FIM Endurance World Championship opening round 24 Hours of Le Mans, April 18th and 19th The opening round of the FIM Endurance World Championship will take place Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th of April at the Bugatti racetrack in France. Forty-eight teams will be on the starting grid of this classic race will put together all the official and the permanent teams for victory. The current World Champion Suzuki Endurance Racing Team won’t be able to keep its title, since they won’t compete the whole 2009 championship, but they want Le Mans victory for sure. The three riders, Guillaume Dietrich, Vincent Philippe and Dutch rider Barry Veneman have already put the SERT official GSX-R 1000 on the highest step of the podium. With the support of Michelin, official permanent team Yamaha Austria Racing Team is the new favourite for the 2009 world title. YART is also racing for victory at Le Mans with a 2009 Yamaha R1, ridden by Igor Jerman, Gwen Giabbani and Steve Martin. The Austrian team will have to fight against the Yamaha GMT 94 Ipone, though. 2005 Le Mans winner, the official French Yamaha of Sébastien Gimbert, David Checa and Erwan Nigon aims for another Le Mans victory. Within the Yamaha stable, several permanent teams are also expected to be seen in the battle for the lead. The British of Phase One Endurance are on the starting grid with Australian brothers Damian and Alexander Cudlin and Spanish rider Pedro Vallcaneras. BK Maco Moto Racing Team also recruited a former Folch Endurance rider, Daniel Ribalta, to pair with American rider Jason Pridmore. Last but not least, Italian riders from Team Amadeus X-One are starting a new season with French rider Anthony Dos Santos supporting Paolo Tessari and American rider Will Gruy. Ridden by former SERT rider Julien Da Costa, Simon Andrews, British Superbike rider and Kenny Foray, Kawasaki rider in the French championship, the official ZX-10R from team GSR Kawasaki is another contender for victory. Two other permanent teams are also on Kawasaki. Seventh in the 2008 Hours of Le Mans, Bolliger Team Switzerland will be on the starting grid with Patric Muff, Horst Saiger, former official BMW rider Rico Penzkoffer and Eric Mizera. Diablo 666 Bolliger is also racing a ZX-10R with, amongst others, James Hutchins. We’ll have to keep an eye at Le Mans on official Team Honda France, who is entering the classic race with a fantastic trio of champions: Jean-Michel Bayle, Sébastien Charpentier and Matthieu Lagrive. This CBR 1000 RR is also a serious contender for victory on the 19th of April. Newcomer amongst the permanent teams is also the Honda of Michelin Power Research Team of William Costes, Hugo Marchand and Josep Monge. They can surprise, like the Honda of RMT 21 Racing Team, who came sixth at Le Mans in 2006. 2006 winner Honda National Motos is on the starting grid with Sébastien Scarnato, Luca de Carolis and Diego Lozano. Amongst the permanent teams of the Endurance World Championship, we also have to mention the RT Racing Team Moto Virus on Suzuki with Jean-Louis Devoyon, Raphaël Chèvre and Frédéric Jond, ninth of the 2008 24 Hours Moto, and the Team 18 Sapeurs- Pompiers, who can enter the top-10 with a Suzuki given to Stéphane Molinier, David Brière and Jérôme Tangre. In the Superstock class, the Suzuki Junior Team LMS (Freddy Foray, Cédric Tangre, Louis Bulle) remains the favourite amongst some other strong permanent teams such as Qatar Endurance Racing Team (Suzuki / Mashel Al Naimi, Rashid Al Mannai and Anthony Delhalle), winner of the 2008 FIM World Cup, Team LTG 57 Zone Rouge (Yamaha /Franck Millet, Laury Frémy, Michael Lalevée) and Endurance Moto 45 (Suzuki / Alexandre Lagrive, Emmanuel Parisse, Adrien Ganfornina). Some curious bikes will also be on present at the first round of the 2009 FIM Endurance World Championship. The only European bike on the starting grid is a KTM engaged in Formula EWC by Infini Team, fourth at Le Mans in 2008 on Suzuki. Swedish champion Tobias Nystrom, Frédéric Gaillard and Laurent Dubus, should ride the bike. In the Open class, we’ll follow the Honda RC 30 Moto Journal Matmut with David Dumain, Zef Enault and Laurent Cochet, to celebrate the 20 years of this classic bike. Last but not least is the Metiss JLC Moto with Vincent Bocquet, David Bouvier and Emmanuel Chéron. If some newcomers joined the FIM Endurance World Championship permanent teams, we’ll have to mention the last minute retirement of Italian team Runner Bike, registered on Kawasaki in the Superstock class, due to financial trouble. There are 17 teams registered as permanent, but the list is not close yet. Rendez-vous at Le Mans on Thursday April, 16th, for the first free practice session.