The two official Suzuki seemed to go on a closed case for victory when the race entered the night, but in a few hours time the rain and the night hazards changed all the plans. There is no more strong lead for the two SERT machines. At 3:30 am, SERT 1 lost the lead after Julien Da Costa crashed. Since then, Suzuki 2 took the lead ahead of the Yamaha Acropolis Moto Expert, still holding to a good rhythm since the beginning of the race. Back on the track in seventh position, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 1 did not take a long time to get back to third place, but another crash of Vincent Philippe at 7:30 am made them loose more time in their conquest of the foreground. Waiting for the right moment since the beginning of the race, some machines managed to get through the typical Endurance hazards and took benefits from the nr.1 Suzuki troubles. The Yamaha Acropolis Moto Expert has made a superb race so far and is now holding strongly to the second place. The Suzuki Infini Yohann Moto Sport is also in the leading group despite a few problems and the Honda RMT 21 still holds to the top five. The Suzuki RT Moto Virus and the Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland are also in the leading group this morning. The Junior Team Suzuki, first in the Superstock class, which lost time around 6 am after Luca de Carolis crashed, follows them. On the other hand, Endurance Moto 38, which managed to improve their position during the night, finally lost more ground after two consecutive crashes in the early morning. Yamaha Phase One was fighting for third place at the beginning of the night, but serious over-heating problems and a crash made them loose contact with the leading group. Maco Moto Racing Team and the BMW Motorrad 17 are amongst the night retirements after mechanical breakdowns. As a reminder, the beginning of the race was fatal to many of the favourite teams: Kawasaki France, Yamaha France GMT 94, Honda National Moto and Yamaha Austria Racing Team all retired at the beginning of the race. Midi Pyrénées MV Agusta Racing Team also retired after a crash. After a rainy night, the sun is currently doing a shy comeback this morning on the Bugatti race track. Everything can still happen in the next seven hours of race to go. The finish is at 3 pm. More from another press release issued by QTEL FIM World Endurance Championship Press Office: Once again the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team takes first and second place of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Already winner last year ; the Suzuki nr.2 ridden by William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Dutchman Barry Veneman won the event with 11 laps in front of the nr.1 Suzuki of Vincent Philippe , Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa in this first event of the 2008 QTel FIM Endurance World Championship. Already holder of the World title for the last three seasons , the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team takes right from the beginning a good option on the 2008 title. The Yamaha Acropolis Moto Expert took a deserved third place regarding the difficult and changing conditions of this event. Various strong showers disturbed the racing plans of the teams. Gregory Fastré, Gregory Leblanc and Anthony dos Santos on the Acropolis Moto Expert knew how to avoid the problems. They finished ahead of the Suzuki Infini Yohann Moto Sport and the Suzuki Junior Team ; first Superstock team. On the podium of the Superstock class are also the Suzuki Qatar Endurance Racing Team IJT and the Yamaha LTG 57. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: 2008 Endurance World Championship Le Mans 24 hours, France Sunday 20th April Circuit: 4.180 kms. Crowd: 85,000 Conditions: Saturday: rain at start, then sunny/cloudy. Sunday: rain in the night, then sunny/cloudy. 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. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team’s number two squad led a SERT GSX-R1000 one-two at the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Le Mans in France today. Riders William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Barry Veneman took the lead from World Champions Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa when the number one machine crashed during the night session of the 24-hour race, to win by 11 laps SERT 2 led for the first hour from Yamaha GMT94 and SERT 1. Yamaha took over temporarily at the second hour and then SERT 1 made a charge to the front – a lead they kept for almost half the race until a crash in the dark, thought to be due to a rabbit running onto the track. From 16 laps down, the defending champions gradually moved back through the field, climbing into second place behind SERT 2 with five hours to go – a position they held until the flag. Provisional results: 1 SERT 2 (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 770 laps, 2 SERT 1 (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 759, 3 Acropolis Moto Expert (Yamaha) 756, 4 Infini Team/ Yohann Moto sp (Suzuki) 755, 5 Junior Team Suzuki – LMS (Suzuki) 753. More, from a press release issued by Steve Plater’s publicist: CLUTCH FAULT LEAVES PLATER SIDELINED AT LE MANS 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.