The entire team had gone in very hopeful for the race. The development department had stuck a whole series of new ideas into the Endurance-boxer and the bike had become easier to handle - and faster.

Ranked 13th after qualifying was a great result. Thomas Hinterreiter was the eighth fastest rider in the entire field but also the other riders were all within a second of each other.

Hinterreiter would be the first rider out in the Le Mans-style start and got a great start, 9th after the first lap. Hinterreiter set about consolidating his position...but then, disaster struck the factory team. An unsuspected problem with the front wheel caused Thomas to crash and, although he was unhurt, the damage was to extensive to continue and the BMW factory team were out after only 15 minutes.

There was huge disappointment throughout the team, but the team have been able to take more knowledge away from even the short time in Barcelona. The race doesn't count towards the overall points in the World Endurance Championship and has served as a test of all the new developments - and it was far better to discover the problem with the front wheel at this event, rather than in a full World Championship race.

Thomas Hinterreiter: "The training went very well. We managed a good setup. The bike is clearly better and easier to ride than in Le Mans. In the curves and under braking, we had clear advantages with our motorcycle, even though many of the four cylinder bikes are naturally faster on the straights and pulled past us. I had a fantastic start from 13th, then up to 9th position before my speed dropped a little because the heat was making the tyre feel spongy...and then it happened that with the problem of the front wheel, after which I fell. I wasn't able to bring the bike into the box, and that was the end of our race."

Markus Barth: "...we were very confident here in Barcelona. We tried many detail changes an lots of new things. In all of this, we were able to improve a few things. In the training, we needed in addition to be sure everything would be ready for the start. The competition was not also as hard as we expected. I had calculated secretly to myself a place in the top five. That the race turned out as it did, was unfortunate but we're moving on from there."

Sport Team Manager Berti Hauser: "After this shock we must now thoroughly analyze where the cause of the problem lies. It certainly wasn't any fault of the team. We had created a super base setting for the race. Thank goodness that Thomas Hinterreiter came through the crash almost unharmed. We will not hang our heads now, but rather work purposeful further and motivated prepare ourselves for the next race in Oschersleben. We obviously want to do a great job in front of our home fans. Hopefully our teams hard work will result in a little more good fortune – as we had at Le Mans."

Not so good news for the BMW team - Thomas Hinterreiter was starting for the factory BMW team but crashed without injury after only 20 minutes of the race, at the second corner after the main straight, after "something broke". The bike is being rebuilt with the intention of using the rest of the race as a test session. Tough luck, Thom...but it's great to hear that you're alright.

I'm, off to bed now - 23:30 local and there's 3 laps between leaders (260 laps) No.3 Forcimsa - Cop de Gas 1 Honda and the No.2 Folch Yamaha (Glen Richards is on that one...but they've now stopped for some reason and look like losing 2nd place to Decibels!!!...), with the Stocksport No.33 Decibels Endurance Yamaha in 3rd and being chased by the QERT Kawasaki, itself only 1 lap ahead of the other Folch Yamaha, No.8, Billy McConnell doing a great job for them. I don't know what's happened to the No.1 Suzuki Català team but they've only done 65 laps....

06:30...whatever happened to the No.2 Folch Yamaha late last night doesn't seemed to have slowed them down. Although they fell down the order just after I went to bed, they've fought back and are back up to 2nd place, 7 laps down on the No.3 Honda that still leads, chased by their team mates on the second Folch bike, the No.8 a further 2 laps down. Phil Giles, Steve Mercer and Bernard Cuzin on the Decibels stocksport No.33 are 4th, two laps behind Folch No.8 with the second Suzuki Catalá entry, the No.6 another 9 laps back. The QERT team are nowhere, down in 23rd place and trying to fight their way back into the top ten. The factory BMW hasn't turned a wheel since their early crash and it look like they have given up trying to get back on track...480laps done by the leaders - and the girls are still going, the No.22 all-female Yamaha Frigo TV team are in 46th with 58 out of 70 runners left...not sure about that figure, it depends on who is still really racing).

30 minutes to go...and the No.3 Forcimsa - Cop de Gas 1 Honda still leads- but now only by one lap over the No.2 Folch Yamaha 1 still charging, with the Stocksport No.33 Decibels Yamaha 8 laps down in third and safe, having held off the unwelcome advances of both the No.6 Suzuki Catalá 2 bike and the No.8 Folch Yamaha 2 in fourth and fifth.

RESULTS

Starting at 3pm on Saturday 7th of July, there are 73 teams entered for this huge event (which is NOT a part of the FIM World Championship). Teams entered include the highly regarded Spanish Folch Yamaha and Suzuki Catalá, along with the official Qatari team.

