FIM Endurance World Championship 8 Hours of Albacete Albacete, Spain May 21 Overall Race Results: 1. BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE 99 (GIMBERT Sébastien/NIGON Erwan/MARCHAND Hugo), BMW S1000RR, EWC, 8:01:29.512, 306 laps 2. YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 IPONE (CHECA David/FORAY Kenny/LAGRIVE Matthieu), Yam YZF-R1, EWC, -31.339 seconds 3. S.E.R.T. (PHILIPPE Vincent/FORAY Freddy/DAISAKU Sakai), Suz GSX-R1000, EWC, -1 lap 4. MONSTER YAMAHA – YART (JERMAN Igor/MARTIN Steve/GIABBANI Gwen), Yam YZF-R1, EWC, -4 laps 5. MACO RACING TEAM (PRIDMORE Jason/JUNOD Gregory/BLACK Gregg), Yam YZF-R1, EWC, -5 laps 6. YMES FOLCH ENDURANCE (RIBALTA Daniel/VALLCANERAS Pedro Luis/LUIS José Manuel), Yam YZF-R1, EWC, -4 laps 7. VAN-ZON BOENIG MOTORSPORT SCHOOL PENZ13 RT(DAEMAN Werner/FASTRE Gregory/FILLA Michal), BMW S1000RR, SST, -10 laps 8. TEAM MOTORS EVENTS BODYGUARD AMT (GINES Mathieu/BOCQUET Vincent/HUMEAU Emilien), Suz GSX-R1000, SST, -11 laps 9. NO LIMITS MOTOR TEAM (CASAS Victor/ALDROVANDI Alessio/TIZON Arturo), Suz GSX-R1000, SST, -12 laps 10. MCS RACING IPONE (PROSENIK Janez/SASETA Ricardo/MOLERO Angel), Suz GSX-R1000, SST, -14 laps 25. HONDA TT LEGENDS (PLATER Steve/MCGUINNESS John/AMOR Keith), Hon CBR1000RR, EWC, -265 laps More, from a press release issued by FIM Endurance Press Office: First victory for BMW Motorrad France 99 at the 8 Hours of Albacete The BMW Motorrad France 99 won the 8 Hours of Albacete and took their first victory in the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship. Sébastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon won on the S1000RR with a 30 seconds gap from the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone of David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive, and one lap from the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team of Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray and Daisaku Sakai. This unprecedented podium is also Michelin’s revenge over the SERT partner Dunlop, as the French tyres were fitted on the first two machines for the 8 Hours of Albacete. If the BMW Motorrad France 99 and the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone enjoyed some trouble-free races, the SERT lost a bit of ground as they had to obey a stop & go penalty for not having switched off the bike’s lights during a pit stop. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team remains the championship leader, with a two points advantage over the BMW Motorrad France 99. The fourth place was promised to the team Honda TT Legends, who were racing with the leaders from the beginning of the race. But John McGuinness crash around 1 am was fatal for the British Honda. Honda TT Legends gave up their fourth place to another great contender of the race, Monster Yamaha YART, who also could have been on the podium spot if they had not been delayed by a fuel issue in the middle of the race. The Yamaha of Maco Racing Team managed to kill the black cat at last! Jason Pridmore, Gregg Black and Grégory Junod took the fifth place ahead of the Yamaha YMES Folch Endurance of Dani Ribalta, Pedro Vallcaneras and Jose Manuel Luis Rita. The Honda National Motos was in the surroundings 25 minutes away from the chequered flag, but a technical problem made them lose any benefit from a great race. BMW took victory in the Superstock class as well. The BMW Van Zon Boenig Motorsportschool Penz13 RT of Werner Daemen, Grégory Fastré and Michael Filla finished seventh overall and first in their class, ahead of a close group of Superstock machines. These included the Suzuki of Team Motor Events Bodyguard AMT, No Limits Motor Team, MCS Racing Ipone, team Atomic MotorSport and AM Moto Racing Compétition, who was leading the class for a while before being delayed with a faulty gearshift. In both classes, two challengers were quick to retire from the race. In Formula EWC, the Kawasaki of Bolliger Team Switzerland had to give up with a broken gearbox, after their chassis setup problems had been solved. In the Superstock class, the Suzuki of Qatar Endurance Racing Team suffered a broken engine. The team DG Sport, another contender to a Superstock podium, and in fourth place until 11 pm, had to retire after Olivier Depoorter crashed. Next round of the Qtel FIM World Endurance Championship is scheduled on 31st July for the 8 Hours of Suzuka reserved to the EWC Formula machines. Then there will be on Saturday 20th August, in Great Britain, the 6 Hours of Donington Park. More, from a press release issued by Team BMW Motorrad France 99: TEAM BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE 99 VICTORIOUS AT ALBACETE Erwan Nigon and Sébastien Gimbert secured the first ever world championship race win for both the BMW S1000RR and Team BMW Motorrad France 99, with an emphatic victory in today’s 8 Hours of Albacete, the second round of the 2011 Endurance World Championship. Starting from second place on the grid, Nigon