FIM Endurance World Championship/Oschersleben 8 Hours Oschersleben, Germany August 11, 2012 Race Results:
1. S.E.R.T. (Vincent PHILIPPE/Anthony DELHALLE/Yukio KAGAYAMA), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SBK, 313 laps
2. BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE THEVENT (Sebastien GIMBERT/Damian CUDLIN/Erwan NIGON), BMW S1000RR, SBK, 312 laps
3. YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 MICHELIN (David CHECA/Kenny FORAY/Gwen GIABBANI), Yamaha YZF-R1, SBK, 312 laps, -13.209 seconds
4. HONDA TT LEGENDS (Cameron DONALD/John McGUINNESS/Jason O’HALLORAN), Honda CBR1000RR, SBK, 309 laps
5. MOTOR EVENTS AMT ASSURANCES (DIETRICH Guillaume/SAVARY Michael/GUITTET Baptiste), Suzuki GSX-R1000, STK, 306 laps
6. .3D ENDURANCE MOTO CENTER (DEBISE Valentin/ECHARD Romy/DI CARLO Gregory), Kawasaki ZX-10R, STK, 306 laps, -13.966 seconds
7. QERT (Anthony WEST/Nina PRINZ/Nasser AL MALKI), Suzuki GSX-R1000, STK, 305 laps
8. YAMALUBE FOLCH ENDURANCE (Daniel RIBALTA/Arturo TIZON), Yamaha YZF-R1, SBK, 304 laps
9. DGSPORT HEROCK (VAN KEYMEULEN Didier/CUDLIN Alex/VIZZIELLO Gianluca), Yam YZF-R1, STK, 303 laps
10. AM MOTO RACING COMPETITION (Anthony LOISEAU/Romain MAITRE/Etienne MASSON), Suzuki GSX-R1000, STK, 300 laps
More, from a press release issued by FIM Endurance Press Office:
Suzuki Endurance Racing Team wins at Oschersleben ahead of ferocious competition
The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team triumphs at the Oschersleben 8 Hours after 313 breathtaking laps. The French team with eleven FIM World Endurance titles to its name had to battle it out till the very end to win the day just one lap ahead of the BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent and the Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has further strengthened its position at the top of the provisional leader board with a lead of 19 points over the BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent and the Honda TT Legends.
The result reflects the fierce battle for the podium waged over 8 hours by the three contenders for the top spot. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team managed to hold on to the lead throughout most of the race thanks to Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Yukio Kagayama, leaving Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube and BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent to scrap it out for second place as they each took turns to refuel. The BMW, ridden by Sébastien Gimbert, Damian Cudlin and Erwan Nigon, crossed the line in second place with a lead of just 13 s over the Yamaha with David Checa, Kenny Foray and Gwen Giabbani on board.
The Honda TT Legends ridden by John McGuinness, Cameron Donald and Jason O’Halloran held on to its fourth place throughout the race, clinching another big score. The Yamalube Folch Endurance came in fifth in the EWC category.
A trio of Superstock machines managed to squeeze in between the official British Honda and the Spanish Yamaha. 2011 FIM World Cup winner Team Motors Events AMT Assurances tops this category for the first time ahead of the Kawasaki of 3D Endurance Moto Center and the Suzuki of the Qatar Endurance Racing Team.
It was a good day’s work for the Yamaha of DG Sport, ninth overall and fourth Superstock ahead of the Suzuki AM Moto Racing Compétition which has chalked up its first points of the season in Germany.
The Bolliger Team Switzerland stayed in the big points after a crash at the start of the race. The Swiss Kawasaki, eleventh at the chequered flag, takes sixth place in the EWC category. It came in ahead of the Monster Energy Yamaha YART whose bid for victory was scuppered by an early crash by Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
The Maco Racing Team was among the non-finishers. Dogged by electronic problems at the start, the Slovakian Yamaha was stymied by a broken drive chain that damaged the crank case and cost it the the benefit of a brilliant seventh position on the grid.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans, sixth and final round of the FIM Endurance World Championship, will take place on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 September on the France’s Bugatti circuit. The 2012 FIM Endurance World Championship Title will be therefore be decided en France. There are 40 points up for grabs by the winner of this last race of the season.
