Pirelli Captures 6 out of the Top 10 Spots and Provisional Pole Position at 24 Hours of Le Mans World Endurance Season Opener Le Mans , France April 18-19, 2009 Pirelli and its supported teams finished 4th place out of a total 46 teams competing in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, in addition to places six through ten in the Formula EWC class in opening round of the World Endurance Championship. The Franco-Italian RT Racing Team demonstrated a stronger team for this year’s Championship with a 4th place in the first round of competition. In the qualifying rounds before the final Superpole, it was Yamaha France’s GMT94 team with David Checa, Sébastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon who qualified first, entering the final Superpole with a 1:37.941, just ahead of Honda France. The seventeen permanent teams competing in this year are comprised of an assortment of 5 different manufacturers, some of which provide direct support, and yet others like GMT-94 whose rider David Checa is sharing his time by also participating in this year’s World Superbike Championship. Pirelli will have a strong presence this year in the World Endurance Championship where its crew of at least 9 or 10 racing service staff will attend races and be dedicated to fitment activities. Each 24 hours race such as the Le Mans proves to be a logistical feat, as Pirelli trucks are loaded with around 3500 tyres to support Pirelli sponsored teams. This racing format is highly beneficial to product development since more is demanded of the tyres over a longer period of time, and this year shall provide more data than ever. The first verdict shown at this weekend’s 32nd edition of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, an event which defines endurance racing and also awards first points of this season, proves this season shall be nothing short of intense. The next World Endurance race will be the 8 hours at Oscherleben’s Motorsport Areana, followed by 8 hrs on the Circuito de Albacete, the Suzuka 8hrs, another 24 hours in France at Magny-Cours and ending the in the desert at Doha, Qatar for the season’s final 8 hours. Pirelli will also see its supported wild card participants, GMT94, National Motos Endurance Team (2006 Le Mans Winner) and GSR Kawasaki compete again in the second 24 hour race of the season back also held in France this September. Review all of Pirelli’s supported riders for the World Endurance Championship and for additional racing results, please visit www.pirellityre.com. More, from a press release issued by Steve Plater’s publicist: STEVE PLATER TAKES SECOND AT LE MANS Steve Plater continued his run of podium finishes by securing a fine second place in the Le Mans 24 Hour World Endurance race over the weekend. Plater from Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire was drafted into the Honda France team to take the place of the injured Jean Michael Bayle who was unable to ride after sustaining a knee injury. But for a couple of crashes during the 24-hour affair Plater could have been looking at the race win. Following his fine performance for HM Plant Honda in the opening round of the British Superbike championship where he picked up a third in the British Superbike class and a second in the British Supersport championship, Plater headed directly over to France for the free practice and qualifying sessions at Le Mans. From the off the three-man Honda France team were among the contenders for pole position and Sebastien Charpentier, Matthieu Lagrive and Steve Plater sailed through the final Superpole session to post the fastest time in qualifying to start the Le Mans 24-hour race at the head of the field. The start procedure for Endurance races is different to any other race where the grid is formed with the riders sat on their machines ready for the off. The pit crew hold each bike, fastest qualifier at the front while the riders stand the other side of the track. When the flag is dropped the riders sprint across to jump on their bikes and get away. Matthieu Lagrive started the race for Honda France and took it steady for the first few laps to allow the Michelin tyres to heat, and was soon able to reel in the leaders to take command at the front. But disaster struck after just 11 laps when he crashed and had to return to the pit garage for hurried repairs to the damaged Honda Fireblade. Once back on track the team found themselves down in 43rd position with a lot of hard work ahead of them. But 24-hours is a long time and anything can happen. They made a tremendous comeback and were soon scything through the back markers to take up 10th position after four hours of racing, although still seven laps down on the leaders. But the heavens opened and the track was awash causing many riders to take a tumble, including Steve Plater who aquaplaned on standing water during the night. Again the team played catch-up and eventually completed the race in a fine second place. “That was a good result for Honda who have come back into the series after an 11 year absence and also for Michelin the tyre manufacturer.” said Plater. “The Ten Kate Racing Products prepared Honda Fireblade performed very well and all the pit crew worked extremely hard throughout the race to keep us in contention for the podium. “Obviously I am still a little disappointed as we all were hoping for the win but Endurance Racing is one of those classes where anything and everything can happen so we have to be content with second place. But it’s my best result at Le Mans so I am happy with that. Most of the race was run in the wet and I did three double shifts on the bike during the 24 hours. The usual time on the bike is two hours but because I was going well they decided to keep me out there. I was happy enough to do the time as its all experience for me and will be useful as I ride a Honda Fireblade at the North West 200 ands also the Isle of Man TT races later in the season.” Plater arrived home in the early hours of Monday but instead of catching up with his sleep was away first thing to catch a flight to the Isle of Man for the official launch of the TT races. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: The Yamaha Austria Racing Team took their first victory of the endurance season on the new 2009 YZF-R1 at Le Mans yesterday. In what was one of the most intense Le Mans Endurance races for some time, YART riders Steve Martin, Igor Jerman and Gwen Giabbani battled flawlessly through difficult racing conditions including heavy rain for nearly 20 hours and a very damp track to take the chequered flag. The YART team took victory with a clear seven lap advantage over the second placed Honda France team. Most competitor teams suffered crashes and incidents due to the adverse weather, making YART’s victory even more impressive. The team rode the new for 2009, Moto GP derived Yamaha YZF-R1, building on the racing success already being seen in the hands of Ben Spies in World Superbike. The new machine proved the perfect tool to handle the difficult conditions with its unique crossplane crankshaft design giving the riders essentially smoother torque and more useable power to get through and out of the slippery corners of the Le Mans circuit. Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria Racing Team “Finally after 11 years of not winning! Igor waited 11 years for his second victory, for me it’s my first. There were no issues with the fantastic performance of the bike, and we lost very little time in stops. There were no crashes to be regretted, everything was perfect.” Steve Martin, Yamaha Austria Racing Team “It’s absolutely incredible to win here on my second time at the 24HR. The bike performed faultlessly which made the whole race easier. My team-mates both performed unbelievably, we made the right steps at the right times which gave us an advantage. We were then able to put pressure on the other teams and forced them to make mistakes. I want to dedicate this win to my life-long friend and mentor Peter Kerr who passed away this weekend, making this an exceptionally hard weekend’s racing for me. “ Igor Jerman, Yamaha Austria Racing Team “I’ve had to wait 11 years to win the Le Mans 24HR Moto. This year the team was very well prepared with the new Yamaha bike and we also changed tyres to Michelins which were great. We need to make some small changes for the next race but our result here was very good.” Mandy Kainz, Yamaha Austria Racing Team Manager “Everyone who’s dedicated to Endurance racing wants to win this race once in his life. I can hardly believe that we actually managed to do it. Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani worked together as a proper team and had hardly any problems. Heavy rain, especially at night caused a lot of dramatic scenes. In the crucial phase of the race my boys managed to capitalize on their experience. I have to give them a lot of respect, they weren’t only the fastest out there but managed to ride faultlessly.”