Bol d’Or at Nevers Magny-Cours Rendez-vous next Thursday for the first practice session Penultimate round of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship, the Bol d’Or will start from next week on Thursday 11 September, with the first free practice session. As the competition will be harsher than ever, and the gap will be small between all the podium contenders, it will give us the first opportunity to have a look on all the team’s performance. Current World Endurance Champion, title owner for the last three years and 2008 series leader, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team remains one of the favourites. The SERT and its riders, Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa have the experience and a background of nearly two years as teammates. The SERT 1 will also have the back-up support of the SERT 2, with William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Olivier Four, to trust the road to victory or take some big points from some other title contenders. Yamaha GMT 94 is another potential winner. 2004 Endurance World Champion, GMT 94 also took victory at the 2007 Bol d’Or. The GMT, also engaged in World Superbike, developed its R1 all along the season; they are in shape for victory, with the trio of riders, Sébastien Gimbert, David Checa and Steve Plater, who was set free from Yamaha Austria Racing Team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Bol d’Or. To complete the team with Steve Martin and Igor Jerman, Yamaha Austria is back with one of their former rider, Gwen Giabbani. As they will be looking to keep the dynamics from their second place at the 8 Hours of Oschersleben, YART is another top team to look at. The Yamaha clan has more cards to play. New permanent team in the 2008 Qtel FIM World Endurance Championship, the 100 % Spanish Yamaha Folch Endurance revealed themselves as strong contenders, with Dani Ribalta, Pedro Vallcaneras and Jose Manuel Luis. Last but not least, Phase One Endurance come with greater ambitions, as they asked German rider Jörg Teuchert to team with Damian Cudlin and Graeme Gowland. Kawasaki France took victory at the last round, at Oschersleben. Erwan Nigon, Julian Mazuecos and Ivan Silva aim at taking another victory on the official ZX-10R. In the Kawasaki clan, Bolliger Team Swizterland will try to kill the black cat, and get rid of all the mechanical breakdowns they had to face during the last two races, with David Morillon, Patric Muff and Eric Mizera. Under the Honda banner, National Motos can surprise. Not enough developed for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the CBR 1000 RR seems in better shape. The team will be on the starting grid with Sébastien Scarnato, Thomas Metro and Josep Monge. RMT 21 Racing Team (Matti Seidel, Tomas Miksovsky and Thomas Roth) will also have some word to say. But the most popular Honda will be undoubtedly the Moto Revue with Jean-Michel Bayle, Sébastien Charpentier and Thierry Traccan. Another interesting bike on this 72nd Bol d’Or is the Honda Thorn Bikes. Engaged in the Open class, this CBR 1000 RR is fitted with a Bio Flew Power system and runs on second-generation bio-ethanol. It’s a premiere on an international event. Bertrand Stey, Stéphane Lacaze and William Milios will be behind the handlebars.