24 Hours of Le Mans The pressure arrives on the Bugatti race track Despite difficult weather conditions with a lot of rain and some really strong winds, most of the main teams registered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans opening round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship on 17 and 18 April were present this week for two days of testing on the Bugatti race track. The only, yet highly noticed, absence was from Team BMW Michelin, who could not put together on time all the race parts of their S 1000 RR. The team said that it would be on the starting grid according to the initial plan. All the other teams have been continuing with development and tyre testing. There is absolutely no doubt that the tyres will play a central role this season. Michelin, 2009 Qtel FIM Endurance World Champion and Le Mans winner last year with Yamaha Austria Racing Team, is also doing some development work with the Honda Michelin Power Racing Team. At YART, the team seems to be working fine and is focused on the very same objective: Le Mans victory and another world title in 2010. Pirelli shows the same confidence and will race at Le Mans with team GSR Kawasaki as well as the Kawasaki Bolliger Team Switzerland and the Suzuki RT Racing Team. But the strongest determination seems to be coming from Dunlop. As they had been given a lesson by Michelin last year on the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dunlop worked hard last winter to give their best tyres ever to their official team, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team. Bridgestone remains an unknown component of the 2010 tyre equation. As a partner of the Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone, the Japanese tyre supplier is making its World Endurance debut. The team managed by Christophe Guyot started its development work from a blank page and is working twice as hard with the Bridgestone engineers to fill the gap with more experienced teams in Endurance. The first answers concerning the new 2010 Endurance hierarchy will come as soon as Thursday, 15 April, with the first free practice at Le Mans. A new race schedule will add more spice to the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship: the Superpole has a new format and will now be disputed in three distinctive sessions. The first session will be open to the twenty fastest teams after the qualifications; the second to the sixteenth fastest rider from Superpole 1; the last one to the eight fastest riders from Superpole 2. Only one rider per team can enter the Superpole and only one set of tyres is allowed for the three sessions of the Superpole. No doubt that the tyres will play a prominent role this season! About the FIM (www.fim-live.com) The FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) founded in 1904, is the world governing body for motorcycle sport and is an independent association formed by 101 National Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in motorcycle sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Among its 49 FIM World Championships the main events are MotoGP, Superbike, Endurance, Motocross, Supercross, Trial, Enduro and Speedway. The FIM also deals with non-sporting matters such as leisure motorcycling, mobility, transport, road safety, public policy and the environment. The FIM was the first International Sporting Federation to enforce an Environmental Code in 1994.