PIRELLI WINS THE 24H OF LE MANS MOTO – 2010 Victory for Pirelli at the hands of Team GSR-Kawasaki Milan (Italy) This past weekend at the famous Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, France, the Team GSR-Kawasaki equipped with Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyres raced to victory at the 33rd edition of the 24h of Le Mans Moto 2010. This event represents the opening round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance Championship and is considered the world’s most competitive 24-hour motorcycle endurance race. From the very beginning of the weekend, the #11 Kawasaki of Team GSR (Gilles Stafler Racing) and its three talented riders, Julien Da Costa, Olivier Four and Gregory Leblanc set the tone by taking the Superpole after leading all the qualifying sessions. Taking the race lead after just few laps and despite constant attempts by its competitors, the No. 11 Kawasaki took advantage of the night to gradually increase its lead as much as 11 laps until the checkered flag was drawn on its second crew. The reliability of the motorcycle, the organization and preparation of the team, teamwork by its riders and the performance Pirelli tyres have allowed team “green” to defeat the former-champion Yamaha R1 bike of the YART-Yamaha Austria Racing Team and the runner-up Suzuki GSX-R of Team RAC 41-City Bike. The three riders were able to perfectly exploit Pirelli tyres to their maximum, even though the entire race was completed on standard tyres: Pirelli Diablo Superbike SC2 at the front and SC1 on the rear. Pirelli has once again demonstrated an effective performance, reliability and longevity of its Diablo Superbike tyres. This victory confirms the Italian manufacturer’s famous saying “We sell what we race, we race what we sell”, a strongly impassioned philosophy and proof that Pirelli Diablo tyres are a critical element to success. The final word is left to Team Manager of the GSR-Kawasaki Team, Gilles Stafler, who said: “We did a lot of laps (828) and Pirelli [tyres] worked well the whole time. This victory is the fruit of our work!” The second round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship will take place on the 22nd of May in Spain, which will host the 8 Hours of Albacete. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha Austria Racing Team kick-off 2010 World Endurance season with a hard fought podium 2009 World Endurance Champions YART (Yamaha Austria Racing Team) made a great start to their 2010 championship challenge at Le Mans last weekend, battling through the legendary 24Hrs race to secure a second place finish on the podium. Having qualified fourth on the grid, riders Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani pushed hard, leading the race for several laps until a mechanical issue with the rear wheel caused an unscheduled stop. But despite the setbacks they battled on with their 2010 YZF-R1 to claim their deserved podium finish. “The initial speed of the race was incredibly high,” said YART team manager Mandy Kainz. “It was a challenging first race of the season but we rose to meet it and the riders, team and bike performed brilliantly. I’m really overjoyed that we managed to secure second place, keeping us close to the top of the championship table. I’m confident we can challenge for another world title this year.” The Yamaha France GMT94 Ipone Team also put in an incredible effort for the opening round of the 2010 championship. The team had a temporary setback with a broken exhaust pipe but were back on the track after losing 19 minutes to try and make up the lost time. From 43rd place riders David Checa, Gregorio Lavilla and Kenny Foray pushed their YZF-R1, delivering fast consistent laps through the night, finishing just one place off the podium at the chequered flag in fourth place. The Yamaha France GMT94 Ipone Team achieved their impressive result riding on Bridgestone tyres, the manufacturer finally getting an official presence in the championship this year. “I saw men who never let up for 24 hours,” said team owner Christophe Guyot, ” a team that was always attentive to their needs, Bridgestone technicians seeking information throughout the entire race, and a Yamaha R1 that ran like clockwork. We were all united, focused towards getting the best possible result. And this fourth place is a fantastic reward to us.” The second round of the World Endurance Championship will be the 8Hrs race held on May 22nd at Albacete, Spain More, from a press release issued by Birchall Brother Racing: BIRCHALLS BEGIN DEFENCE OF WORLD TITLE Reigning world sidecar champions Ben and Tom Birchall began the defence of their world title at Le Mans in France on Sunday where they rode to a very close second place behind former champion Pekka Paivarinta and passenger Adolph Hanni who took the win by three hundredths of a second. Qualifying threw up a few niggling problems which hampered the Mitchells of Mansfield supported brothers but none the less they were able to secure a front row start to the opening race in the current campaign. As the lights went out to herald the start, Paivarinta was quick to get away and got the hole shot into the first corner. Ben and Tom settled into third place before moving up to second a few seconds later. But just as they began to get on terms with the leaders the race was stopped following an oil spillage. At the restart the race was reduced to 15 laps and began with Paivarinta shooting away into the lead swiftly followed by the world champions. The pair pulled away from the following outfits and battled it out for the lead. But when they became mixed in with the back markers Paivarinta had the clear passage through while Ben and Tom were held up. Once they made their way through they resumed their chase to catch the leaders but although they got within touching distance of the flying Finn, Ben unable to get his nose in front and the pair crossed the finish line together with Paivarinta taking the win by the narrowest of margins. In the effort to catch the leaders Ben and Tom put in the fastest lap of the race on lap nine of 15 with a time of 1m 43.058s. “We are happy with second today,” said Ben. “We didn’t have much luck passing the backmarkers because there were yellow flags out meaning we were not allowed to pass. But once we got through we pushed hard and soon got back on terns with Pekka, but we just ran out of laps and couldn’t get past. “The FIM have taken over the organisation of the world championship for the remainder of the year which is very promising for the future of the series.” The Birchall brothers take to the track again over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend at Snetterton when they contest round two of the Eastern Airways Battle of Britain championship where they currently hold third place.