FIM Endurance World Championship Oschersleben, Germany August 10, 2012 Qualifying Session Two Results: 1. S.E.R.T. (Vincent PHILIPPE 1:26.672/Anthony DELHALLE 1:26.955/Yukio KAGAYAMA 1:27.319), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SBK, 1:26.982 avg. 2. BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE THEVENT (Sebastien GIMBERT 1:27.369/Damian CUDLIN 1:26.770/Erwan NIGON 1:27.053), BMW S1000RR, SBK, 1:27.064 avg. 3. MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA YART (Igor JERMAN 1:27.518/Steve MARTIN 1:27.681/Katsuyuki NAKASUGA 1:26.397), Yamaha YZF-R1, SBK, 1:27.199 avg. 4. YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 MICHELIN (David CHECA 1:27.530/Kenny FORAY 1:27.380/Gwen GIABBANI 1:27.647), Yamaha YZF-R1, SBK, 1:27.519 avg. 5. HONDA TT LEGENDS (Cameron DONALD 1:28.853/John McGUINNESS 1:27.739/Jason O’HALLORAN 1:27.568), Honda CBR1000RR, SBK, 1:28.053 avg. 6. MCP STARTEAM 67 (Claude LUCAS 1:28.910/Jonathan HARDT 1:28.185), Suzuki GSX-R1000, STK, 1:28.548 avg. 7. MACO RACING TEAM (Gregory JUNOD 1:28.816/Gregg BLACK 1:28.633/Lucas DE CAROLIS 1:28.457), Yamaha YZF-R1, SBK, 1:28.635 avg. 8. QERT (Anthony WEST 1:27.819/Nina PRINZ 1:28.496/Nasser AL MALKI 1:30.269), Suzuki GSX-R1000, STK, 1:28.861 avg. 9. BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND (Horst SAIGER 1:28.799/Roman STAMM 1:27.593/Jerome TANGRE 1:30.418), Kawasaki ZX-10R, SBK, 1:28.937 avg. 10. AM MOTO RACING COMPETITION (Anthony LOISEAU 1:29.631/Romain MAITRE 1:29.273/Etienne MASSON 1:28.770), Suzuki GSX-R1000, STK, 1:29.225 avg. More, from a press release issued by FIM Endurance Press Office: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team in pole position at Oschersleben ahead of BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent and Monster Energy Yamaha YART After a disappointment at the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan in July, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team seems determined not to give any ground at the Oschersleben 8 Hours. Reigning FIM Endurance World Champions and current leaders in the provisional world rankings by a small margin, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team have managed to contain the competition in the qualifiers and will start tomorrow from pole position at the Oschersleben 8 Hours, fourth and penultimate round of the 2012 season. On the average of the all their best lap times, Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Yukio Kagayama of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team squeaked ahead of the BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent with Sébastien Gimbert, Damian Cudlin and Erwan Nigon on board. “We haven’t yet got the tuning of the motorcycle 100% right”, said Nicolas Dussauge, sports director of the BMW team. The Monster Energy Yamaha YART can boast the best individual performance of the qualifiers with a lap time of 1’26.397 clocked up by Katsuyuki Nakasuga. Nakasuga and his team-mates Igor Jerman and Steve Martin will be starting in the third position on the grid ahead of the Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube ridden by David Checa, Kenny Foray and Gwen Giabbani. These four teams are all lying within a single second. The Honda TT Legends (Cameron Donald, John McGuinness and Jason O’Halloran) is close behind this group of pre-race favourites and ahead of the first Superstock machine, the Suzuki of MCP Starteam 67 ridden by Claude Lucas and Jonathan Hardt, and the Yamaha of the Maco Racing Team manned by Gregory Junod, Gregg Black and Lucas de Carolis. The Qatar Endurance Racing Team (Anthony West, Nina Prinz, Nasser Al Malki) moves up a place on the grid as Bolliger Team Switzerland was held up this afternoon following a crash by Roman Stamm. The third Superstock machine, the Suzuki AM Moto Racing Compétition, makes up the top 10 coming out of the qualifiers. The start of the Oschersleben 8 Hours will be given at 14.00 hours tomorrow, Saturday, for a night finish at 22.00 hours. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: World Championship leaders Suzuki Endurance Racing team has put its GSX-R1000 on Pole for tomorrow’s fourth round of the World Endurance Championship at Oschersleben in Germany. Team riders Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Yukio Kagayama recorded a combined time of 1:26.982 from today’s three qualifying sessions; Frenchman Philippe the fastest of the trio with an individual lap of 1:26.672. The 11-times World Endurance Champions fended off strong challenges from BMW Motorrad’s Sébastien Gimbert, Damian Cudlin and Erwan Nigon and then Monster Yamaha’s Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Katsuyuki Nakasuga; the Japanese rider clocking-up the fastest