BMW Motorrad France 99 in Le Mans pole position close ahead of Monster Yamaha YART and SRC Kawasaki The BMW Motorrad France 99 confirms its pole position. After the fantastic lap times clocked yesterday by Erwan Nigon and Sébastien Gimbert, the official BMW team has put the hammer down once again. Damian Cudlin improved his laptimes this morning and gave the BMW 99 a definitive pole position despite the progress of the other competitors. A second machine on Michelin, the Monster Yamaha YART, is in second place on the starting grid. On that bike too, Igor Jerman and Steve Martin did their best laptimes yesterday. Today, Loris Baz, the newcomer on the official Austrian Yamaha, managed to give its full potential and signed a great 1’37.514, second best time of the sessions. The team SRC Kawasaki, with Julien da Costa, Gregory Leblanc and Olivier Four, also made the most of the second qualifying session. After a loss of time as they suffered a crash yesterday morning during the free practice, the SRC Kawasaki moved up this morning to a third place on the grid ahead of the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone of David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team takes the fifth place on the grid with Anthony Delhalle, Daisaku Sakai and Baptiste Guittet, who improved his laps by half a second between the two sessions. BMW is also leading the Superstock class. The team Van Zon Boenig Motorsportschool Penz13 RT took the best this morning ahead of the Junior Team Suzuki LMS and the Team Motor Events Bodyguard AMT, although these two last teams suffered some crashes this morning. Highly disputed, this second qualifying session has been quite dramatic, with many riders running out of the track and several teams experiencing some engine breakdowns, leading the session to be interrupted for some time. The race start is scheduled tomorrow Saturday at 3 pm, after the very last set-ups to be confirmed with the warm-up at 10:30 am. Follow the race live on www.fim-tv.com and on Motors TV from Saturday, 2:30 pm. To follow all the practices and race results live, log onto www.fim-live.com Qualifying Results: 1. BMW MOTORRAD France 99 (GIMBERT Sébastien – 1:37.519/NIGON Erwan – 1:36.950/CUDLIN Damian – 1:38.165), BMW S1000RR, EWC, 1:37.545 2. MONSTER YAMAHA YART (JERMAN Igor – 1:38.255/MARTIN Steve – 1:38.003/BAZ Loris – 1:37.514), Yam YZF-R1, EWC, 1:37.924 3. SRC KAWASAKI (DA COSTA Julien – 1:37.984/LEBLANC Gregory – 1:38.303/FOUR Olivier – 1:38.468), Kaw ZX-10R, EWC, 1:38.252 4. YAMAHA France GMT 94 (IPON CHECA David – 1:38.477/FORAY Kenny – 1:38.618/LAGRIVE Matthieu – 1:37.834), Yam YZF-R1, EWC, 1:38.310 5. S.E.R.T. (DELHALLE Anthony – 1:38.180/SAKAI Daisaku – 1:38.803/GUITTET Baptiste – 1:40.519), Suz GSX-R1000, EWC, 1:39.167 6. MACO RACING TEAM (PRIDMORE Jason – 1:39.356/JUNOD Gregory – 1:38.833/BLACK Gregg – 1:39.330), Yam YZF-R1, EWC, 1:39.173 7. VAN ZON BOENIG MOTORSPORT (FASTRE Grégory – 1:39.271/FILLA Michal – 1:40.564/VOS Ari – 1:38.925), BMW S1000RR, SST, 1:39.587 8. NATIONAL MOTOS (DE CAROLIS Lucas – 1:39.707/JONCHIERE Emeric – 1:40.483/MASSON Etienne – 1:39.719), Hon CBR1000RR, EWC, 1:39.970 9. BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND (SAIGER Horst – 1:39.889/STAMM Roman – 1:40.492/TANGRE Jérome – 1:39.960), Kaw ZX-10R, EWC, 1:40.114 10. HONDA TT LEGENDS (McGUINNESS John – 1:40.525/AMOR Keith – 1:41.308/DONALD Cameron – 1:39.017), Hon CBR1000RR, EWC, 1:40.283 More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad France: POLE POSITION FOR TEAM BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE 99 AT LE MANS Team BMW Motorrad France 99 will start tomorrow’s 24 Heures Moto from pole position after a dominant performance that saw the BMW S1000RR at the top of the timesheet throughout practice and qualifying at Le Mans. Having posted the fastest time in Thursday morning’s free practice session, Team BMW Motorrad France 99 then went on to dominate in qualifying. Sébastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon both topped the timesheet in their respective qualifying sessions yesterday afternoon, with Nigon shattering the lap record as he hustled the BMW S1000RR around the 4.180km Bugatti circuit in a time of 1’36.950. Gimbert was again fastest this morning, in a 30-minute session that was red flagged twice due to oil on the track. Nigon opted to sit out his half hour session, but Damian Cudlin and Hugo Marchand both finished their stints top three on the timesheet. With pole awarded based on the average time of the three fastest riders, Team BMW Motorrad France proved unbeatable, securing their first pole position of the season by more than half-a-second for what is undoubtedly the most prestigious race on the EWC calendar. The 2011 24 Heures Moto gets underway at 15.00 local time on Saturday 24th September, with the race start to be broadcast live on Motors TV. Erwan Nigon: Best Lap – 1’36.590 “I pushed hard