There's the welcome news that BMW rider Stephane Mertens is hobbling around the Barcelona paddock on a set of crutches after "my worst crash in 25 years of racing" - and he's hoping to get back racing at the Oschersleben 24 hour event, though I somehow think he's being a little over-eager on that timetable. the Factory BMW team though are firing on all cylinders and planning to extend their team to two machines for 2008, doing the 4 big 24 hour events (Le Mans, Barcelona, Oschersleben and the Bol d'Or), along with Suzuka and Daytona

Here's the provisional grid for the race - notice that the official BMW team are right up there in 13th place, Richard Cooper in as reserve rider. Phil Giles makes a welcome return with the Decibels Endurance Yamaha No.33 qualifying in 11th...but it looks like a two-horse race between Suzuki Català No.1 and Qatar Endurance Racing Team QERT No.95 on the lap times - but my money is in the Decibels team to take Stocksport honours.

I think there's an all-female Spanish team in there as well - No.22 Stocksport Yamaha Frigo TV3 has Paola Cazzola, the 2006 Stock 1000cc Spanish female champion.

1 SBK SUZUKI GSXR K7 1000 Suzuki Català 1 Sardà / Cabana / Lozano 1:48.638 1
95 SBK KAWASAKI ZX 10 R 1000  Silva / Carrasco / Almeda / Casas 1:48.835 2
3 SBK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Forcimsa - Cop de Gas 1 Tomàs / Gómez / Rivas 1:49.787 3
6 SBK SUZUKI GSXR K7 1000 Suzuki Català 2 Gómez / Gowland / Martínez 1:50.341 4
8 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 Yamaha Folch Endurance 2 McConnell / Luis / Fouloi / Vallcaneras 1:51.028 5
2 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 Yamaha Folch Endurance 1 Richards / López / Rocamora / Ullastres 1:51.450 6
11 SBK DUCATI 999R Ducati Barcelona - Floreal Comp. 1 del Amor / Rodríguez / Ramírez / Costa 1:51.516 7
90 STK SUZUKI GSX R K6 1000 UES Team Runner Bike Bellezza / Arnoldi / Cordara 1:53.033 8
4 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Promobarna Tot Moto 1 Jara / Lozano / Arqué / Valls 1:54.047 9
31 SBK MV AGUSTA F4 R Motors TV MV Agusta Marchand / Trolard / Hardt 1:54.454 10
33 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 Decibels Endurance 33 Cuzin / Gilles / Mercer 1:55.025 11
41 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 RAC41 Larose / Prigent / Dumain 1:55.459 12
17 SBK BMW R 1200 S 1200 BMW Motorrad Motorsport Hinterreiter / Penzkofer / Barth / Cooper 1:55.476 13
99 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 Guzzi Motobox Segarra Jr. / Segarra / Pitarch / Segarra 1:55.548 14
28 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 + Competició Layunta / Zucconi / Cano / Fernández 1:56.539 15
26 STK KAWASAKI ZX 10 R 1000 Delta Endurance López / Risueño / Castillejo / Gil 1:56.675 16
65 SBK DUCATI 999R Ducati Barcelona - Floreal Comp. 2 Carrau / Font / Monge 1:57.205 17
50 SBK DUCATI 1098S RPM Expert Flumotion Hervàs / Pegaz / Debus / Carazo 1:57.227 18
12 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 La flor de Vimbodi Martínez / Solà / Moreno / Cachero 1:57.264 19
75 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 Marikita Team Parra / Miró / Martínez / Mejías 1:57.324 20
5 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 BMW Scratch Motoart Racing Team San Martin / Mas / Gurri / Balaguer 1:57.718 21
88 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 Mossos d'Esquadra Garcia / Torras / Graciano / Gimenez 1:57.816 22
47 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Briefing Competició 1 Muñoz / López / Esquerra / Cerezo 1:58.184 23
29 SPS YAMAHA YZF R-6 Trafach Racing López / López / Trafach / Esparducer 1:58.454 24
9 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Promobarna Tot Moto 2 Tobar / Meroño / Saseta / Peña 1:58.648 25
7 SPS SUZUKI GSX R K6 600 Monlau Competición Carrión / Sanz / Sanz 1:58.701 26
18 SBK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 MC Gemenos Guiral / Fauque / Hedelin 1:58.759 27
52 SBK BENELLI TORNADO 3 Benelli Motos Badia Pena / Torrents / Fernández / Guinovart 1:58.892 28
63 SBK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Forcimsa - Cop de Gas 2 Llensa / Santiago / Espinosa / Torres 1:58.918 29
96 STK KAWASAKI ZX 10 R 1000 BOX 69 Racing Basolí Colomer / Sancho / Sánchez 1:59.188 30
32 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Team Sport Bike Arribas / Chetry / García / Rodríguez 1:59.290 31