was the quickest rider off the line after the traditional Le Mans style getaway and led the race into the first turn. Consistently quick laps saw the reigning French Superbike Champion open a gap at the front of the field, which he and Gimbert were able to increase with each stint aboard the BMW S1000RR. By the halfway point in the race Team BMW Motorrad France 99 had a 42 second lead over the GMT 94 Yamaha in second place. Team BMW Motorrad France 99 continued to dominate in the second half of the race, with Gimbert eventually taking the win by 31 seconds from the GMT 94 Yamaha after eight hours and 306 laps of racing. The Albacete victory moves Team BMW Motorrad France 99 up to second place in the championship standings, just two points behind leaders SERT. Team BMW Motorrad France 99 will be back in action at the fourth round of the Endurance World Championship, which takes place at the Suzuka circuit in Japan on 31 July. Before leaving for Japan Nigon and Gimbert will defend their first and second places in the French Superbike Championship standings at Le Vigeant, Ledenon and Magny-Cours. Erwan Nigon: “The race was perfect! We knew from the start that we’d have to do an extra fuel stop compared to the other teams, so the plan was to push as hard as possible to make up 10 seconds every hour. I got a good start and was able to build a good gap in the first hour before handing over to Sébastien. Both of us were pushing in every stint until, with 90 minutes of the race left to run, we knew nobody was going to be able to come back at us. Taking this first win for the team, BMW and Michelin is a great feeling, especially given how hard they’ve all worked to make it happen.” Sébastien Gimbert: “I’m really happy for the team, for BMW and for Michelin that, after a year and a half of hard work by everyone, we finally managed to take our first win in the Endurance World Championship here at Albacete. We knew in Le Mans that we’d made the first big steps towards success, that we would only get stronger as the season progressed, and we proved that here today. Obviously I’m happy with the win, and pleased that it was taken together with Erwan, who also did a great job today. Now I’m looking forward to the next round at Suzuka, where I hope we will be able to fight at the front of the race once again.” Volker Scheck: Director, The Event “We came here to Albacete confident of a good result, but the win has exceeded all our expectations. As a company The Event only started work on this project in 2009, so to see it come to fruition so soon is incredible. The team did a great job today, while Erwan and Sébastien once again turned in the superb performances that we’ve come to expect from them. The bike also performed faultlessly throughout the race and I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to repay BMW for their invaluable support by giving the S1000RR it’s first ever world championship race win. We’re now only two points behind the leaders in the championship standings, so it’s all to play for at the next round in Japan.” More, from a press release issued by Honda TT Legends: Honda TT Legends focus on the positives The Honda TT Legends team is keeping its focus firmly on the positive elements of last night’s Albacete 8-hour race despite being forced to retire from the event in the final 50 minutes. The team had performed an almost faultless race, saving valuable time during pit stops due to an excellent fuelling strategy. By the six-hour stage, it was leading cumulative pit stop time challenge. Steve Plater and John McGuinness were both showing pace and the team was sitting strongly in its target position of fourth with under an hour to go. McGuinness was in the last seconds of his final stint when the Fireblade lost the back end on the in lap. He was uninjured but unfortunately it was impossible to bring the bike back to the pits to attempt a recovery and therefore the Honda TT Legends team was forced to retire. While the team is obviously disappointed with the result of the race, the progress made during the second round of the 2011 Endurance World Championship cannot be underestimated. The Honda TT Legends will now move on to more familiar territory the Isle of Man TT from 30 May-10 June before taking part in the Suzuka eight-hour race in Japan in July. Neil Tuxworth, race manager We have made an awful lot of progress with both the bikes and the team. The fuelling, the brake pads and the tyres are all working well, the team has bonded and the riders are doing a great job. We were only an hour from the end and we were within our target position of top four so we have many positive things to take away with us. Most importantly, we are thankful that John is ok. Steve Plater We’re disappointed but that’s endurance racing. We were setting a good pace and holding fourth position with one hour to go when John had an unfortunate crash. This year is a big learning curve for the team and we’ve learned a huge amount again this meeting. We are more competitive than we were at the Bol d’Or which we’re happy about and we aim to move forward at Suzuka. John McGuinness I am massively disappointed. We’ve had a good weekend as a team and things were looking good in the race. I was holding the fourth spot and only had one or two laps to go before handing the bike back to Steve, but in the end it didn’t go our way. All we can do now is use what we have learned for Suzuka – and of course look forward to the TT. