FIM Endurance World Championship 8 Horas Nocturnas Albacete, Spain May 20 Qualifying Session One Results (average of each team’s riders’ best times): 1. MONSTER YAMAHA – YART (JERMAN Igor – 1:32.005/MARTIN Steve – 1:30.638/GIABBANI Gwen – 1:31.276), Yam YZF-R1, 1:31.306 2. BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE 99 (GIMBERT Sébastien – 1:31.082/NIGON Erwan – 1:31.348/MARCHAND Hugo – 1:32.429), BMW S1000RR, 1:31.620 3. YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 IPONE (CHECA David – 1:31.569/FORAY Kenny – 1:31.986/LAGRIVE Matthieu – 1:31.367), Yam YZF-R1, 1:31.641 4. S.E.R.T. (PHILIPPE Vincent – 1:31.912/FORAY Freddy – 1:31.928/DAISAKU Sakai – 1:32.608), Suz GSX-R1000, 1:32.149 5. HONDA TT LEGENDS (PLATER Steve – 1:31.207/MCGUINNESS John – 1:32.988/AMOR Keith – 1:33.766), Hon CBR1000RR, 1:32.654 6. MACO RACING TEAM (PRIDMORE Jason – 1:32.831/JUNOD Gregory – 1:33.116/BLACK Gregg – 1:33.567), Yam YZF-R1, 1:33.171 7. VAN-ZON BOENIG MOTORSPORT (DAEMEN Werner – 1:33.468/FASTRE Gregory – 1:33.372/FILLA Michal – 1:33.765), BMW S1000RR, 1:33.535 8. BMW MAS (MOLINA Alvaro – 1:33.603/VALERA Javier – 1:33.064/ROSIVALL Agoston – 1:34.417), BMW S1000RR, 1:33.695 9. YMES FOLCH ENDURANCE (RIBALTA Daniel – 1:32.827/VALLCANERAS Pedro Luis – 1:34.355/LUIS José Manuel – 1:34.508), Yam YZF-R1, 1:33.897 10. NATIONAL MOTOS (JONCHIERE Emeric – 1:34.135/DE CAROLIS Lucas – 1:32.580/MASSON Etienne – 1:35.402), Hon CBR1000RR, 1:34.039 More, from a press release issued by FIM Endurance Press Office: Monster Yamaha YART leads qualifying session at Albacete ahead of BMW Motorrad France 99 and Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone The Monster Yamaha YART is in great shape in Albacete, second round of the Qtel FIM World Endurance Championship, in Spain. After a promising free practice session, the Austrian Yamaha took the best spot this afternoon from the first qualifying session of the 8 Hours of Albacete. This provisional pole position is mainly due to Steve Martin, who was the fastest rider today, being able to break the 1’31 bar by clocking a 1’30.638 lap. With the average time of the three riders, Igor Jerman, Gwen Giabbani and Steve Martin, the Monster Yamaha YART leads Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Hugo Marchand on the BMW Motorrad France 99, the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone are very close behind with David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team hasn’t yet found the optimal suspension setting and has to be satisfied with the fourth time. The SERT is disappointed of not putting the hammer down from the very beginning of the event, as usual. “We’ve been working in the wrong direction”, said team manager Dominique Méliand, “but we’ll get it right tonight from the night testing session”. The Honda TT Legends is learning well and fast, as they are getting closer to the top 4. The Yamaha of Maco Racing Team is fifth with a very homogeneous team of riders, Jason Pridmore, Gregg Black and Gregory Junod. In seventh place is the first Superstock machine, the BMW of Van Zon Boenig Motorsportschool Penz13 RT, ahead of another S1000RR, from the Spanish team BMW Mas of Alvaro Molina. They offered themselves the luxury to outperform the local ndurance specialist, the YMES Folch Endurance. In the Superstock class, the Team Motor Events Bodyguard AMT, DG Sport, No Limits Motor Team, AM Moto Racing Compétition and the Qatar Endurance Racing Team are all together grouped between the twelfth and sixteenth place. For many teams, the night testing session will be a not to be missed opportunity to work on the settings, and some serious action is planned on track tomorrow morning with the second qualifying session. The start of the race will be given tomorrow Saturday at 6 pm and the arrival at 2 am Sunday morning. To follow the practices and the race live, log on to www.fim-live.com More, from a press release issued by Honda TT Legends: Provisional fifth position for Honda TT Legends The Honda TT Legends began the second round of the 2011 Endurance World Championship at the Circuito Albacete in Spain today by securing fifth position overall in the first qualifying session. Steve Plater took to the track first and proceeded to set the pace for the majority of his 30-minute stint, posting the fastest lap numerous times before ending in second overall. John McGuinness followed and secured some solid laps before an unfortunate tumble put an end to his track time. For the eight-hour race tomorrow, the team will employ a two-rider strategy with Plater and McGuinness, however third rider Keith Amor is still required to take part in qualifying. He ended the session with a solid performance having not ridden in any practice sessions beforehand. The combined average time of 1:32.654 puts the Honda TT Legends in a provisional fifth place on the grid. The final positions will be decided in the second qualifying tomorrow morning before the race commences at 6pm. Follow @HondaTTLegends on Twitter for real-time updates. Neil Tuxworth, team manager We had an eventful qualifying session this afternoon but it was a good session. Steve was incredibly quick and led most of the first session, ending up second fastest. He increased his time considerably from this morning’s free practice. John went out and unfortunately had a very small crash, which upset things a bit but he still ended up sixth in his session overall. Keith did an exceptional job considering he hasn’t had any practice at all this weekend. He went immediately into qualifying and was on very good times, a lot quicker than the majority of the riders here. Fifth is an excellent position to be in at this time and it is two places higher than we qualified at the first event. We still have another session to go but I’m very happy. John McGuinness I am really enjoying it out there. In the first free practice Steve and I were on a similar sort of pace, we tested here and we’re faster than we were then. The development on the bike at the Bol d’Or is paying dividends. Steve did an amazing time, he was bang on the money and I got a bit excited! I had my qualifying tyre on, got some clear track and unfortunately put the bike upside down. I rode it back and luckily there was no major damage to the bike or me just a dint in my pride. I haven’t fallen for over a year so that felt a bit strange. I’m excited about night practice tonight and we’ll have another stab tomorrow morning. We’re competitive and we’ll be trying. Steve Plater I’m happy enough with my pace and more importantly I’ve achieved almost my best times on the race tyre. Lap times are really good, we’ve made a step forward with the bike set-up and we have tried a couple of changes which worked with the race tyre and I’m quite confident that if the weather is good tomorrow we can be on the pace. Keith Amor Going out without any practice is not ideal but all in all I quite enjoyed it. It’s quite tight and twisty here, not really ideal for a superbike, but I think I did about ten fast laps so I’m not too disappointed. Hopefully after night practice tonight I’ll be able to improve and the boys will be in a good position to start tomorrow evening. Russell Benney, race manager Technically, it’s been a great afternoon. We’ve achieved a fuel consumption that allows us to do an hour and this means that for the race we are on a seven-stop strategy. This is critical as we need to avoid that eighth stop. If you stop eight times in an eight-hour race you’ve got a problem. The other great technical achievement this afternoon is we that we have found a superb tyre combination. That’s a very good foundation for the race.