A real competition before the race itself, these qualifying practice sessions have set the tone for the fifth round of the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship. The 71st Bol d’Or will host the inevitable confrontation between the two 2007 world title candidates, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and Team Kawasaki France. As testing began, the teams were on the hunt for the best lap at Magny Cours. The Suzuki no.1 ridden by Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa will take first place on the grid tomorrow with an average time of 1:41.478. Vincent Philippe achieved fasted lap time overall with 1:41.118. Second on the grid, Team Kawasaki France no.11 ridden by Steve Plater, Gwen Giabbani and Julian Mazuecos achieved an average time of 1′ 41.662, improving by almost a second on their time in first testing. Gwen Giabbani clocked second best time with 1:41.210. Julian Mazuecos, whose aggressive riding is less suited to the Magny Cours circuit profile was also successful in improving on his previous times. The third machine to qualify under the time of 1:42 was the Suzuki n°2 ridden by William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Max Neukirchner. Both Suzuki’s official times clear the way for SERT to achieve their goal, winning the 2007 QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship. Having underachieved during yesterday’s test, Yamaha GMT 94 today put things back in order. David Checa, Sebastien Gimbert and Olivier Four clocked a time of 1:42.167, enabling them to take fourth place on the grid. They will precede Kawasaki’s official 111 ridden by Erwan Nigon, Hugo Marchand and Damian Cudlin who’s time was brought down by Cudlin who rode a bit slower than his fellow team-mates. The Kawasaki 111 is followed by Yamaha Austria Racing Team of Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Sebastien Scarnato who will set off in sixth position on the grid. The astonishing Suzuki Superstock team, Junior Team LMS fronted by Freddy Foray, Emeric Jonchière and Anthony Delhalle succeeded in taking seventh position in the middle of a bunch of Superbike machines. They will precede the Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland of David Morillon, Patric Muff and Horst Saiger. A number of teams expected to be among the top positions failed to confirm. Yamaha Phase One Endurance has been delayed by gear box problems, Yamaha Power 113 have had problems with rider falls and are waiting to confirm which tyres they will race with, whilst Honda National Motos have had problems with frame adjustments. On the other side, MV Agusta Motors TV will begin in a good fifteenth place. The warm-up tomorrow beginning at 10.00am will be the last opportunity to make adjustments. The 71st Bol d’Or will start at 3.00pm. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: World Championship leaders SERT has set pole position for tomorrow’s Bol d’Or 24-hour World Endurance fifth and penultimate round at Magny Cours in France. All three team riders, Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa, put their GSX-R1000 Suzuki under the 1 minute 41 second barrier to beat Team Kawasaki France by just over 200ths of a second. Philippe was the fastest individual rider with a time of 1:41.118 with Kawasaki France’s Gwen Giabbani second on 1:41.210 followed by da Costa on 1:41.425. SERT’s second team of William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich, Max Neukirchner and Stephane Duterne will start from third place on the grid after setting a time of 1:41.912. Defending World Champions SERT currently holds a 32-point lead over Kawasaki France and could theoretically clinch the title this weekend if their rivals fail to score. The race gets underway at 1500hrs local time and finishes at 1500hrs on Sunday. Qualifying Results: 1: SERT Suzuki No.1 – 1:41.478 2: Team Kawasaki France – 141.662 3: SERT Suzuki No.2 – 1:41.912 4: Yamaha GMT94 – 1:42.167 5: Maccio Kawasaki – 1:42.595 6: Yamaha Austria – 1:42.677 7: Suzuki LMS 72 – 1:43.452 8: Kawasaki Bolliger – 1:43.542 9: Dap Moto Honda – 1:43.589 10: Acropolis Moto Yamaha – 1:43.940 More, from a press release issued by Amadeus X One: Amadeus X One Qualify 9th in Class on Race Tyres SERT Suzuki and Kawasaki France Fight For Pole Team Amadeus X One have qualified 9th in the SuperProduction class and 26th overall for tomorrow’s gruelling Bol d’Or 24 hour race, setting their best lap times on race tyres after perfecting the set-up of their Yamaha R1 during yesterday’s free practice and compulsory night practice sessions. Paolo Tessari set a time of 1:45.855, Riccardo Ricci