THE RACE...

THE GERMAN RMT21 HONDA - MATTI SEIDEL AT NIGHTFALL

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
Suzuki Endurance Racing Team takes another double at the 24 Hours at Le Mans. After last year’s victory, the Suzuki 2 ridden by William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Barry Veneman took another victory at the first event of the 2008 FIM Qtel Endurance World Championship, with a gap of eleven laps ahead of the Suzuki 1 of Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa. After tackling three consecutive world titles, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team already put an option on the 2008 crown.

Yamaha Acropolis Moto Expert ends up in a well-deserved third position, considering the changing and difficult conditions of the race. The rain came several times to complicate the team’s planning, but Acropolis Moto Expert managed to get through all the hazard, although they lost their second position consecutively to a small crash. However, Christophe Billot, team manager of the 99, still feels sorry for some wrong strategic decisions. “We should have stayed in second position”, he said, “but due to our lack of experience we did not take the most appropriate decisions in terms of tyre and riding management. But the main point is that we proved the potential of all our team. We now feel like entering the whole championship”. Towards the end of the race, Grégory Fastré, Gregory Leblanc and Anthony Dos Santos on the Yamaha Acropolis Moto Expert had to resist to the Suzuki Infini Yohann Moto Sport of brothers Cédric and Jérôme Tangre, and Christophe Michel.

Suzuki also takes victory in the Superstock class. The Suzuki Junior Team LMS (Emeric Jonchière, Kenny Foray and Luca de Carolis) ends in fifth place overall. In the eight position, the Qatar Endurance Racing Team IJT (Mashel Al Naimi, Rashid Al Mannai and Anthony Delhalle) finished second in the Superstock class. Third on that podium is the Yamaha LTG 57, in fifteenth position overall. All those teams are competing for the 2008 FIM World Cup.

All the permanent teams of the FIM Qtel Endurance World Championship are entering the top 20. On the Honda RMT 21, Mattei Seidel, Daniel Sutter and Tomas Miksovski finished in sixth position after a trouble-free race, except a small crash in the early morning. RMT 21 decided to race on a 2007 Honda rather than on the 2008 model, which could not have been prepared on time. RMT 21 ended two laps ahead of the Kawasaki Bolliger Swizterland of David Morillon, Eric Mizera and Horst Saiger, delayed by several small mechanical incidents. In ninth position, the Suzuki RT Racing Moto Virus of Jean-Louis Devoyon, Frédéric Jond and Raphaël Chevre also had many small problems.

The Suzuki AM Moto Racing of Sullivan Hernandez, Pierre Guersillon and Fabrice Auger ended in tenth position after a fantastic beginning of the race under the rain. Towards the end of the race, a trio of Yamaha was fighting for eleventh position. YMES Folch Endurance, Phase One Endurance and Endurance Moto 38, all delayed by several crashes, finished the race in that respective order.

This 31st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was particularly difficult due to bad weather and changing conditions on the track. It started from the beginning of the race with the premature retirement of many of the favourite teams. It was first the Honda National Motos. The gearbox gave up after only one lap on the track. National Motos had to face serial bad luck as their second bike, in the Superstock class, crashed and had to retire. Another drama happened after only eleven minutes of race, with the high-speed crash of Julian Mazuecos in the Dunlop curve. As he was leading the race on the Kawasaki France, the Spanish rider was taken by surprise by the rain, after the race had started on a dry track.

Then, around 5:15 pm, as the Yamaha France GMT 94 had taken the lead, Sébastien Gimbert had to leave his Yamaha on the side of the track after the clutch broke down. (There was a big hole in the casing where the disintegrated clutch rotor had punched through - the team could have changed the clutch but there was a load of metal pieces in the bottom of the engine and a huge motor blow-up would have been inevitable if they had continued to race). The SERT route to victory was not an easy one, besides the fact that many of the most performing teams had to drop out. The Suzuki 1, leader since the early race, was close to loose everything after Julian da Costa crashed at 3 am. Amongst the long list of retirements are Yamaha Maco Moto Racing and Yamaha Austria Racing Team, following mechanical breakdown. Midi Pyrénées MV Agusta Racing had to retire after a crash. At BMW Motorrad, the machine nr.17 broke down and the 71 crossed the finish line after the required time.

STARTING GRID - RACE RESULTS - RACE PROGRESSION

The next FIM Qtel Endurance World Championship event will take place the 10th of May, in Spain, for the 6 Hours of Albacete.

