FIM Endurance World Championship/Oschersleben 8 Hours
Oschersleben, Germany
August 21, 2015
Final Qualifying Results (ranked by average of each rider’s best lap time):
1. Monster Energy Yamaha – YART (Max Neukirchner/Ivan Silva/Sheridan Morais), Yam YZF-R1, 1:26.873
2. SRC Kawasaki (Gregory Leblanc/Matthieu Lagrive/Fabien Foret), Kaw ZX-10R, 1:27.108
3. GMT94 Yamaha (David Checa/Kenny Foray/Mathieu Gines), Yam YZF-R1, 1:27.553
4. BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com (Markus Reiterberger/Bastien Mackels/Pedro Valcaneras), BMW S1000RR, 1:27.606
5. Honda Racing (Julien Da Costa/Sebastien Gimbert/Freddy Foray) Hon CBR1000RR SP, 1:27.644
6. Volpker NRT48 & Penz13 by Schubert Motors (Stephen Mercer/Marco Nekvasil/Dominik Vincon), BMW S1000RR, 1:27.661
7. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team SERT (Vincent Philippe/Anthony Delhalle/Etienne Masson), Suz GSX-R1000, 1:27.664
8. Team Bolliger Switzerland (Horst Saiger/Roman Stamm/nicolas Salchaud), Kaw ZX-10R, 1:28.201
9. Junior Team LMS Suzuki (Baptiste Guittet/Gregg Black/Romain Maitre), Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.247
10. Macon Racing Team (Ginaluca Vizziello/Marko Jerman/Anthony Dos Santos), Yam YZF-R1, 1:28.674
More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com:
BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com to start home assault from 4th on the grid
Oschersleben, Germany. BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com will start it’s home race at the German Speedweek Oschersleben from fourth place on the starting grid .
Riders Markus Reiterberger (GER), Bastien Mackels (BEL) and Pedro Vallcaneras (ESP) all were able to improve their pace to earn a average lap time of 1:27,606 Minutes.
The third round of the 2015 FIM Endurance World Championship starts tomorrow, Saturday 22nd of August at 12 o’clock on the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in the near of Magdeburg.
Reiterberger ended up with a time of 1:26,330 going slightly faster than in yesterday’s session. He posted the fastest time of the Qualifying amongst all riders. Mackels improved himself to a 1:27,882 and Vallcaneras cam on a 1:28,606.
Markus Reiterberger
Rider
“We changed the bikes today and tried a different solution in our suspension settings. I was able to improve my best time on race tires but couldn’t get the most out of the qualifyer tire – I think if we find a compromise between our two bikes I could have done a mid 25 time. But anyways, it’s going to be about 8 hours and I am able to do my Qualifying time without a problem on race tires and on a constant base. We need to hope for some good luck tomorrow so that we do not have any problems, we will give all on track and the crew for sure at the pits. I am excited.”
Bastien Mackels
Rider
“I am a little bit disappointed as we had Pole Position here last year on the Superstock bike and now we ended up being fourth ‘only’, which still is good. We experimented a bit with the suspension settings and a different rear shock today, so I could not do much more. But the positive thing is that I can do this times on a race tire and I think I can hold that for the race as well.”
Pedro Vallcaneras
Rider
“Today we had a different bike set up especially with the suspension. I found it a bit harder to get the bike into the turns but still was able to improve my lap time. For sure I think I can even go faster during the race as I always do. I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
Rico Penzkofer
Team Principal
“I am very satisfied. We had no crashes and were on a good pace. Of course some people now ask why we didn’t get the Pole Position like last year on the Superstock machine and now in the EWC we will start from P4 ‘only’: Last year we had a lot of data from the IDM which is more close to a Superstock bike plus in the STK there is no limitation on tire usage so we took that advantage last year. But for now everything is close together and we are set up well. We will see in the race that you will be mixing it at the front if you don’t suffer from technical problems or crashes. At the moment I don’t think anyone can ride away at the front. We will give our all – the riders on track and we in the pits – and then hope to be somewhere at the shard end after eight hours.”
More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing:
Fifth place start for Honda Endurance Racing at the Oschersleben 8 Hours
The Honda Endurance Racing team will start tomorrow’s German Speedweek Oschersleben 8 Hours race from fifth position aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP.
Honda’s trio of endurance specialists Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sébastien Gimbert completed the final qualifying sessions today and their combined times gave the Honda squad an average lap time of 1’27.644, placing them fifth.
Throughout the day all three Honda riders built on their lap times from yesterday’s sessions with Da Costa obtaining the seventh best time with 1’27.740 lap. Team-mate Gimbert finished his session top of the sheet with a best time of 1’27.306, and Foray’s 1’27.887 lap time saw him finish his stint in fifth position.
The Oschersleben 8 Hours race will start tomorrow (Saturday 22 August) at 12:00 (GMT+1).
For all the latest news on the team in real time follow @HondaRacingCBR on Twitter.
Neil Tuxworth
Today was an improvement for us after yesterday, which is the important thing. Yesterday we qualified in seventh position, today we moved up to fifth, which is the same qualifying position that we had last year and of course we won the race last year. I am sure when it comes to the race we will be as competitive as any team taking part, so I think we’re in a very good situation for the race tomorrow.
Julien Da Costa
I had a better feeling than yesterday, I am a bit disappointed because I made a mistake during my best lap so I think I would have been able to improve a bit more to get closer to the top. All the three riders of the team improved their lap times, so we’re confident ahead of the race start.
Freddy Foray
The team did an amazing job, they came with something completely new today on the CBR and it was much better. We still have to improve for the race but now we know which direction to take. This afternoon we qualified with new settings on the bike and it is better than yesterday so it can only bring something positive for tomorrow’s race.
Sébastien Gimbert
I am happy because the team worked really well and we improved a lot, we are still very consistent with my team-mates which is good. The technical crew will still work a lot tonight with all the information that we collected today to try to give us the best settings possible for the race. We still have a few things to work on but it is really encouraging. Yesterday we were a bit set back as compared to the other permanent teams; today our lap times are much closer to the front, so it is promising for the race. Last year we started from fifth and we won the race so we’ll see what tomorrow brings, we just have to stay focused!
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
SUZUKI TEAMS SET-STRONG FOR OSCHERSLEBEN 8-HOURS
World Endurance Championship leaders Suzuki Endurance Racing Team will start tomorrow’s penultimate round of the 2015 series, the Oschersleben 8-Hours, from seventh position on the grid; just 0.791-seconds from Pole after a close final qualifying this afternoon at the German circuit.
SERT riders Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Etienne Masson put their GSX-R1000 into a strong starting position at the 3.696km circuit despite not improving their overall time from yesterday’s opening practice and qualifying sessions: Philippe posted a best-lap of 1:27.453 as Delhalle recorded a lap of 1:28.173 and Masson a 1:28.171, qualifying for the grid with a combined-time of 1:27.664.
In the Superstock World Cup Championship, reigning champions and series leaders Junior Team LMS Suzuki – Baptiste Guittet, Gregg Black and Roman Maitre – a young squad working from the same base as the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team in Le Mans, France, finished second in class and ninth overall on the day.
Pole Position this afternoon in the EWC class was set by Monster Energy YART (Yamaha) with the top Superstock team Volpker NRT48 (BMW).