What they said”¦
Vincent Philippe, rider with the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team “After my crash in Suzuka which knocked us off the podium, I absolutely had to take the chequered flag in first place.”
Anthony Delhalle, rider with the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team “It’s been a perfect weekend. We were on top in the practice and things went really well for us in the race right up to the finish.”
Damian Cudlin, rider with BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent “I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t manage to beat the Suzuki. But I admit that after my crash in the warm-up this morning I was a bit tense at the start and for the first few laps.”
David Checa, rider with Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube “This race was really special for me as I won here when I first joined the GMT team ten years ago. We had a perfect race again this year and the only problem was the competition.”
Christophe Guyot, team manager of Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube “We put up a good fight and we were able to show what we can do. We set out to focus on performance and steady fuel consumption. We still have to do some fine-tuning for le Mans.”
Michael Savary, rider with Team Motors Events AMT Assurances “It was a close race for the first place. We were unlucky at the Bol d’Or at the start of the season but since Doha we’ve been getting stronger all the time. We’ll be going into le Mans as leader of the Superstocks.”
Valentin Debise, rider with 3D Endurance Moto Center “I think we lost the race right at the start. I played it safe whereas the competition went for it right from the word go. But we are still in contention for the Superstock Cup and that’s very important for this team which is made up entirely of volunteers.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:
Suzuki Endurance Racing Team raced to victory in the penultimate round of the Endurance World Championship at today’s fourth round at Oschersleben in Germany.
SERT riders Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Yukio Kagayama topped practice and qualifying on Thursday and Friday aboard the French team’s Yoshimura-powered GSX-R1000; and then totally dominated today’s Oschersleben 8-Hour race from the front, crossing the line with a total of 313 laps of the 3.6 km circuit to beat runners-up BMW Motorrad France by one lap.
Third place went to Yamaha France GMT94 13 seconds behind, but the SERT’s lead coming into the event of five points over Honda TT Legends has now increased; helped by today’s extra 10-points being awarded to the winners, which meant that instead of scoring the sport’s governing FIM body’s normal 25 points for a victory, SERT received 35.
With the final round of the series on home ground – the 24 Hour race at Le Mans in France on September 9th – the 11-times World Champions have a 19-point lead, with the winner’s points haul at this event 40 points which means any of five teams could clinch the series.
Today’s race was drama packed, as every four rounds have been so far, starting at Magny Cours, France in April, moving to Losail in Qatar in June; and then onto Suzuka in Japan at the end of last month, when SERT crashed out of potential podium position and a possible win. But rider Philippe pushed the GSX-R1000 back to the pits, the team pulled together and fixed the bike; re-joining the race to salvage valuable Championship points.
Eleven-times World Champions SERT came away from Suzuka with a narrow five-point lead over the Honda TT Legends team of John McGuinness, Cameron Donald and Jason O’Halloran. The team is now third after its fourth-placed finish at Oschersleben and tied on points with BMW Motorrad, but now just 21 points separate the top-four teams.
At the half-way point of today’s Oschersleben 8-Hour, SERT led with 179 laps, one lap ahead of Yamaha France GMT94 after early rivals Monster Energy Yamaha crashed and lost seven laps repairing its machine. Third was BMW Motorrad, some 30-seconds behind Yamaha France GMT94 with Honda TT Legends fourth and the Suzuki-mounted Motor Events in fifth, holding the top Superstock team position and taking the lead in the Superstock Championship after three of four races. Qatar Endurance Racing was also on the same lap as Motor Events and five laps behind the leaders after top Superstock qualifiers Starteam 67 crashed-out spectacularly from contention; the team’s GSX-R1000 bursting into flames, fortunately without serious injury to the rider.
Entering the final hour, Delhalle handed over to Philippe still holding a one-lap lead over BMW Motorrad (285 laps to 284). Yamaha GMT94 was third at that stage on the same lap as BMW with Honda TT Legends fourth, five laps behind the reigning World Champions.
In Philippe’s final stint, the experienced Frenchman continued to turn-in some fast lap times – as well as a few conservative laps – to bring the GSX-R1000 home safely for its second overall victory of the season.
Said Philippe: After my crash at Suzuka, which knocked us off the podium, I absolutely had to take the chequered flag in first place!”