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has finished third in the Albacete 8 Hours World Endurance Championship race in Spain despite being given a Stop-Go Penalty in the opening half of the race. The reigning World Champions – who currently lead the WEC Standings after two rounds – were penalised at 9.30pm last night for not switching off the lights of the GSX-R1000 Suzuki during a scheduled Pit stop, which enabled leaders and eventual winners, BMW Motorrad France 99 to increase its lead along with the Yamaha France GMT 94 squad. SERT riders Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray and Daisaku Sakai battled hard throughout the night session but couldn’t quite catch the leaders at the 2am finish, recording a total of 305 laps; just one behind BMW and Yamaha. The team holds a two-point lead over BMW going into the third round of the series, the Suzuka 8-Hour race in Japan on July 31. More, from a press release issued by John McGuinness’ publicist: No Spanish celebration for McGuinness John McGuinness was denied a top four finish at the latest round of the World Endurance Championship when a spill in the final hour brought his race to a premature end, fortunately without injury. Competing in the 8-Hour race at Albacete, Spain, John and Honda TT Legends team-mate Steve Plater had enjoyed a strong weekend of competition and were lying in fourth place when the crash occurred with just 50 minutes remaining and the bike was too damaged for him to continue. Up until then, everything had been going to plan and with dry, sunny conditions, first qualifying saw Plater set the pace for the majority of the session before ending up 2nd quickest and when it was John’s turn, he was able to record consistent lap times before a small spill brought his session to an end, fortunately without injury. The third member of the team, Keith Amor, although not racing, practiced also and the combined average time of 1m32.654s was good enough for a fine 5th place. Remaining in fifth after second qualifying, hopes were high going into the race and, sure enough, their good form continued. By mid-race distance, they were up into fourth place with both riders lapping consistently but in John’s final stint, it literally went wrong in the closing seconds and, just before he pulled into the pits to hand over to Plater for the final time, he slid out of the action. With the bike too damaged to get it back to the pits for repairs, he reluctantly had to retire from the race, a cruel end to what had been an excellent weekend. Speaking later, John commented: “In the first practice session, Steve and I were on a similar sort of pace and the development we’d done on the bike at the Bol d’Or was really paying dividends. Steve did a great lap time but when I had my qualifying tyre on, I made a small mistake and went down. It was the first time I’d been off in over a year so it felt a bit strange and luckily there was no damage to the bike. It was good to be competitive and fifth overall was a good start. It took me a while to get my confidence back though so I just eased my way back into Saturday’s session and once I got a clear track, I put in some hard laps. The bike was working well and to do a low 32s lap was pleasing so with Steve’s excellent pace we were in good shape going into the race.” “Come the race itself, Steve and I were able to lap consistently to maintain a strong leaderboard position and that makes it all the more disappointing with it ending how it did. We had a good weekend and things were looking good in the race with us holding onto a strong fourth place but just before I handed over to Steve for the final stint, I lost the rear and down I went. I can’t remember the last time I crashed twice at a meeting and it’s obviously a real shame as the points would have placed us in a handy position in the Championship but it wasn’t meant to be. On the plus side, we had good pace all weekend and were very competitive making strides forward as a team and with the bike. We’ll use what we have learned for the next round at Suzuka and now I’m looking forward to the TT. It’s a huge event for me, obviously, and I’ll be giving it 100% to get myself, the bike and the team on the top step of the podium so fingers crossed we’ll get our rewards on the Island.” John now heads to the Isle of Man TT Races where he’s hoping to add to his already impressive tally of 15 wins. First practice gets underway on Monday May 30th.