BMW Motorrad France 99 in pole position ahead of Monster Yamaha YART and Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone There is more and more pressure on the Losail racetrack. The second qualifying session of the 8 Hours of Doha will stay an impressive one after the incredible BMW Motorrad France 99 pole position, with a 1’59.928 lap which astonished the competition. The Belgium official team seems untouchable and has major assets to target the victory and the 2011 world title: the S1000RR is incredibly fast, their three riders are on top form (1’59.818 for Sébastien Gimbert, 1’59.824 for Damian Cudlin and 2’00.143 for Erwan Nigon), and their Michelin tyres have obviously more grip than their competitors on the Losail racetrack. Hence, the first three on the grid are running on Michelin tyres. In second position is the Monster Yamaha YART with Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Katsuyuki Nakasuga, but they are already more than one second behind the BMW, and just ahead of the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipon with David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive. The two official Yamaha outperformed the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, which is running on Dunlop. As they had now hope to clinch the pole position in Doha, the current world champion preferred to focus on finding the best race setup. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team is also racing to keep their 2011 world title. In case of a BMW Motorrad France 99 victory, the SERT absolutely needs to finish second of this race in Doha to be crowned again. Bolliger Team Switzerland (Kawasaki), Maco Racing Team (Yamaha) and YMES Folch Endurance (Yamaha) are behind this quartet of official teams. The first Superstock bike is the BMW of Van Zon Boenig Motorsportschool Penz13 RT, in 8th place on the grid, ahead of the Honda TT Legends. Already winner of the FIM Superstock World Cup, the Team Motors Events Bodyguard AMT (Suzuki) cleared their minor technical glitches to complete the top 10 on the grid, ahead the Yamaha of DG Sport. As expected, the women riders of the Suzuki Qatar Endurance Racing Team 96 improved their lap times today. NIna Prinz signed her best lap in 2’04.172, which is fastest than more than half of the grid from the first qualification session. Paola Cazzola and NIkolett Kovacs also improved their lap times. The Team R2CL will start from the back of the grid. The team received a ten seconds penalty for having not respected three times the flags at the end of the qualifying session. The start is scheduled tomorrow Saturday at 1 pm local time (GMT + 3) for a semi-nocturnal race which will end up at 9 pm. FIM Endurance World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar November 11 Final Qualifying Results: 1. BMW MOTORRAD France 99 (GIMBERT Sebastien/NIGON Erwan/CUDLIN Damian), BMW S1000RR, EWC, 1:59.928 2. MONSTER YAMAHA YART (JERMAN Igor/MARTIN Steve/NAKASUGA Katsuyki), YAMAHA YZF-R1, EWC, 2:01.241 3. YAMAHA France GMT 94 IPONE (CHECA David/FORAY Kenny/LAGRIVE Matthieu), YAMAHA YZF-R1, EWC, 2:01.420 4. S.E.R.T. (PHILIPPE Vincent/DELHALLE Anthony), SUZUKI GSX-R1000, EWC, 2:01.483 5. BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND (SAIGER Horst/STAMM Roman/TANGRE Jérome), KAWASAKI ZX-10R, EWC, 2:02.692 6. MACO RACING TEAM (PRIDMORE Jason/JUNOD Gregory/BLACK Gregg), YAMAHA YZF-R1, EWC, 2:03.043 7. YMES FOLCH ENDURANCE (RIBALTA Daniel/VALLCANERAS Pedro Luis/LUIS Jose Manuel), YAMAHA YZF-R1, EWC, 2:03.264 8. VAN ZON BOENIG MOTORSPORT SCHOOL (FASTRE Gregory/FILLA Michal/VOS Ari), BMW S1000RR, STK, 2:03.332 9. HONDA TT LEGENDS (McGUINNESS John/AMOR Keith/RICHARDS Glen), HONDA CBR1000RR, EWC, 2:03.381 10. MOTORS EVENTS BODYGUARDS (GINES Mathieu/BOCQUET Vincent/GRARRE William), SUZUKI GSX-R1000, STK, 2:03.721 More, from a press release issued by Honda TT Legends: Honda TT Legends ready for the final battle in Qatar The Honda TT Legends will start tomorrow’s 8 Hours of Doha from ninth on the grid following the final qualifying session at the Losail International Circuit today. John McGuinness, Keith Amor and stand-in rider Glen Richards each completed a second 30-minute stint on the Honda Fireblade in a bid to improve on yesterday’s lap times. All three riders managed this task, with Richards lapping the quickest. Cameron Donald’s replacement posted a 2:01.476 lap in the final stint to bring the team’s overall combined time up to 2:03.381 enough to qualify in the top ten in a field of 26 teams. Neil Tuxworth All three riders went a little bit quicker in that session, which we’re pleased about. The good thing is that all through the free practice sessions, qualifying and night practice we’ve had no incidents and no problems with the bike. We’ve got a sound basis for the race and I’d like to think we are in a strong position. You never know what is going to happen in eight hours but I’m hoping we can finish in at least a top five position. John