ROUND ONE

ASSEN

Even before the start of the race there was drama. Andi Notman, who opened everyone’s eyes when he posted the fastest time in qualifying for the Yamaha Phase One No.3 Team, crashed on the fastest corner of the track, losing the front of the bike and falling on his hip…he came back limping but still fired up to race – but Damian Cudlin would start the race for the team.

At the start it was pole-sitter Vincent Philippe who got away in front, followed by Gwen Giabbani on the Yamaha Austria No.7 with the Bridgestone Bikers Profi No.5 away in 3rd.
Last year there was a big threat from the local Pajic Kawasaki team but this time they made their mark in a different way, rider Rene Winkel seeming to touch the back of the Bolliger Kawasaki No.8 while pulling away at the start and crashing on the grass directly opposite his starting position and right in front of the packed grandstand…so at least he did a “width”…

As they all passed the stands after the first lap, the Castrol Suzuki No.2 had already pulled a lead of over a second on Giabbani and the Yamaha Austria machine, the Phase One No.3 were up to 3rd, Damian Cudlin showing great early aggression, in 4th it was the Bridgestone Bikers No.5, the Phase One junior team, Shell Endurance Academy No.6 in 5th and the RMT21 Kawasaki in 6th.

2nd place qualifiers Suzuki Nederland No.19 couldn’t get their engine fired up at the start and had a dreadful start and rider Barry “Bazza” Veneman worked very hard over the next couple of laps, getting back into the top ten by lap 4 but by this time he was 15 seconds away from the leading Castrol Suzuki, Philippe pulling a second a lap over the rest of the field. The No.19 was very fast on track but would suffer from their lack of experience with pit stops and would always rejoin from the pits a long way down…but they’d always fight back up.

Lap 12 and the No.2 bike was over 10 seconds in the lead. Giabbani wasn’t too worried at this point but events were to severely hurt Yamaha Austria’s chances in Assen. With the No.7 in second place and the sister machine, the No.77 now in a comfortable 4th behind the Bolliger No.8 Kawasaki which had moved up to 3rd, rider Jerome Bard on the Moto & Co. Performance Suzuki No.134 crashed at the final corner with the bike ending up in the middle of the track – the oil flags came out followed by the safety cars…and Giabbani got caught behind the 2nd of the pace cars, which meant he would lose an extra half a lap to the Castrol Suzuki.
(Gwen told me that he was THIS close to blowing past the pace car, he was so angry…but just in time he thought of what a black flag would do to the teams’ chances for the rest of the season…).

Lap 18 and the pace cars were in; we were back racing – with the gap between leaders Castrol Suzuki and the No.7 Yamaha Austria bike now up to 45 seconds. The No.19 Suzuki Nederland bike had by now pushed through the pack and was only one second adrift of 2nd place with Thomas Hinterreiter on the second Yamaha Austria bike, the No.77 in a battle with The Bolliger No.8 Kawasaki over 3rd and 4th.

Then, once again, lady luck turned up her nose at Yamaha Austria’s Gwen Giabbani – the No.20 Projecteam Honda, being ridden by Irishman Roger Maher high-sided just in front of him and Gwen came down while trying to avoid the spinning Honda. Both bikes got back to the pits and re-started but repairs would cost the No.7 bike 5 laps and the premier Yamaha Austria bike was out of the top ten.

The next big change was the weather – it had been overcast all morning and at just after 3pm, after one and a quarter hours of racing, the rain started. At first it was light drops and nobody was sure if it would get any heavier…at their pit stop, Yamaha Austria changed to intermediate tyres…when the Castrol Suzuki came in shortly after, team boss Dominique Meiland made the decision to got to full wet tyres…an inspired choice as the rain just got heavier, catching out many teams who where tip-toeing around in the wet with slick tyres. Castrol Suzuki’s gamble paid off, although not as well as they’d planned, as the rain tyre’s compound was a little too hard and both riders had to work hard on their relays.

The spate of crashes because of the wet track would hurt the chances of quite a few teams, with Horst Saiger on the second Yamaha Austria bike, the No.77 crashing hard enough to put the No.77 out of the race…Horst had a badly skinned elbow but was otherwise OK.

With the Castrol Suzuki No.2 still leading, positions behind them had changed radically, with the Kawasakis of Bolliger and Diablo666 doing best in the wet conditions, holding 2nd and 3rd, with the Phase One senior and junior teams in 4th and 5th and the No.10 Ducati Team Spring’s 999 in 6th. Suzuki Nederland had dropped to 10th place but the Nik Carlberg’s Swedish Suzuki Fagersjo-El.Se No.12 (with a brand-new, un-ridden, untested, bog-standard GSXR1000) was picking off places and was now up to 8th place.

Lap 77 and the Castrol Suzuki now led by 2 laps, Bolliger No.8 in 2nd, just over one minute ahead of 3rd placed Diablo 666 Kawasaki, then the Phase One No.3, Shell Endurance No.6, Fagersjo-El.Se Suzuki No.12 up to 7th, in front of the Ducati Spring No.10. The Yamaha Austria No.7 was still charging hard, Giabbani fastest in the wet by over 4 seconds and clawing his way back up the rankings – still out of the top ten but now up to 14th place.