STEPHANE MERTENS BACK AFTER SERIOUS INJURY

STEPHANE MERTENS PRESS RELEASE:
This race was the culmination of the challenge that I set myself after my accident on April 4, 2007. Despite the abandonment of my team at 01:30 in the morning with a technical problem, I can say that the challenge is successful. I was again in good physical shape and a coup at the helm.  I thank everyone who supported me, encouraged and supported throughout this revalidation. The next new episode at 8 am .. to Oschersleben on 9 August. To learn about my race and find photos visit my site www.stephanemertens.com

I bet that press release was courtesy of freetranslation.com!

DAMIAN 'DAMO' CUDLIN PRESS RELEASE:
Despite having a podium finish at the Le Mans 24 Hour race well within his grasp, Taree´s Damian Cudlin has finished 12th in the World Championship opener, after suffering serious set backs in the race on the weekend. Teamed with British riders James Haydon and James McBride, the young Aussie, who announced his return to Phase One Yamaha only weeks before the event, made a stunning start in France, wrestling his R1 to 5th in the opening hours tricky conditions.

By the 4th hour the Team had stormed to 3rd place behind the two Factory Suzuki´s and fought off it's attackers well into the night for the next 8 hours. The constant bursts of rain causing wet then drying conditions played into the hands of the Phase One Team and thoughts of a podium finish in arguably the toughest road race in the world soon filled the minds of riders and team members a like. But they were to be short lived when an engine noise forced the team to inspect the damage with a costly pit Stop, losing 5laps in the process.

Still in the hunt, the team pressed on back to 5th before Haydon fell heavily after being collided by another rider. The crash would end all hopes of a rostrum finish as the team were forced to watch 20 painful minutes pass in the substantial repair. "We had all put in such a big effort until that point and we really still had the chance to be on the box at Le Mans. When I came back from the shower ready for my rota and saw the bike I was just gutted. 13 hours of racing had just gone down the drain. It's like getting to the halfway point of a marathon before someone tells you that you´ve been running the wrong way. It's pretty hard to take.“

Unhurt in his fall, Haydon alongside Cudlin continued to fight back through the night, until the rain fell heavier providing McBride with his favourite conditions to shine. Lapping faster than anyone on the circuit for up to an hour, McBride made huge time in his stint, but would eventually also suffer a minor fall causing another lengthy delay. Not giving up, Cudlin pressed on back to back with Haydon as the pair drove the team back in the points with a 12th place finish at the flag. "It's easy to see it's not the result we wanted here this weekend but it really showed the fighting spirit of the Phase One Yamaha Team. Just finishing one of these races is an achievement for any team and to know that we almost got on the podium this time round makes me proud of these guys. We never gave up, even right to the very end and considering the dramas we had 12th was a bloody good result.“

Cudlin will team with Haydon again at the next round of the World Endurance Championship at Albacete in Spain next month.

BMW PRESS RELEASE:
TEAM BMW MOTORRAD MOTORSPORT SUFFERS CRUEL LUCK AT LE MANS.
After a weekend of problems due to the varying weather conditions, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s trio of Richard Cooper, José Luis Nion and Brian Parriott were heading for a hard-fought for top fifteen finish, until a last lap drama ruled them out. On the very last lap of the 24-hour marathon, Richard was riding smoothly and cruising to the finish, when his bike suddenly suffered a loss of power at the end of the pit straight. He managed to keep it going until La Chapelle, where the marshals told him that he had five minutes to get it across the finish line in order to post a result. He got a bit of a tow from another rider and then began the long, hard push two hundred or so metres from the finish line. But instead of being allowed to cross the finish line, he was directed into the pit-lane by a group of marshals because he was adjudged to be outside the five minute limit! Because of that, he and his team mates were not classified as finishers in the results.
BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s other team (Sébastien Le Grelle, Stéphane Mertens and Rico Penzkofer) had suffered misfortune just before half race distance. They were on course for a tremendous top ten finish, when the bike suffered a dramatic loss of power. Stéphane Mertens felt the bike slow on the front straight, so pulled the bike off the track just before the Dunlop bridge. Before long, one the team’s mechanics appeared and together they tried to restart the bike. But, on hearing a strange noise, they decided that, in the interests of safety, it would be better not to continue. But before both dramas, the team had more than proved their capability and, if things had gone smoothly, one of both bikes would’ve been in the top ten at the end for sure.
Once again, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team took first and second places in the Le Mans 24 hours. Last year’s race winners - Suzuki no 2 ridden by William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Dutchman Barry Veneman - won this year’s race, eleven laps ahead of Suzuki no 1 of Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa, with the Yamaha Acropolis Motor Expert trio of Grégory Fastre, Grégory Leblanc and Anthony Dos Santos third.