McGuinness We’re ninth overall on the grid but as we’ve seen in World Endurance qualifying is not the most important thing, it’s where we are at the end of eight hours and who knows how many laps! Glen has done some good times and I’ve been half a second quicker today so I’m happy with that. It’s a tough track and it’s going to be a tough race but I’m looking forward to it. I want to bring the bike home safe, score some points, maybe go up a bit in the championship and end the season as happy chaps. Keith Amor I’m feeling a lot better than I was 24 hours ago. I’m starting to get used to the track and it’s not quite as much of a struggle. I found a bit of time today and I’m happy. It’s been a tough season but it’s nice to finish somewhere like this that is a bit easier on my injured shoulder. Let’s wait and see what happens in the race. Glen Richards I’m feeling pretty good. I have a few little issues with my hands but we’ll try some different grips tomorrow maybe. Apart from that, the bike is working well and I felt better on it today than yesterday. It’s going to be a hard race for sure but then endurance races are always hard. We’ve just done a really good pit practice, so we’ll just get our heads down in the race and see what happens. The final eight-hour battle of the 2011 Endurance World Championship season will begin at 13.00 AST (10.00 GMT, 11.00 CET) tomorrow. For real-time news, videos and images throughout the event follow @HondaTTLegends on Twitter and for post-qualifying and race reports visit www.HondaTTLegends.com. Live timing is available at www.ris-timing.be More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad France 99: POLE POSITION FOR TEAM BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE 99 IN QATAR Team BMW Motorrad France 99 will start the final race of the 2011 Endurance World Championship in Qatar from pole position, after a dominant performance in practice and qualifying from Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Damian Cudlin. The #99 BMW S1000RR topped all but one of the practice and qualifying sessions at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, with both Gimbert and Cudlin shattering the lap record on their final qualifying laps today. The BMW Motorrad France 99 teammates are the only riders to have broken the two-minute barrier so far this weekend. Nigon also finished fastest in his qualifying session today, despite handing over his qualifying tyre to teammate Gimbert and running on used rubber throughout the session. With qualifying decided on the average lap time of all three riders, Nigon’s time was easily fast enough to secure Team BMW Motorrad France 99 a second pole position in succession. The Belgian team’s combined qualifying time of 1’59.928 was faster than any individual rider, other than Gimbert and Cudlin, has lapped the 5.380km Losail International Circuit all weekend. Team BMW Motorrad France 99 go into tomorrow’s 8 Hours of Doha trailing SERT by just nine points in the championship standings. With 30 points awarded to the winner of the final race of the season, it’s still all to play for in the battle to be crowned Endurance World Champions of 2011. The 8 Hours of Doha starts at 13.00 local time tomorrow (10.00 GMT/11.00 CET) with live timing available via www.motoracinglive.com. Sébastien Gimbert: Pilot Bleu – Qualifying Time 1’59.818 “Our BMW S1000RR has definitely given us something of an advantage in terms of speed this weekend. A 1’59s lap here on an endurance bike is a little bit crazy, but the time actually came fairly easily. Everything is working well: the bike, the team, the Michelin tyres and all three riders, so we go into tomorrow’s race in a strong position. It’s where we need to be, because there is only one goal tomorrow and that is to win. Only a race win will give us a realistic shot at the championship title, so we’ll be pushing as hard as possible to make it happen.” Erwan Nigon: Pilot Vert – Qualifying Time 2’00.143 “Confidence is certainly high after qualifying on pole once again, but we mustn’t lose sight of our main objective. The championship is close, there are only nine points in it and so we must do everything possible to win tomorrow. We have the best bike, the best tyres and the fastest riders so I’m confident that, barring any technical issues, we’ll be able to run at the front in what is, without a doubt, our most important race of the season.” Damian Cudlin: Pilot Rouge – Qualifying Time 1’59.824 “So far, this weekend couldn’t have gone much better for us as a team. We’ve been fastest in every session and took our second successive pole position convincingly today. I’m still suffering a little with the injuries I picked up in the crash in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, but nothing will keep me off the bike tomorrow! The championship is still in the balance, but our job is quite simple. We need to go out there tomorrow and convert our practice and qualifying pace into a race win.”