By lap 98 they had rocketed up the order and had passed the Fagersjo-El No.12 to go 7th, just behind the Suzuki Nederland No.19 which spent the entire race see-sawing up and down the standings, mainly because of their painfully slow pit stops. Without endurance equipment, changing wheels and refuelling took aeons.

Lap 106 and Ben Wylie on the Shell Endurance Academy No.6 Suzuki in 5th place had a case of brain-fade…he came into the pits with a misted visor. The team lit a rocket under him and he was straight back out but the fight for 5th was a tight one and the team lost two places immediately – and they wouldn’t be able to get those places back. Ben has learned a valuable lesson.
Suzuki Nederland had once again got into a good position and were once again to lose it…they were in 4th but would have to come in for fuel a few laps from the end of the race…they’d rejoin…in 9th.

The Castrol Suzuki No.2 with Vincent Philippe and Keiichi Kitagawa had led from start to finish, Philippe posting the fastest lap of the race and even though Kitagawa was called in 3 laps from the end for a precautionary “splash-and-dash”, the team were under no threat, holding a two lap advantage. Poor old Suzuki Nederland suffered the indignity of a stop-and-go penalty near the end…rules have changed this year and now the maximum pit-lane speed is only 6okph…and they dropped a further place, finishing 10th behind the RMT Kawasaki No.21.

After the race finished, Kitagawa was “awarded” a one-minute penalty for passing under a yellow flag…but it made no difference to the result.

Just like another Rocky movie…Rocky wins.

SUZUKI GOING FOR ALL FIVE WINS
Suzuki's Endurance Racing Team will start their assault on the 2005 World Endurance Championship at Assen in Holland on Easter Monday as one of the favourites in the hunt for the title.
The SERT Suzuki Castrol team of Vincent Philippe and new team member Keiichi Kitagawa have one goal. And that's to win the five-round series.

Said Kitagawa: "I really want to win the championship and especially Suzuka this year and I know we can do it. It's very important for both me and Suzuki to win; important for me because I have never won the 8 Hour, and important for Suzuki because it's the 20th anniversary of the GSX-R this year."
Talking about the new 2005 GSX-R1000K5 Suzuki, Vincent said: "The biggest differences are in the engine; there's more power and it's easier to control. This year we have enough power; not too much, but enough. The bike is also shorter, but that's not a good change for me. I had no confidence in the front end to start with - and we've only had three days of testing before this race - but we will see how it goes when qualifying starts. I think it will be easier for me this year because I have a very good team mate. Keiichi and I are on the same level."

Kitagawa added: "Doing two races with Suzuki Castrol last year made me think about doing the full World Endurance Championship and here I am. The team is very French - the conversations and the cooking - so you could say I am having difficulties, but having fun! It's easy working with Vincent. We use nearly the same set-up for the bike; I am more experienced, so I am perhaps more relaxed about settings and can ride around the small differences between our set-ups."

The Assen 500km race is run on the shorter version of the famous Dutch TT Circuit, with competitors having to complete 129 laps of the track and two compulsory rider change and refuelling pitstops.
Practice and Qualifying starts today, Saturday. Easter Sunday is a day of rest and exhibitions, and the race takes place on Easter Monday supported by National and European races plus the Dutch Stunt Championship. The usual endurance attractions and sideshows will keep the crowds entertained and there will be a pit-walk before the start of the race.

Suzuki Castrol's main rivals include Yamaha Austria, who have recruited consistent podium finisher Gwen Giabbani and Yamaha Phase One Endurance, who have recruited World Superbike rider Warwick Nowland.
Italian Team X-One has switched from Benelli to Yamaha, while Team 76 has switched from Yamaha to Suzuki Austria Team 76 on a GSX-R1000K5. Aprilia makes a welcome return to the championship, bringing the number of manufacturers represented in the championship to seven.

Thirty four teams will start the race at Assen, with competitors drawn from 18 countries.

Team Suzuki Press Office - March 26th 2005

Suzuki's 2005-model GSX-R1000 dominated qualifying for Monday's Assen 500 opening round of the World Endurance Championship with Suzuki Castrol's Vincent Philippe recording a time almost two seconds faster than the second rider in his group and team mate Keiichi Kitagawa 1.6 seconds clear in his group after the first session.
Second place went to Team Suzuki Nederland, with Barry Veneman putting in a time over a second quicker than the next fastest rider in his team.
Said Philippe: "I could have gone a little faster in the second session, but we wanted to concentrate on a race set-up. We tried different settings on two different bikes. The sensations were different but I am happy to race either one."

Yamaha Austria No.7 sent their number two rider Gwen Giabbani out with the third group to take advantage of the less-crowded track, allowing him to lap a tenth-of-a-second quicker than his team mate Igor Jerman, taking third place in the process.
Yamaha Austria No.77's Thomas Hinterreiter was fourth and Yamaha Phase One Endurance's Andi Notman fifth.