Bike no 71
Richard Cooper
"All weekend the bike has never skipped a beat and even riding in rain when it was dark was not a problem. In fact, I really got on with it and didn’t have any dramas or ‘moments’ at all. All weekend, we were chasing a top 15 place and, up until the last lap, I think we were achieving our goals. Our highest placing was 14th, but that felt comfortable and we believed we could hold on to that OK. After Brian’s crash we lost well over four laps, but our team worked hard to get us back on the track quickly and gave us the chance to regain our position. The bike worked very well and we had a good set-up - for rain or dry - and all three of us were running pretty consistent lap times and we had an idea of what we could achieve. The end was a disaster and although I tried my best to get the bike back in time, I couldn’t because the distance was too great. I am absolutely gutted and even though my body should be full of aches and pains I just feel numb at the moment."
Jose Luis Nion
"I feel disappointed and sad for the whole team who have worked so hard these past days. All the effort they’ve put in has come to nothing and that’s hard to take. The bike worked really well and was problem-free (apart from Brian’s small crash), until the last lap. Today, we just didn’t get any luck, but racing is like that sometimes and we have to get over it and start thinking and working towards the next race."
Brian Parriott
"I crashed in the pouring rain, when the back suddenly came round without warning. I hadn’t been going particularly fast or giving it too much gas - it just happened. Because of the soaking conditions, I ended up sliding a long way and ended up in the dirt and mud. I went to the bike, picked up and restarted it OK and rode it back to the pits so that my mechanics could get to work repairing the damage. My leathers were so badly covered in mud, that rest of the mechanics asked me if I had been doing a bit of mud-wrestling! We lost about fifteen minutes because of the crash, but the guys worked really well and got us back on track superfast. We then started regaining positions and were doing really good until the last lap drama."

Bike 17
Stéphane Mertens
"I am disappointed for sure because we all believed that a top ten finish was a real possibility and we showed that capability in the race until the moment we had a problem. I was on the bike, when there was a sudden loss of power, so I had no choice but to pull off the track. I tried to restart it, but I heard a bit of a noise. Then, one of mechanics arrived and we tried to restart it again but, when the noise happened again, we thought it would be better (and safer) if we retired. Up to then I had been comfortable and really enjoying my comeback to racing after missing last season. But this kind of upset happens sometimes, so we just have to forget about it and look to the next race."

Berti Hauser (Director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
"Is it some kind of unwritten rule that our second race of the season should end badly? Last year, our second race of the year was a bit of a disaster and this year has been exactly the same! Nevertheless, I think that we, as a team, showed the capability of the bike this weekend. Our goal was to finish in the top ten and we were in the top ten during the race, despite the ever-changing conditions. But for the dramas of the crash and then the last lap problem, I am sure we would’ve finished in the top ten and that would’ve been a great result. Although we all a bit disappointed about how things turned out, particularly with bike No 71 at the end, we are not complaining because the rules are the rules. If things had worked out differently this weekend, we would’ve finished with one bike in the top ten and the other in the top fifteen. However, racing can be cruel sometimes and today we all suffered. We’re not going to dwell on what happened in Le Mans, because we’re going to start looking forward immediately to our next race and doing everything to get a pair of good results."

DIABLO 666 PRESS RELEASE:
Diablo 666 have raced at the Le Mans 24hrs before and have never finished this event in the points. In 2006 gearbox problems forced the Team to stop, last year early crashes put the Diablo bike too far down the order to score Championship points. Race positions were constantly changing during the race with every set of pit stops and nerves began to show in the pits as bikes behind us began to catch us rapidly. With six hours to go, the track has dried to the point where there is now a dry line. Diablo 666 had been holding 13th but were passed by the Phase 1 Yamaha, being ridden by James Haydon at a rapid speed of knots, some 14 seconds a lap faster.