More, from a press release issued by Honda:
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS RESULTS POS / TEAM / RIDERS / MOTORCYCLE / LAPS / TIME 1 / S.E.R.T. / PHILIPPE Vincent РDELHALLE Anthony РKAGAYAMA Yukio / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 313 / 8:01:10.113 2 / BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE THEVE / GIMBERT Sebastien РCUDLIN Damian РNIGON Erwan / BMW S 1000 RR / 312 / 8:01:26.604 3 / YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 MICHELI / CHECA David РFORAY Kenny РGIABBANI Gwen / Yamaha R1 / 312 / 8:01:39.813 4 / HONDA TT LEGENDS / DONALD Cameron РMcGUINNESS John РO HALLORAN Jason / Honda CBR 1000 RR / 309 / 8:02:19 5 / YAMALUBE FOLCH ENDURANCE / RIBALTA Daniel РTIZON Arturo / Yamaha R1 / 304 / 8:02:04.722 6 / BOLLIGER TEAM SWITZERLAND / SAIGER Horst РSTAMM Roman РTANGRE J̩rome / Kawasaki ZX 10 R / 300 / 8:02:17.785 7 / MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA YART / JERMAN Igor РMARTIN Steve РNAKASUGA Katsuyuki / Yamaha R1 / 298 / 8:01:26.154 8 / MOTOBOX KREMER BY SHELL / SCHERRER Martin РPAAVILAINEN Timo РSZALAI Kevin / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 297 / 8:01:42.036 9 / UNION LILJA RACING / NORTH Tom РLILJA Andres / BMW S 1000 RR / 288 / 8:02:05.482 10 / TEAM R2CL / CHEVAUX Nans РBUISSON Dylan РPRULHIERE Sebastien / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 269 / 8:01:17.177
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS POSITIONS TO DATE 1 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 95, 2 BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent 76, 3 Honda TT Legends 76, 4 Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube 74, 5 Bolliger Team Switzerland 55, 6 Yamalube Folch Endurance 55, 7 Monster Energy Yamaha YART 42 8 Team SRC Kawasaki 40, 9 Team R2CL 38, 10 FCC TSR Honda 35, 11 Toho Racing with Moriwaki 29, 12 Team Flembbo Dijamant Serbia 29, 13 Moto Map Supply 21, 14 Honda Suzuka Racing Team 18, 15 Maco Racing Team 18.
SUPERSTOCK CLASS RESULTS POS / TEAM / RIDERS / MOTORCYCLE / LAPS / TIME 1 / MOTORS EVENTS AMT ASSURANC / DIETRICH Guillaume – SAVARY Michael – GUITTET Baptiste / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 306 / 8:02:05.8 2 / .3D ENDURANCE MOTO CENTER / DEBISE Valentin – ECHARD Remy – DI CARLO Gregory / Kawasaki ZX10R / 306 / 8:02:19.8 3 / QERT / WEST Anthony – PRINZ Nina – AL MALKI Nasser / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 305 / 8:02:20.3 4 / DGSPORT HEROCK / VAN KEYMEULEN Didier – CUDLIN Alex – VIZZIELLO Gianluca / Yamaha R1 / 303 / 8:02:09.6 5 / AM MOTO RACING COMPETITION / LOISEAU Anthony – MAITRE Romain – MASSON Etienne / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 300 / 8:02:11.6 6 / ATOMIC MOTOSPORT / EGEA Stephane – JOND Frederic – DISS Sebastien / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 296 / 8:01:43.1 7 / NO LIMITS MOTOR TEAM / ALDROVANDI Alessio – ERBACCI Cristano – SALTARELLI Simone / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 291 / 8:02:14 8 / MCS RACING – IPONE / SASETA Ricardo – ERCEG Marco – PEDONI Leonardo / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 289 / 8:02:35.5 9 / MCP STARTEAM 67 / LUCAS Claude – HARDT Jonathan / Suzuki GSX R 1000 / 270 / 8:02:09.8 10 / Penz13 Kraftw. Herpigny Racing / VALLCANERAS Pedro – FILLA Michal – FASTRE Gregory / BMW S 1000 RR / 268 / 8:02:36.5 11 / ECURIE CHRONO SPORT / HERVEUX Lionel – PIBOLLEAU Mickael – BERGERON Lionel / Kawasaki ZX 10 R Ninja / 233 / 8:02:22.7
SUPERSTOCK CLASS POSITIONS TO DATE. 1 Team Motors Events AMT Assurances 73, 2 3D Endurance Moto Center 69, 3 Penz13 Kraftwerk Herpigny Racing 69, 4 DG Sport Herock 66, 5 Qatar Endurance Racing Team 60, 6 Atomic MotoSport 55, 7 MCP Starteam 67 40, 8 MCS Racing Ipone 39, 9 Ecurie Chrono Sport 26, 10 Racing Team Sarazin 19, 11 AM Moto Racing Compétition 18, 12 Louit Moto 33 17, 13 Moto Ain Racing Team 15, 14 No Limits Motor Team 14, 15 MotoRacingParts Endurance Penz13 14.