Provisional Qualifying Positions (Saturday):

1: Suzuki Castrol Team (FRA - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - V. Philippe - 1:23.566)
2: Team Suzuki Nederland ( NED - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - B. Veneman - 1:24.909)
3: Yamaha Austria 7 (AUT - Yamaha YZF-R1 - G. Giabanni - 1:25.113)
4: Yamaha Austria 77 ( AUT - Yamaha YZF-R1 - T. Hinterreiter - 1:25.640)
5: Yamaha Phase One Endurance (GBR - Yamaha YZF-R1 - A.Notman - 1:26.032 ).
6: Shell Endurance Academy (GBR - Yamaha YZF-R1 - M Rohtlaan - 1:26.924).
7: Bridgestone Bikers Profi (GER - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - T. Rothig - 1:26.973)
8: Bolliger Team Switzerland (SUI - Kawasaki ZX10R - D. Morillon - 1:27.146 )
9: Pajic Kawasaki (NED - Kawasaki ZX10R - R.Winkel - 1:27.732)
10:Diablo 666 Bolliger (GBR - Kawasaki ZX10R - S. Mizera - 1:27.810 )

DIABLO666 TESTING UPDATE
What a difference between their FIRST TEST and their LATEST TEST...

YAMAHA AUSTRIA TESTING UPDATE

Igor Jerman demonstrating how to complete an Immelmann turn and attack out of the sun while Tom Hinterreiter checks that his Blue Max is correctly seated...

16th March 2005 - YART were one of the lucky teams to have good weather conditions in Rijeka for their first and only pre- season test. On Monday Igor Jerman and Tom Hinterreiter started their first laps with the temperature at around 8 degrees. Igor was extremely fast from the first moment. Tom made his warm up with an standard R1 . After that Tom changed to the race bike which he found almost impossible to ride, with extreme chattering and a nervous chassis. After 2 days hard work and many laps we had a very comfortable bike which was easy to ride for both riders. Tom will stay another day more to make some laps with Gwen Giabbani and poor old Horst Saiger (who's suffering with influenza!).

The amazing Yamaha Austria "Bike-On-A-Stick" with Gwen Giabbani, Igor Jerman and Horst Saiger
MY TIP FOR THE 2005 WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP

PHASE ONE IN THE SUN

(This update from the Phase One website) The 3 day Almeria junior test was very successful with Ben Wylie, Calvin Hogan and Marko Rohtlaan all finishing within 2 seconds of each other. During the test Andi Notman confirmed his fitness and speed and assisted Gus Scott with the' Performance Bikes' test on one of the team's bikes. Watch out all this year for Phase One features in PB, starting in early April. New editor, Tim Thompson has vowed to put Phase One in the limelight with a major return to endurance coverage in 2005.

Warwick Nowland and Damian Cudlin both flew to the UK this week, in preparation for next week's test at Albacete. The team will take part in the Dunlop test on 17th and 18th March and travel directly to Assen from there. All senior and junior riders will be present for this final set-up opportunity. Technical preparations are also going well, in the last two weeks the team have fitted new radiators, exhaust systems, swinging arms, wheels and tanks. All aimed at improving speed, reducing weight and cutting pit-stop times. At Albacete the new impulse air gun will be trialled, its aim, to reduce the time needed to achieve the correct torque setting for the rear spindle. If successful it will reduce stop times by 1 to 2 secs.

The team will enter the Le Mans 24hr race on 16th and 17th April, but will field the junior squad only, the seniors being left to focus entirely on the world championship.

Countdown to ASSEN World Endurance - Round One
...Assen circuit as of March 2nd...bring extra socks...
Picture courtesy of Rooske in his Ohlins "ultralight"

SHELL ACADEMY (PHASE ONE JUNIORS) NEWS
So...I hope this is the real deal because I'm not going to do any more trolling around for info! :)
Marko Rohtlaan, Ben Wylie I've already profiled (if you missed it, he's on the Feb05 archive page) and Calvin Hogan are the riders for the Shell Academy Juniors this year. Calvin Hogan (19 years old) is another product of the ACU training academy in the UK.

Date of birth: 20 September 1985
Home town: Meopham, Kent
First motorcycle race: “When I was seven I started racing in motocross.”
First race win: “I won the MRO 400 Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch in 2003.”
Favourite circuit: “Cadwell Park, because it has a bit everything.”
Best racing moment: “When I raced at Brands Hatch and won. After securing pole position, I led from halfway through the race and broke the lap record.”
Favourite all-time rider: Kevin Schwantz

Career Highlights
2001:* 3rd Aprilia Superteens Championship.
2002:* Junior Superstock Championship.
2003: * Supersport MRO Championship 400, 4th overall – finished on the podium in 7 of the 11 rounds.
In 2004 he came 5th in the fiercely-competitive YoungStar (under-21's) section of the BMW Boxercup series. Here's a picture of him (No.19) just about to go underneath Michel Bursa's No.17 for the pass...and Bursa couldn't get him back.