Team Kawasaki France to start on pole at Oschersleben 24 Hours The tone has been set at the qualifying rounds at Oschersleben. On the German track the struggle began on Thursday afternoon in the first qualifying session between the two favorites Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and Team Kawasaki France. A close-fought battle for the front of the grid saw Kawasaki France and SERT separated by only a tenth of a second. In the second session this morning Kawasaki France took pole position just ahead of SERT, who had initially taken a very small lead from the first qualifying session on Thursday afternoon. On Saturday at 3:00 p.m. the battle will recommence between the Kawasaki France riders Steve Plater, Gwen Giabbani and Julian Mazeucos, and those on the Suzuki of SERT Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa. Baring falls or mechanical failure, it looks likely that the winner will be come from either the green of Kawasaki or the blue of Suzuki. Making the most of the hazards of the 24 Hours track, Yamaha Austria Racing Team is also in a good position to challenge for victory. YART took an impressive third place in qualifying, less than a second behind the two leaders. The Austrian team was forced to call on Australian Steve Martin to replace Frenchman Sébastien Scarnato, who is still recovering and will be a replacement rider at Oschersleben. The recall for Martin saw the Australian impress and record the fastest time for his team of Igor Jerman and Damian Cudlin. The leading machine in the Superproduction class, the Yamaha Moto Endurance 38 of Erwan Nigon, Julien Millet, Hugo Marchand and Joao Contente, recorded a superb fourth fastest time. The Kawasakis of Qatar Endurance Racing Team and Bolliger Switzerland took fifth and sixth places respectively, just ahead of the Yamahas of Phase One Endurance, Zone Rouge Belgique and Amadeus X-One. One of the two R1200Ss entered in the Open category by BMW Motorrad finished inside the top 15 during the qualifiers. Both machines will also be racing at the forthcoming Bol d’Or. The most unpredictable element of this tenth edition of the Oschersleben 24 Hours is the weather. On Friday morning the second qualifying session took place under a light drizzle which has often short-circuited the timers. The local weather forecast is predicting thunderstorms for the weekend at Oschersleben. The 10th edition of the Oschersleben 24 Hours will start at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Provisional Qualifying Results (based on average times among teams’ three riders): 1. Team Kawasaki France (Steve Plater 1:29.242/Gwen Giabbani 1:28.830/Julian Mazuecos 1:28.572), Kaw ZX-10R, 1:28.881 2. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) 1 (Vincent Philippe 1:28.637/Matthieu Lagrive 1:29.089/Julian da Costa 1:29.236), Suz GSX-R1000, 1:28.987 3. Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) (Igor Jerman 1:30.377/Steve Martin 1:29.008/Damien Cudlin 1:29.222), Yam YZF-R1, 1:29.536 4. Endurance Moto 38 (Erwan Nigon 1:29.517/Julien Millet 1:30.208/Joao Contente Fernandes 1:29.766), Yam YZF-R1, 1:29.830 5. Qatar Endurance Racing Team (QERT) (Ivan Silva Alberoia 1:28.745/Jordi Almeda 1:31.256/MArshal Mohammaed Al Na 1:30.368), Kaw ZX-10R, 1:30.368 6. Bolliger Switzerland (David Morillon 130.670/Patric Muff 1:29.359/Horst Saiger 1:31.157) Kaw ZX-10R, 1:30.395 7. Phase One Endurance (Warwick Nowland 1:30.489/Jakub Smrz 1:32.828/Stefan Nebel 1:30.238) Yam YZF-R1, 1:31.185 8. Zone Rouge Yamaha Belgique (Olivier Depooryter 1:30.681/Serge Fischer 1:32.643/Patrick Marey 1:32.071) Yam YZF-R1, 1:31.798 9. La Fortezza Amadeus X-one (Paolo Tessari 1:32.086/Riccardo Ricci 1:32.138/Mauro Lucchiari 1:31.236) Yam YZF-R1, 1:31.820 10. Diablo 666 Bolliger (James Hutchins 1:30.636/Alexander Cudlin 1:32.433/Olivier Ulman 1:33.412) Kaw ZX-10R, 1:32.160 More, from a press release issued by Amadeus X-one: Amadeus X One 8th on Prov’ Oschersleben Grid Fight for Top Three Positions Between SERT Suzuki, Kawasaki France, Yamaha Austria The full results of today’s second qualifying sessions for the Oschersleben 24 Hour round of the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship have been delayed for technical reasons, but with this morning’s track time plagued by bad weather, most of the times set yesterday are expected to stand. The qualifying positions are based on the average times set by each teams three riders. SERT Suzuki were quickest yesterday, with an average time of 1:29.251. Team Kawasaki France were