The sky though has been full of rain clouds so there was no telling when rain would lash down again. However with three hours to go the weather dealt its final hand and the circuit was bathed in brilliant warm sunshine, well at least for an hour or so! The Diablo riders had been really struggling with the allocation of tyres and even Bolliger Kawasaki were struggling in the variable conditions and they too were way off their normal fast pace and being amongst the front runners. With these warm dry conditions though all three Diablo 666 were able to put in some fast competitive laps. With three hours to go we were locked in an epic battle with the Yamaha No. 57 bike, the Team LTG bike and as we alternated our pit stops both bikes took the lead alternately in the battle for 14th/15th place.

The No. 4 Folch Yamaha and No. 3 Phase 1 Endurance Yamaha had moved ahead and just out of range for Diablo 666 to challenge for 12th or 13th position. As the clock wound down to zero, Diablo 666 crossed the line in 14th place scoring our first ever points at this prestigious event and of course the first of the 2008 season. The Team were relieved, to say the least. Miles Hutchins Team Principle was ecstatic, “This is still only our third trip to Le Mans and our first points scoring finish. After all that effort by the whole team including our riders Michael, James and Alex, I am truly proud of everyone who contributed. To have come away with no points like last year was just not an option. Hopefully we will be more on the pace at the next round at Albacete in three weeks.

Final positions:-
1st No. 2. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team
2nd No. 1 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team
3rd No. 99 Team Acropolis Yamaha
4th No. 10 Suzuki Infinity
5th No. 21 RMT 21 Honda
6th No. 72 Suzuki Junior Team
7th No. 69 Suzuki RT Racing
8th No. 95 Suzuki Qatar Endurance Racing
9th No. 8 Bolliger Team Kawasaki
10th No. 110 Suzuki AM Moto Racing
15th No. 666 Diablo Kawasaki

STEVE PLATER PRESS RELEASE:
After leading the Le Mans 24-hour race by just under a lap, Steve Plater was disappointed to find the bike developed a clutch problem causing the team to withdraw from the event after just two hours on track. Qualifying had gone well for the Woodhall Spa racer who was part of a three man team racing for the French World Endurance Team, GMT94 Yamaha and along with David Checa and Sebastian Gimbert, Plater powered the Yamaha through to second place on the grid for the start of the 24-hour race on Saturday. The weather affected the qualifying times and also played its part during the race with sunshine and then intermittent heavy showers causing teams a headache for tyre choice.

Checa started the race for the team but stalled the engine on the starting grid and was down in 26th position at the end of the first lap. He soon recovered and made progress through the field, posting some fast lap times until the rain began to fall. He pitted for a change of tyres at the end of lap seven and handed over to Plater who was to ride for the next hour. Plater was quick to capitalise on the situation and began to move through the field, finally taking the race lead as the SERT number two bike left the track for a change of rider. As soon as he got his nose in front Plater began to pull away and was leading the race by nearly a full lap when he handed over to Gimbert who continued to extend the race lead. But disaster struck at Dunlop Bend a few laps later when the clutch exploded leaving Gimbert stranded and out of the race.

“I am so disappointed to be out of the race after just two hours. Although we had a long way to go, 22 hours, we had a commanding lead and would have been on for at least a podium finish if not the win. The whole team has put so much effort into this weekend of racing and this is a disappointing outcome for all of us. But the positive thing is that we know we can run at the front of the pack and we will determined to continue in the same vein at the Bol d’Or 24-hour race in September where we will be looking for a strong finish.”

Plater returns to action with AIM Yamaha on May 6 when he will ride the R1 Superbike in round three of the British Superbike championship.

PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team will start from pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, first event of the 2008 FIM Qtel Endurance World Championship. The average time of the three riders, which determines the position of the starting grid, put the Suzuki number 1 of Matthieu Lagrive, Vincent Philippe and Julien da Costa ahead of the Yamaha GMT 94 by less than half a second. Like yesterday during the first qualifying session, the team Kawasaki France took third position, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 2 being fourth. Several teams did improve their qualifying time during the second session, as a wet track at the beginning of practice started to dry towards the end. Only Suzuki number 1 rider to improve his own individual lap time, Matthieu Lagrive now hold the best one in 1’38.313. Lagrive, however, remains cool: “It is easy to do a fast lap with a qualifying tyre, but it will be harder tomorrow on race tyres”.

David Checa, on the Yamaha GMT 94, second on the starting grid, also improved his own lap time this morning. The official French team is rather confident and proud of the psychological advantage taken over the team Kawasaki France, third on the starting grid after a significant improvement of Julian Mazuecos times. Kawasaki France stays ahead the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 2 by a slight margin. The second official Suzuki also improved their average lap time, with Guillaume Dietrich and Barry Veneman, latest SERT recruit, getting along with the Le Mans track.

