The British Superbike series may well be over but its business as usual for Woodhall Spa race ace Steve Plater who is preparing to head out to Qatar where he will contest the final round of the World Endurance championship as part of a three man team with Phase One Yamaha. The Doha Eight Hour Race, the final leg of the 2007 QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship, will roar into action on Saturday, November 10th at the Losail circuit in Qatar. This final race of the year also marks an important precedent, as it will be the first ever Endurance World Championship race staged at Losail. The international circuit is 5.4km in length and was built in 2004 in the desert close to Doha, the capital of Qatar. Currently lying in sixth place the English Phase One team comprising Steve Plater, Glen Richards and Warwick Nowland will be looking for a strong result to end their season on a high note. The team rode to fourth place at the Bol D’Or in September and will be looking to build on this next weekend although they cannot mathematically finish higher than third in the overall championship classification. “I am looking forward to riding with the Phase One team,” said Plater. “I have been riding a Yamaha R1 all season so shouldn’t have any problem adjusting to the bike. It will be a new experience for all of us as this is the first time the World Endurance series has visited Losail so the only riders to have a bit of an advantage will be the local boys.” The first tests for the Doha 8 Hours take place on Thursday, November 8. The race itself will take place on Saturday 10th November at 14:00 local time. Following the Endurance race Plater will head straight to Macau where he will be reunited with his AIM Yamaha R1 to contest the Macau GP a race he won for AIM Yamaha in 2006. More, from a press release issued by Amadeus X One: Italian team Amadeus X One prepare for their assault on the final round of the 2007 World Endurance Championship A Little Bit of Italy at the Qatar 8 Hour On Saturday the 10th of November, at 2:00pm local time, the final round of the 2007 World Endurance Championship will begin. With the title already won by SERT Suzuki, the first round of the championship to take place at Doha in Qatar will be all about the fight for second and third place in the championship, with a number of teams still in the running. Unfortunately Amadeus X One aren’t one of those teams, but the climatic conditions at the desert circuit, which is new to all the teams, could bring about a surprise result. “We’re playing our final cards of 2007″, commented team manager Maurizio Bargiacchi, “and we’re determined to be very well prepared for the Doha 8 hour race. The season hasn’t gone as well as we hoped, with trials at every turn. The complete change of ‘race’ organisation for the team has only now given us the stability necessary to obtain the good results which we’re counting on picking out of the Qatari sand on the 10th of November.” Interestingly, there will be seven Arabic teams competing for the first time in an FIM World Championship event. As well as the Kawasaki Qatar Endurance Racing Team (who have competed at all the events this year) there will be six local teams, and the Suzuki LMS Junior team will also be taking part. More, from a press release issued by Damian Cudlin: ALL TO PLAY FOR IN QATAR The 2007 World Endurance Championship is set for an exciting finish as the Permanent Endurance Teams prepare to take on the local contingent in Qatar, in 5 days time. With the World Championship title already in the hands of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, the battle for final podium championship positions will go down to the wire with any one of five teams able to take a top 3 finish. Among those, Aussie Damian Cudlin’s YART squad, currently 5th in the standings, will surely have this goal firmly in their sights. Running a team of Cudlin, Jerman and Martin, a line up that carried YART to 3rd in Oschersleben, YART will start favourites for the final podium position of 2007. A win in the final race of the season could promote them to 2nd in the series. With it all to play for in the final race of 2007, Cudlin and the YART squad are in a positive frame of mind heading into the ‘Doha 8Hour’ event. “It’s going to be a big race in Qatar with everyone pushing hard for overall results, so I hope that we can come out on top at the end of it all.” Cudlin said. “After the disappointments we’ve had this season with reliability and bad luck, I hope we can finish strongly in Qatar and put YART back to where it belongs in the championship standings. The guys have worked hard on the bikes to ensure the engine problems don’t arise again, our rider line up is a strong one, and I don’t see why we can’t be fighting for the final win year. That’s our goal.” Cudlin’s team mate and fellow Aussie Steve Martin will be relying on his World Superbike experience at Qatar to bring the team closer to the dominant SERT squad, being one of the only riders who’ve seen the circuit before. “It’s only going to help us having Steve’s experience to draw from, particularly with the set up side of things, but I can’t see Igor and I having any problems with the place. We both learn tracks pretty quickly. We’ll be fast come race day.” Cudlin predicted. The final round of the World Endurance Championship will take place November 10th.