second, on 1:29.351, and Yamaha Austria were third on 1:29.536. Amadeus X One have provisionally qualified in a very impressive eighth place, on an average time of 1:31.820. Paolo Tessari lapped in 1:32.138, Riccardo Ricci in 1:32.086 and Mauro Lucchiari in 1:31.236. The team are very happy with the performance, putting the improvement over previous races down to the gradual developments they have been able to make to the bike. The Oschersleben 24 Hour race starts at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday 11th August, and finishes at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday the 12th. More, from a press release issued by Steve Plater’s publicist: STEVE PLATER’S QUALIFYING RESULTS FROM OSCHERSLEBEN Steve Plater has qualified in pole position for the start of the World Endurance 24-hour race at Oschersleben in Germany, which sets off at 3pm (2pm British time) on Saturday. A close-fought battle for the front of the grid saw Kawasaki France and the Suzuki Endurance Race Team (SERT) separated by only a tenth of a second. In the second session on Friday Kawasaki France took pole position just ahead of SERT, who had initially taken a very small lead from the first qualifying session on Thursday afternoon. Steve arrived at Berlin airport early Tuesday morning and, despite being absolutely shattered because of the lack of sleep, met up with his Spanish teammate Julian Mazuecos and drove to the circuit to join French teammate Gwen Giabbani and prepare for the practise and qualifying periods of Thursday and Friday. Steve was apprehensive of how he would fare as despite the intensive treatment he had to his injuries he was uncertain on how his shoulder and damaged ribs would stand up to the pressure of racing a motorcycle. “First practice was all day Wednesday, obviously it’s a three man team plus a reserve, but being the most experienced and good with feedback I had the job of testing most settings on the Kawasaki France ZX10,” explained Steve. “My injuries were not a problem and I managed 78 laps by end of the sessions with a good set-up and fastest with a smile on my face!” Thursday was a little different with qualifying in the afternoon before compulsory night practice going on until 11pm. The weather had been awesome all week but as they took to the track it began to rain, not heavily enough to wet the track but enough to make it slippery. Steve decided to pit for 10 minutes while the drizzle stopped and a softer race tyre was fitted, which made all the difference as he immediately went faster. “I had a little coming together with a slower rider which didn’t really affect me but he went down. Shortly afterwards another high-sided rider caused by now two sets of waved yellow flags and an ambulance parked on the side of the track” said Steve. “The problem was that the two crash sites were the best two places for passing, if you were lucky enough to get a clear lap a fast time was possible, but with my qualifying tyres I was stuck behind slow guys every lap dropping me to fifth in my session.” “The weather then changed back to beautiful sunshine with 40 degrees track temperature and both my team mates sessions were perfect, both fastest but still leaving us one tenth behind Suzuki for the grid. “Despite the fact that my slower time was not really my fault, it really annoyed me as my time restricted us to a provisional second place on the grid but at least we had Friday morning to make amends if the weather stayed fine. “Sure enough Friday morning was dry but very cloudy as my last qualifying session started. I went out on circuit with a soft race tyre putting in a mega time, I’d been fastest in our team all practice on race tyres so was confident of improving my times. “The team fitted some qualifiers but again enough drizzle meant I couldn’t cash in on the extra grip they gave. But with the grid set up from an average of all three riders fastest times it turns out that we have taken pole position for tomorrows race, pole is mega but it’s the race that counts!” The local forecast is predicting thunderstorms for the weekend at Oschersleben so the outcome of the 24-hour race will be dependant on track conditions and the skill and ability of the riders to overcome the difficulties that may await them on Saturday. With just 25 points separating the SERT team who hold the series lead and Kawasaki France the scene is set for some fast and competitive racing with 35 points up for grabs to the winners of the Oschersleben round of the World Endurance series.