Yamaha Austria Racing Team and Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland did well, by taking respectively fifth and sixth places on the starting grid. They relegate the Junior Team Suzuki LMS, first in the Superstock class, in the seventh position. Midi Pyrénées MV Agusta Racing did not do any better this morning and they will finally start from eight position, unlike YMES Folch Endurance, moving up to eleventh position after their riders got more familiar with the Bugatti track. Endurance Moto 45 is sixteenth and second Superstock, and is surrounded by several permanent teams in Formula EWC, such as RT Racing Moto Virus, Endurance Moto 38, Phase One Endurance, and Maco Moto Racing. Team LTG 57, third in the Superstock class, will start from the eighteenth position.

National Moto achieved a performance below expectations. The Honda team is still battling with chassis and suspensions set-up on the CBR 1000 RR and Denis Bouan crashed during the second qualifying session this morning. Engaged in Formula EWC, the Honda 55 National Moto will start from forty-fifth position, behind the Honda National Superstock. Endurance Moto 74 had also some hard time, as they have to find another rider after Damien Chêne broke his collarbone after a crash during yesterday’s qualifying session.

THE VIDEOS

THE PICTURES

Le Mans and the Bol d'Or on French TV...online

LE MANS - EUROSPORT PROVISIONAL BROADCAST TIMES

LE MANS 2008 - THE TALKING POINTS

Apart from the usual suspects who will be at the front, there are new teams who hope to be challenging the new order.

1) No.4 Folch Yamaha are possibly the biggest unknown at Le Mans this year - always one of the top teams back in their native Spain, how will they handle the notoriously physical and sometimes very slippery French track...

2) No.31 Motors TV MV Agusta, with endurance veterans Scarnato, Piot and Monge, the question will be asked if the MV marque will be strong enough to last the distance...

3) No.98 Ducati Endurance is back again, although this time as one of the four Open-class machines - and once again, can it last against it's opponents in the same class, BMW...

Then there is the introduction of E10 fuel. The entire refuelling system for all of the pit boxes has been changed to handle this fuel, with it's 10% ethanol content, as the ethanol, being a solvent, can destroy rubber seals. Many teams have expressed reservations, to put it mildly, about not only the effects of this fuel on the rubber, plastic, glass-fibre and carbon-fibre components, but also the ethical considerations now raised by various media outlets around the world.

And - finally - the movements and transfers of high-profile riders between high-profile teams so close to the start of the season. Even now (as of 16th April), the official entry list still has an X for one of the riders presumed to have moved to the Slovakian Maco Moto team. Even though there are other riders scheduled into the team, there is massive speculation that two Americans, the returning Jason Pridmore and Le Mans newcomer Dave Stanton have been tempted from the 3-times World Champions No.3 Phase One Yamaha (now replaced by James Haydon and Stephane Duterne) i a big money deal. In fact, Maco Moto rider Thomas Mikovsky appears TWICE in the official Entry List, for both Maco Moto and the German RMT21 team!

Add to this mix the fact that another World Champion Stephane Mertens is back after over a year off because of severe pelvic injuries, Steve Plater riding with the French former champions GMT94, still carrying a large number of bruises from a Brands Hatch practice crash two weeks before Le Mans...and that Matthieu Lagrive, Vincent Philippe and Julian Da Costa STILL presume that everything will happen behind them and they will win yet another 24 hour race...it's going to be another cracking race!

ALL 24 hours - live streaming from Eurosport HERE ...and live on French TV HERE ...OFFICIAL SITE AND LIVE TIMING HERE

BRITISH 3 Times World Champions PHASE ONE COME OUT FIGHTING

PHASE ONE FINAL LE MANS RIDER LINEUP: Damian Cudlin - James Hayden - Stephane Duterne (he jumped ship...and in came JAMES McBRIDE)

Firstly, welcome back to what will undoubtedly be a great season.

Straight away I want to thank our returning sponsors, our new sponsors and all who support the team with effort, finance or products. Together, 2008, our 24th season, is going to be very good indeed!

