Suzuki Castrol Win Assen 500 Yamaha Austria Second, Yamaha Phase One Third 7 Nations and 4 Manufacturers in Top 7 Suzuki Castrol have won the Assen 500km round of the FIM World Endurance Championship in convincing style after leading from the first lap. By half distance they were a lap ahead of the rest of the field, and rider Vincent Philippe also set the fastest race lap with a time of 1:43.659. Second place went to Yamaha Austria, who were forced to pit early after wearing out their front tyre while pushing to catch Suzuki Castrol. Third place was held by Yamaha Phase One Endurance, and fourth went to Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se; both teams ran good smooth races. Kawasaki Bolliger Team started well then had to pit to replace a damaged rear sprocket unit. This dropped them down the field but they climbed back to finish fifth overall, just passing sixth placed Yamaha X-One in the closing minutes of the race. RMT21 Racing Honda had looked set to take fifth or sixth place but they had to make a last minute “splash and dash” pit stop, dropping them into seventh place behind X-One but in front of Kawasaki Diablo 666, who finished the race with only two gears working. The top Superstock class finisher was Suzuki Team Endurance Moto45 in ninth place overall, and the top Superproduction class finisher was Yamaha Team Acropolis Zone Rouge 199 in tenth place. The top seven finishing teams came from seven different nationalities; France, Austria, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. The same seven teams represented four different manufacturers; Suzuki (1st and 4th), Yamaha (2nd, 3rd and 6th), Kawasaki (5th) and Honda (7th). The next round of the championship is the Le Mans 24 Hour race which takes place next weekend, the 22nd and 23rd of April. Press Conference Vincent Philippe, Suzuki Castrol, 1st Place: “It was an easy race for the team. I made a good start, and tried to stay constant during the relais. I saw Yamaha Austria had a problem so I kept a good lap time but not too fast; I was thinking about Le Mans next week. It’s a pleasure to ride at Assen; for us no problems.” Sebastien Scarnato, Yamaha Austria, 2nd Place: “It will be very hard to beat Suzuki Castrol. At this race we had some small problems, and I think with these problems we could not beat them. We can be very much closer but I don’t know. On some circuits Pirelli will be better than Dunlop, but here Dunlop was better.” Damian Cudlin, Yamaha Phase One Endurance, 3rd Place: “I had a couple of little problems. We changed the bike a little bit in warm up and it wasn’t spot on for me; when the wind picked up it was a little bit unstable.” Provisional Top Ten Finishing Positions 1st 2 – Suzuki 0123 Castrol – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Philippe, Kagayama – 110 laps 2nd 7 – Yamaha Austria – AUT – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Jerman, Scarnato – 1 lap 3rd 3 – Yamaha Phase One Endurance – GBR – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Nowland, Cudlin – 2 laps 4th 12 – Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se – SWE – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Hanson, Andersson, Carlberg – 3 laps 5th 8 – Kawasaki Bolliger – SUI – Kawasaki ZX10R – Muff, Saiger, Morillon – 4 laps 6th 4 – Team X-One Yamaha – ITA – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Sanna, Demaneis, Tessari – +35.371 seconds 7th 21 – RMT21 Racing Honda – GER – Honda CBR1000RR – Mizera, Seidel – +1:05.900 8th 666 – Kawasaki Diablo 666 – GBR – Kawasaki ZX10R – Rohtlaan, Hutchins, Cudlin – 5 laps 9th 100 – Suzuki Team Endurance Moto45 – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Bernon, Briere – +48.871 seconds 10th 199 – Yamaha Team Acropolis Zone Rouge – FRA – Yamaha YZF-R1 – vdBoreck, Pirot, Botton – 6 laps More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Reigning World Endurance Champions Suzuki Castrol won the Assen 500km opening round of the FIM World Endurance Championship in Holland today after leading from the start. Although one rider down after Mathieu Lagrive crashed and injured himself yesterday, the SERT GSX-R1000 had pulled a lap ahead by the half-way point of the four-hour event and team rider Vincent Philippe also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:43.659. Second place overall and a lap down went to Yamaha Austria, who was forced to pit early after wearing out their front tyre while pushing to catch the Suzuki. Third place was taken by Yamaha Phase One Endurance and fourth; Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se aboard their GSX-R1000. The top Superstock class finisher was Suzuki Team Endurance Moto45 in ninth place overall and the leading Super Production class finisher was Yamaha Team Acropolis Zone Rouge 199 in 10th place. The top seven finishing teams came from seven different nationalities; France, Austria, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. The same seven teams represented four different manufacturers; Suzuki (1st and 4th), Yamaha (2nd, 3rd and 6th), Kawasaki (5th) and Honda (7th). Said Philippe: “It’s a pleasure to ride at Assen and for us there were no problems. It was an easy race for the team. I made a good start and tried to stay constant. I saw Yamaha Austria had a problem so I kept a good lap time but not too fast. I was thinking about Le Mans.” The next round of the championship is the Le Mans 24 Hour race which takes place next weekend, April 22nd/ 23rd. 1: Suzuki Castrol – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Philippe, Kagayama – 110 laps. 2: Yamaha Austria – AUT – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Jerman, Scarnato – 1 lap 3: Yamaha Phase One Endurance – GBR – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Nowland, Cudlin – 2 laps 4: Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se – SWE – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Hanson, Andersson, Carlberg – 3 laps 5: Kawasaki Bolliger – SUI – Kawasaki ZX10R – Muff, Saiger, Morillon – 4 laps 6: Team X-One Yamaha – ITA – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Sanna, Demaneis, Tessari – +35.371 seconds 7: RMT21 Racing Honda – GER – Honda CBR1000RR – Mizera, Seidel – +1:05.900 8: Kawasaki Diablo 666 – GBR – Kawasaki ZX10R – Rohtlaan, Hutchins, Cudlin – 5 laps 9: Suzuki Team Endurance Moto45 – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Bernon, Briere – +48.871 seconds 10: Yamaha Team Acropolis Zone Rouge – FRA – Yamaha YZF-R1 vd Boreck, Pirot, Botton – 6 laps