NEXT EVENT: ROUND 05 SEPTEMBER 09 LE MANS, FRANCE
More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent:
Oschersleben, Germany – 11th August 2012: A hard fought second place in today’s 8 Hours of Oschersleben, the fourth round of the 2012 Endurance World Championship, promoted BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent to second in the series standings with just one round remaining.
Damian Cudlin, Sébastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon rode a faultless race aboard the #99 BMW S1000RR at Oschersleben today. Cudlin got proceedings underway from second place on the grid, but dropped back to third on the opening lap, as the safety car was deployed in response to an early crash.
The Australian reclaimed second place later in his stint, before spending another few laps behind the safety car prior to the first pit stop. Gimbert took up where his teammate left off, defending second place while also pushing to close the gap on the race leader.
Nigon rejoined the race in second place after taking over the #99 BMW S1000RR at the three hour point, but it was already apparent that challenging for the win today was going to be extremely difficult, as it was impossible for the BMW trio to match the outright pace of the eventual race winner.
Undeterred, each rider continued to push to the maximum during their stints aboard the #99 BMW S1000RR, but while the gap back to third initially remained constant, so did the margin to the race leaders.
Gimbert, doing the last relay aboard the #99 BMW S1000RR, eventually took the chequered flag in second place, after holding off a late challenge from third place finishers, GMT94.
Today’s podium finish means that BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent are now tied on points with Honda TT Legends, but the race win in Qatar earlier in the season means they take second place in the championship standings ahead of the British team.
BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent now trail the series leaders by 19 points, but with 40 points on offer for the winner of the final round of the season in Le Mans, the championship is still far from over.
Damian Cudlin: “Obviously we were looking for the win, but it’s good to be on the podium for BMW here in Germany. Actually it’s good for me too; I only live about 200km from here, so this is like a home race for me! So, it was nice, but it would have been nicer to be one step higher. Unfortunately, this weekend, we never really found a good set-up for this track. I crashed in warm up too, which didn’t really help our confidence, and meant that the guys had to work flat out to get the bike rebuilt for the race. We did the best we could today and second was it. But it’s not over yet. Anything can happen in a 24-hour race, so we’ll be pushing all the way next time out at Le Mans.”
Erwan Nigon: “Second place is not perfect, because I wanted to win and the team wanted to win, but it just wasn’t possible today. We lost too much time in free practice and qualifying, which meant we didn’t manage to change the bike to suit this track. The circuit and the conditions here are very different to Suzuka, and the set-up never really worked all weekend. We all pushed hard, but it was difficult to find the pace we needed to challenge for the win today. But, second place here means we’re now second in the championship and the fight isn’t over yet. We go into the final round at Le Mans knowing that we must win; nothing else will do, so that’s what we’ll be pushing for.”
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal “I think it’s fair to say we didn’t put a foot wrong today. All three riders were consistently fast and the team did a superb job once again at the pit stops. The only problem was SERT, who were simply too quick for everyone here at Oschersleben today. But the team can be proud of themselves, as they put together a great race. Second place here means we’re now second in the championship once again, and it’s still only 19 points separating us from the top spot. We won’t be letting our heads drop; there are a lot of points up for grabs at Le Mans, and anything can happen in a 24-hour race, so we’ll go on fighting to the very end. We’re still in with a shout of the championship, which is all the incentive we need going into the final race of the season.”