lapped in 1:46.846 and a now fully recovered Wil Gruy recorded a1:47.503. These times were then averaged to produce a qualiying time of 1:46.734. At the head of the field, qualifying came down to a battle between SERT Suzuki No.1 and Team Kawasaki France. Suzuki took pole position with an average time of 1:41.478, less than two tenths of a second ahea of Kawasaki France on 1:41.662. Top Ten Qualifying Positions – Overall 1st: 1 SERT Suzuki – Philippe, Lagrive, Da Costa 1:41.478 2nd: 11 Kawasaki France – Plater, Giabbani, Mazuecos 1:41.662 3rd: 2 SERT Suzuki – Costes, Dietrich, Neukirchner 1:41.912 4th: 94 Yamaha GMT94 – Checa, Gimbert, Four 1:42.167 5th: 111 Maccio Kawasaki Nigon, Marchand, Cudlin 1:42.595 6th: 7 Yamaha Austria Jerman, Martin, Scarnato 1:42.677 7th: 72 Junior Team LMS Suzuki Foray, Jonchiere, Delhalle 1:43.452 8th: 8 Kawasaki Bolliger Morillon, Muff, Saiger 1:43.542 9th: 91 Dap Moto Honda Cogan, Tangre, Barrier 1:43.589 10th: 99 Acropolis Yamaha Fremy, Fastre, Leblanc 1:43.940 . The Bol d’Or 24 Hour race starts tomorrow at 15:00. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: TEAM BMW MOTORRAD MOTORSPORT READY TO RACE. Both Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s teams qualified comfortably for the Bol d’Or 24 hours tomorrow afternoon, with bike number 17 (Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer, Richard Cooper) in 28th and bike number 71 (Markus Barth, Jose Luis Nion, Brian Parriot) in 39th. This weekend’s Bol d’Or is the fifth and penultimate round of this year’s Endurance World Championship and is the 71st edition of this famous race. The Bol d’Or is Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s third World Endurance Championship race of the year and probably their toughest challenge so far. The circuit layout, with its long, fast straights and slow corners doesn’t really suit the R12OOS bikes and the experience will be very different (and harder!) to the last round in Oschersleben. Nevertheless BMW Motorrad Motorsport are looking forward to the challenge and are getting ready to surprise some of their more-established rivals. Bike No 17 – Thomas Hinterreiter This circuit is a very different proposition to Oschersleben and it’s going to be a lot of hard work out there this weekend for all of us. We had a tremendous result in the last round and that gave us a lot of encouragement, but here we are starting all over again. The nature of the track doesn’t suit our bike so well, but we’ll ride as hard as we can and see if we cause a bit of a stir. There are a lot of fast bikes out there this weekend, but I’m still hoping for a top 15 place. Bike 71 – Jose Luis Nion I think we all know it’s going to be a tough race for us this weekend, but hopefully we’ll still be in it at the end. If we can keep doing fast, consistent laps we might get a top 15 place. That’s what we’re hoping for, but we’ll have to wait and see how it all works out in the race. Berti Hauser (Team manager) I know that 28th and 39th doesn’t sound too good, but we’re not bothered about grid positions. In fact, I am very satisfied with the qualifying and happy because all our lap times are fast and consistent. We made some rider changes and everything has worked out really really well. They have all have worked hard and helped each other out – the team atmosphere is excellent. Since the start of the season, our bike has lost 15 kilogrammes, but there are no real changes since the last couple of races. Markus (Barth) has not been very well and is suffering from a nasty virus. Because of this he has not been able to do a lot of laps in practice, but we are hoping he is fit enough for the race tomorrow. On a more personal note, it is nice to welcome Stephane (Mertens) back to the racetrack – and on a racebike! He called us recently and said he was almost ready to race again, so we gave him the chance to try one of the bikes in our practice sessions. At first he looked a bit uncomfortable, understandable after his long lay-off, but he quickly settled down and it wasn’t long before he was putting in some good lap times. His appearance here on a bike surprised quite a few people and was certainly good for all of us in the team. Provisional grid 1 SERT (Philippe, LaGrive, Da Costa) , 2 KRT France (Plater, Giabbani, Mazuecos), 3 SERT (Costes, Dietrich, Neukirchner), 4 Yamaha GMT94 (Checa D, Gimbert, Four), 5 Maccio Racing (Nigon, Marchand, Cudlin), 6 Yamaha Austria (Jerman, Martin, Scarnato) 28 BMW Motorrad Motorsport (Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer, Richard Cooper), 39 BMW Motorrad Motorsport (Markus Barth, Jose Luis Nion, Brian Parriot)