for the pole position here at Le Mans, but the same is true of everyone in the team, who’ve all worked so hard this season. It will be good to start from the front tomorrow, not just for us, but also for BMW, Michelin and all our sponsors, whose support has been so important. But while pole position is great, it’s the race that’s important. I think we will be strong tomorrow; the bike is good, the tyres are working well here and I have two very fast teammates. I am confident that, if we can avoid any problems, we will be able to fight for a good result this weekend.” Sébastien Gimbert: Best Lap – 1’37.519 “Everything worked well in qualifying yesterday, and I think it would have been possible to get a bit closer to Erwan’s time if I hadn’t been held up by a slower rider on my fastest lap. Anyway, between the three of us we did enough to secure our first pole position of the season, so I’m happy with that. As always, the race will be tough, but I’m confident that we have the bike, the tyres, the speed and the experience to challenge at the front tomorrow.” Damian Cudlin: Best Lap – 1’38.224 “Starting the biggest race of the season from pole position is already pretty special, I’ve not started from the front of the grid here before, so we’re off to a great start. But the race is the important thing and, even more important than the race is the championship, so that’s the focus for all of us. All three of us are fast and I think, on average, we have the strongest team, which is all good for the race tomorrow. Now we need to focus on what we’re doing and not get carried away. We’ve got a good package; a good team and I think this could be our year to win. Fingers crossed!” More, from a press release issued by Honda TT Legends: Honda TT Legends qualify in the top ten at Le Mans 24-hour The second and final qualifying session of the Le Mans 24-hour ended today with an impressive performance from Cameron Donald that saw the Honda TT Legends rider finish fourth in his group. The team’s combined average lap time of 1:40.283 will see them start tomorrow’s race from 10th position on the grid. Donald was the last of the Honda TT Legends to head out on the famous circuit for his 30-minute stint after John McGuinness and Keith Amor secured 11th and 22nd respectively in sessions plagued with red flag stoppages. All three riders improved on yesterday’s times and Donald achieved a new personal best at Le Mans with a 1:39.017 lap. The team will now get some all-important rest ahead of tomorrow’s 24-hour race, which begins at 3pm Central European Summer Time. Cameron Donald I’m very happy. We’ve made some more changes and the bike is working brilliantly, I feel very comfortable on it. I’m a little bit disappointed because I think I could have got another fast lap at the end there but that’s the racer in me taking over you always want to be quicker! I just need to get a good night’s sleep now, then bring on race day. John McGuinness We all went a bit quicker today and we’ve qualified in a reasonable position. I was a little bit disappointed with my own session. I had a lot of vibration in the back on my qualifying tyre and it turned out the bike had spun the tyre on the wheel, so I didn’t get the best crack at it. I did a 1:40.5 on the race tyre, which is the fastest I’ve been all week. We’re in the top ten, we’ve got a half decent race pace and a good package so hopefully we’ll bring the bike home safe in the end. Keith Amor There was a lot of craziness going on, there seemed to be bike in the gravel at every corner. I went a little bit faster than yesterday so I’m happier. If we can find another half a second in the race I’ll be pleased as that is where I want my race pace to be. I am still struggling with my injury from the TT and I’m not physically strong enough at the moment to wrestle the bike around but I just need to settle into the race, find my rhythm and see where we go from there. For real-time news, videos and images throughout the event follow @HondaTTLegends on Twitter and for post-qualifying and race reports visit www.HondaTTLegends.com More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has qualified in fifth position for tomorrow’s Le Mans 24 Hour World Endurance Championship fourth round in France. With a depleted team following injuries from Vincent Philippe and Freddy Foray, SERT rider Anthony Delhalle scored the team’s best result on the GSX-R1000 with a time of 1:38.180. Daisaku Sakai followed with a lap of 1:38.803 and stand-in Suzuki Junior team rider Baptiste Guittet – in his first ride in the WEC class – improved his performance from yesterday to finish on 1:40.519. Pole position was taken by current World Championship leaders BMW Motorrad France 99 with Monster Yamaha YART second and SRC Kawasaki third, just ahead of Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 iPhone. The race start is scheduled for 3pm on Saturday, following the 10.30am warm-up.