24 Hours of Catalunya July 5 and 6, 2008 Folch Yamaha Leads 24 Hours of Catalunya After 12 Hours A broken gearbox put an end to the Floreal Ducati team’s efforts in the eleventh hour, leaving the Folch Yamaha team leading Suzuki Catalá 1 by five laps with the second Suzuki Catalá team moving up to third. For the last two hours the Folch and Catalá riders have run almost identical lap times. Both team directors, Josep Folch and Eduard Catalan have told riders to keep a steady pace through the night. It will take a problem by the Folch team to let the first Suzuki Catalá team back in with a chance. Folch knows that his riders can easily give up a second a lap and still hold their lead, while Catalá has told his riders that it is not worth riding on the limit to take back a second a lap. Instead he has altered the mapping in an attempt to get longer runs on a full tank. Over the first half of the race the single crash by the Catalá team has made the difference. Folch Yamaha has yet to make a mistake. 1. (4) Ribalta/Vallcaneras/Tomás Folch Yamaha YZR-R1 1000 2. (2) Noyes/Lozano/Bonache/Bonastre Suzuki Catalá GSX-R 1000 -5 laps 3. (3) Oliver/Hernandez/Cordoba/Port Suzuki Catalá GSX-R 1000 -12 4. (7) Jarro/Arquer/Gallido/Fastre Promobarna Honda CBR 1000RR -19 5. (88) Garcia/Graciano/Marchan/Torras Mossos d´Esquadra Yam YZR-R1 -22 6. (26) Casas/Cabana/Gomez/Olmos Bruno Performance Suzuki GSX-R 1000 -22 7. (33) Cuzin/Gilles/Fastre T.E. 33 Yamaha YZR-R1 1000 -24 8. (27) Busquets/Busquets/Lindner/Nion HP2 Sports BMW 1170 -26 9. (32) Feuillee/Darre/Nunnari/Antunes Bi-Meca Yamaha YZR-R 1000 – 27 10. (35) Jover/Feliu/Luque/Galan RPM Honda CBR1000RR -28