individual lap of the day with a blistering time of 1:26.397. Less than one second separates the top four teams with Yamaha France GMT 94 putting in a time of 1:27.519 to finish ahead of fifth-placed Honda TT Legends; SERT’s closest rivals in the series with just five points separating the two teams before this penultimate round of the 2012 Endurance World Championship. The top Superstock class qualifier was Suzuki GSX-R1000-mounted MCP Starteam 67 with team riders Claude Lucas and Jonathan Hardt in sixth place with a time of 1:28.548. Suzuki’s Qatar Endurance Racing’s Anthony West, Nina Prinz, Nasser Al Malki filled eighth position – and second best Superstock – and the Suzuki-mounted AM Moto Racing Competition rounded-out the top-10 and the third top Superstock qualifier. The start of the Oschersleben 8 Hours is at 14.00 tomorrow (Saturday) for a night finish of 22.00. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent: Strong qualifying performance from BMW Motorrad France at Oschersleben Oschersleben, Germany – 10 August 2012: BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent will start tomorrow’s 8 Hours of Oschersleben from second place on the grid, after Damian Cudlin, Sébastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon missed out on pole by the narrowest of margins in qualifying. The BMW trio were second fastest on combined times after qualifying yesterday, but made changes to the bike overnight in order to improve performance in race trim. While the changes suited Cudlin and Nigon, who finished first and second in their respective qualifying stints, Gimbert couldn’t get the best from the bike in today’s cooler conditions and was only fifth fastest in the opening 30-minute stint. When the combined times from both qualifying sessions were calculated it was championship leaders, SERT, who claimed pole position for the penultimate race in the 2012 Endurance World Championship, by just 0.082s from the #99 BMW S1000RR. For Cudlin, Nigon and Gimbert the aim tomorrow remains the same; to push hard for the win and to close the gap to the top of the championship standings ahead of the final race of the season, the 24 Hours Moto at Le Mans. Damian Cudlin: “Obviously we’re a little disappointed not to have secured pole position for tomorrow’s race, especially as we were beaten to the top spot by our biggest rivals in the championship. But it is SERT who will be feeling the pressure tomorrow, not us. While they have to worry about avoiding trouble so as to maintain their lead in the championship, we go into the race with little to lose. We know we need to win if we are to take the title fight to the final round, and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do from the start here at Oschersleben. If we can steer clear of trouble, which isn’t always so easy over eight hours of racing, then we have the pace and the package to win, of that I’m certain.” Erwan Nigon: “It would have been better to be starting tomorrow from pole position, but it’s not so important for an eight hour race. We were unlucky in Suzuka, so hopefully we’ve used up all our bad luck for the season and we’ll have a trouble free run tomorrow. It will be a hard race; our bike is fast but it’s also quite demanding to ride at this circuit, where there are many corners, but no real straights where you can relax a little on the bike. We will have another look at the set-up tonight and I hope we can get the bike to turn a little easier during tomorrow’s warm up. Even so, I’m pretty confident going into the race; I have two strong teammates in Damian and Sébastien, and our pace has been competitive all weekend. We need to win here at Oschersleben if we are to fight for the championship at Le Mans, and we’ll be pushing hard to do just that tomorrow.” Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal “To start from pole tomorrow would have been a bonus, but second place is close enough to the front for Sébastien to avoid any problems in the opening laps. We are trailing SERT by just 13 points in the championship, so we only really have one option tomorrow and that’s to try and win the race. If we can do that, and pick up the maximum 35 points on offer, then that will put us right back in the running for the title going into the final round at Le Mans. As the current leaders I’m sure SERT are starting to feel the pressure a little, whereas we have nothing to lose by pushing for the race win. It will be interesting to see how tomorrow’s race develops, but I’m confident we can run at the front with the package we have from BMW and Michelin here at Oschersleben.” For more information and additional high resolution images please visit the BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent website at www.thevent.eu.