The new rider line-up is truly fantastic with a great balance of speed and experience. Long term team rider Damian Cudlin is back after a year off with Yamaha Austria, super fast James Haydon joins us in endurance for the first time, fresh from his GP, BSB and WSB duties with a whole host of top teams and finally Stephane Duterne, a highly experienced endurance campaigner who finished third in the 2005 world championship with Moto-38 and was fourth man for SERT in 2007, a big welcome to you all.

With continued excellent support from both Yamaha UK, Yamaha Europe and Dunlop, there was no question about it being R1’s on Dunlops again for 2008. The bikes are based on the 2007 model but with a lot of small developments following our experiences last season. Six days of testing have been completed in Almeria, Albacete and Le Mans and all the mods have shown themselves to be effective and reliable. Four of the test days were at Dunlop’s invitation as one of their three contracted test teams for 2008. During a race simulation at Albacete, using test riders Glen Richards and Guy Martin, the team improved its two-rota time by some 28 seconds over its best 2007 two rota performance, so the package is certainly competitive.! For the record, the best time achieved was 1min 32.6 secs.(Richards)

Despite a little disruption caused by two of our originally planned riders for 08 reneging on their agreements with the team and departing in rather shabby fashion for the cash offered by a mid-field team, we have now secured a great line-up of riders who are motivated by winning.

Added to that, the pit-team is amongst the best ever. Most of the 2008 key team members are seasoned hands, having spent a number of years gaining race experience within the team. Lead mechanics for 2008 will be Craig Reilly, James Walker, Phill Haynes and Bill Bailey. Tyres will be handled by Adrian Retallack, Ben Nahum, Simon Scott and Tim Smith, fuelling by Mark Phillips and Mike Wain, timekeeping by Lida VanHam, Dougie Mac, Sid Horman and Dave Martin and admin by Lida Van Ham. The QM will again be Mark (foggy) Gerrard, the go-for is Andy Stratford and John Brett Phillips is the electrician. In addition, the three or four ‘newbies’ will, I am sure, contribute significantly and gain a wealth of experience as they go throughout the year.

The season ahead holds some great challenges; we do the TT for the first time, with James Mc Bride and Jimmy Moore, following a direct invitation from the Isle of Man tourist board. We do the classic Bol d’Or with the 1978 P&M Kawasaki, courtesy of C&K. We do the Goodwood festival of speed for the second time after the Earl of March requested us to demonstrate pitstops on the hill and Mitsubishi have requested us to do a wheel change demonstration and competition at the three counties show near Worcester in June. So there is a lot on, but the main aim is to win what we are good at; the World Endurance Championship.

Thanks to all team members for their commitment to this years campaign.

LE MANS RAMPS UP FOR 2008

The 31st Le Mans 24 Hours for Motorcycles is the first of the 6 rounds of the QTEL Endurance World Championship and boasts numerous innovations. To begin with, the exclusive use of the E10 fuel with 10% ethanol; it is an innovation in keeping with the ecological preoccupations of all the people involved in motor bike racing and fulfils everybody’s expectations. The categories have been redefined in the technical regulations and the Superbike class no longer exists. Now the top category is the Formula EWC derived from the former Superproduction, and the only one counting for the Endurance World Championship. The Superstock category has been retained and will be rewarded by a World Cup. The Open category is still on the programme to enable motorbikes to race outside the championship.

The chief innovation on the Bugatti circuit is the Garage Vert corner. It has undergone a major revamp to improve safety for the riders and give the spectators a better view. It has been moved and redesigned without its layout being changed. The result? The Bugatti circuit has increased in length by a few metres and now measures 4,185 kms.

As in 2007, the field consist of the best in the world of endurance: 18 of the 20 permanent teams in the 2008 Endurance World Championship have entered. In total there are more entries than grid places, as proved by the attached list of requests. The ACO received 63 entry forms for practice on 17th/18th April, but only 56 bikes will be allowed to start on Saturday 19th April at 15h00.
Among them are 34 Formula EWCs, 25 Superstocks and 4 Open bikes. The French teams are the most numerous (22 in EWC and Supersport and 2 in the Open category). The team to beat in EWC will be the SERT outfit (Suzuki GSX-R 1000) 1st and 2nd in 2007 and the reigning world champions. Their rider line-up is the same: Philippe/Lagrive/Da Costa on no. 1 and Costes/Dietrich/Neukirchner on no.2.