69 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 KTD'N 69 Endurance Clariana / Clusellas / Martínez / Gonzalez 1:59.499 32
36 SPS YAMAHA YZF R-6 IES Castellarnau - Newcons 1 Jaen / Pocurull / Mendizabal / Ibars 1:59.603 33
49 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 Mas Moto Mas / Genescà / Mas / Llargues 1:59.674 34
34 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 Bi-Meca Racing Team Feuillee / Darré / Cheron / Dagas 1:59.726 35
42 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 RAC41 2 Marmion / Renard / Turpin 1:59.759 36
72 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Briefing Competició 2 Valls / Llorens / Villarroel / Cosialls 1:59.788 37
27 SBK BMW R 1200 S BMW Motorrad Team Busquets Busquets / Busquets / Busquets / Nión 1:59.854 38
45 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 BOX 4 DEB Hildalgo / Lopetegui / Guerrero / Yáñez 1:59.868 39
30 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 TR Torpon Racing Zúñiga / Bautista / Sances / Sais 1:59.949 40
15 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 PRA - SMS Rouzade / Chocarne / Pequignot 2:00.111 41
24 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 AECC Bruno Performance Amado / Rodríguez / Franco / Esteve 2:00.131 42
53 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 JPP Racing 1 DEB Delhommea / Lassus / Messager 2:00.143 43
23 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 Center Racing DEB Vinyoles / Espinar / Cuadra / Martin 2:00.310 44
22 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 Yamaha Frigo TV3 Rossell / Cazzola / Pezzilli / Turnsek 2:00.345 45
57 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Sprint Motos Tarrega DEB Olivé / Encuentra / Encuentra / Romero 2:00.402 46
68 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 Forcimsa - Cop de Gas 3 Armengol / Martínez / Masó 2:00.422 47
84 SBK SUZUKI GSXR K5 1000 EMPP Endurance Raskin / Cohnen / Le Grelle / Dion 2:00.517 48
10 STK DUCATI 1098S DBT-ducatistas.com Alonso / Arregi / Zarandona / Durá 2:00.740 49
37 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 IES Castellarnau - Newcons 2 Lobo / Vilana / Olmos / Pla 2:00.939 50
44 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 Team 7 Rencs Roset / Marsol / Rossinyol / Roset 2:00.975 51
51 SBK BENELLI TORNADO 3 1130 Team AST 51 Napoli / Granie / Nunnari / Bonvicini 2:01.122 52
35 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 JPP Racing 2 DEB Meslet / Aubin / Gibon 2:01.725 53
16 SBK BMW R 1200 S Quiero ser Piloto Hernández / Tibau / Segurado / López 2:01.848 54
39 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 Team Envialia Urgente Méndez / Leal / Guillamet 2:02.111 55
38 STK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 Equip Control 2000 Resistencia García / Berenguer / Castilla / Erill 2:02.169 56
21 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 AMM Equipo de Resistencia de Pablo / Ruiz P. / Ruiz M. / Ribera 2:02.328 57
13 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 Burn Out 13 Endurance Robles / García / Fernandez / Muñoz 2:02.731 58
77 SPS HONDA CBR RR 600 X-Bike Méndez / Esteve / Lara / Levy 2:03.016 59
25 STK BMW K 1200 R 1200 BMW Power Team Encenarro / Fontcubert / López 2:03.177 60
58 SPS HONDA CBR RR 600 Mas Moto 2 Sauqué / Regidor / Angeloni / Basomba 2:03.337 61
43 SPS HONDA CBR RR 600 Four Racing Team DEB Piqué / Salguero / Figuerola / Pua 2:03.628 62
40 SBK DUCATI 998S Ducati Motoclub Catalunya Laosa / Serrano / Casadevall / Cerreto 2:03.868 63
46 STK SUZUKI GSX-R 1000 Tiriti Racing Team López / Rosell / Miranda / Albeniz 2:03.870 64
71 SPS SUZUKI GSX-R 600 Monlau Competición 2 Puerto / Puerto / Cristóbal / Sánchez 2:03.961 65
48 SBK YAMAHA YZF R-1 1000 MGS Sport Olmo / Martin / Marcos / Dulcet 2:04.076 66
14 SPS HONDA CBR RR 600 RR 41 Blanquez / Sánchez / Forés / Hueso 2:04.154 67
20 SPS HONDA CBR F 600 Box-Bull Miralbés / Mercadé / Guerrero 2:04.356 68
55 SPS HONDA CBR RR 600 Motoclub Racing Banyoles Manonellas / Dellundé / Tarrats / Cornellas 2:05.160 69
97 SPS YAMAHA YZF R-6 600 DDA Racing DEB Cabrera / Amores / Pamias 2:06.801 70
59 STK HONDA CBR RR 1000 A una roda Racing Team Planas / Mercader / Rodríguez / Sancho 2:07.998 71
61 STK HONDA CBR 900 Donar Gas Sevillano / Cabello / Muñoz / Gorriz 2:10.318 72
19 SBK DUCATI 999S RED-Racing DEB Pérez / Aleixandri / Lozano
 

Click HERE for the complete entry list