Suzuki and Yamaha will be on an equal footing numerically speaking although the bikes will be shared out differently between EWC and Superstock: 12 and 9 for Suzuki and 14 and 7 for Yamaha respectively including GMT 94 (winner in 2005) in EWC. Kawasaki will have 5 bikes in EWC (including one for Kawasaki France entrusted to the rapid trio Giabbani/Mazuecos/Nigon with Tiberio in reserve) and 5 in Superstock. Honda has entered 2 bikes in EWC (including the National Moto Team victorious in 2006) and 4 in Superstock. There is also a single MV Augusta that will race in the full 2008 Endurance World Championship in EWC, plus a Ducati and a Metiss in Open, without forgetting the 2 works flat-twin BMWs that are out to do much better than in 2007.

Finally, the French Honda Cup (reserved for Honda 600 CBRRs) and the race for the Grand Prix golden oldies, the ICGP Series reserved for Yamaha type motorbikes TZ 250 and 350 ccs from 1974 to 1984, will be the curtain raisers to the 24 Hours for Motorcycles.

RACE SCHEDULE:

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE Nº1

The Qtel World Endurance Championship is starting in less than a month with the traditional 24 Hours of Le Mans, in France. This will be the opening of a six races season, lasting from 6 to 24 Hours, in Europe, Japan and Qatar.

Twenty permanent teams will compete to get the highly disputed Qtel Endurance World Championship award in the Formula EWC class, but this year also in the Stocksport World Cup. Amongst all permanent teams, five of them will be the most serious contenders.

2007 World Champion Suzuki Endurance Racing Team is a natural favourite but, as usual in Le Mans, the race might bring its fair share of action and drama. Many teams have put their name on the Bugatti racetrack hall of fame, like Yamaha GMT-94, Kawasaki France or Honda National Motos.

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team is back this year with the same winning team : Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa will be riding the number 1 motorcycle. As usual, a second machine will be entered in Le Mans, ridden by 2007 winners Guillaume Dietrich and William Costes.

Kawasaki France, third at the 2007 24 Hours, is only coming for victory with the new ZX-10 R and a trio of experienced riders: Gwen Giabbani, Julian Mazuecos and Erwan Nigon. The same applies to the GMT 94 team, who recruited Steve Plater to assist the 2005 winners, Sébastien Gimbert and David Checa.

Another top team is Yamaha Austria Racing Team, third of the 2007 Championship. The Austrian team comes with a new line-up. Steve Martin and 2006 Le Mans winner Olivier Four will assist Igor Jerman, long-time pillar of the team. Cyril Brivet and Julien Millet will welcome a new teammate, Hervé Gantner, on the Yamaha Endurance Moto 38. The Endurance Moto team grew up during the winter: they have now a second Yamaha in EWC, named Endurance Moto 74, which will be ridden by Damien Chene, Stéphane Kokes and Jonathan Castanet.

Following Warwick Nowland’s move to Maco Moto Racing Team, Phase One Endurance comes with a new Australian-American team, Jason Pridmore, Damian Cudlin and Dave Staton. Bolliger Team Switzerland apparently prefers stability, as they keep long time riders Patric Muff, David Morillon and Horst Saiger. Same for Kawasaki Diablo 666 Bolliger, with James Hutchins and Alexander Cudlin, accompanied by former BSB rider Gary Mason.

The Qatar Endurance Racing Team IJT (International Junior Team) will run this season in the Supertock class, with the technical support of the Suzuki Junior Team. Qatari Mashel and Sultan Al-Naimi, and French Anthony Delhalle will be the riders. Running for the Superstock World Cup, the QERT will have to battle with Team LTG 57, best 2007 Superstock, Endurance Moto 45, ABG Performance and newcomers Runner Bike, an Italian team on Kawasaki.

Amongst the new 2008 permanent teams is the Spanish team Yamaha Folch Endurance, regular podium settlers of their home race, in Albacete. With experienced riders such as Dani Ribalta and Pedro Lluis Valcaneras Flores, Yamaha Folch Endurance could fight at the top level.

Midi Pyrénées Racing MV Agusta is also entering as a permanent team, and they will be the only team riding an European machine. They will have the support of the Italian factory and experienced riders will ride the bike: Sébastien Scarnato, Patrick Piot and Spanish rider Josep Monge.

Serious action starts at Le Mans with the first free practice on Thursday, April 17th, followed by the first qualifying and the night practice sessions. Friday, after the second qualifying session, a starting grid made on the average time of the all the riders will give a first insight about the Endurance 2008 hierarchy.

FULL ENTRY LIST HERE